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Circle your calendar for a Bonds trial after the 08 season
By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin December 8 2007 |
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SAN FRANCISCO--The very slow process of government and the only explanation for getting the Barry Bonds case to trial for the perjury charges is that the legal system which moves slowly. The prosecution at this time is pretty well set and solidified when they sent out the indictment the government pretty much had what they wanted and you couldn't see the reasons why they would need the time to put it off any longer. What happened at the Phillip Burton Courthouse on Friday was typical, as it was known that Bonds would show up and it would only be for few minutes and you have a lot of people there about 200 reporters including us. There was Barry with his big entourage and this is a big time case and Bonds has six attorneys so Bonds is spending the bucks and Bonds knows it’s serious to buy a defense and its going to cost him. The man has to spend the money on a defense but he'll spend a ton of money on this legal process and obviously if Bonds is convicted that would be even worse for him. What this means is that Bonds wants the best attorneys available that could defend him and he's willing to pay the money unfortunately for him. Bonds could say whatever he wants but if the feds prove their point Bonds could face some serious jail time. So if you read the book written by Chronicle writers Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams "Shadows of the Game" they pretty much demonstrated that in their book. The feds have the trainer Greg Anderson's doping calendars which mark how much steroids Anderson gave to Bonds and the positive test results from the BALCO labs seized in a drug raid showing that Bonds was using steroids. The feds are not nailing Bonds for using steroids but for not admitting it under a Federal Grand Jury testimony in December 2003. The Feds are after him for perjury and the fact that he lied in court. The Feds have evidence or they would not have indicted him and the Grand Jury felt that they had enough evidence to proceed with a trial which could start after the baseball season. On the issue of income tax evasion for the money that he gave ex-girlfriend Kimberly Bell it would appear that the only thing that the government is going after him about and President Clinton had faced the same thing would be perjury. What Barry will do on the witness stand: What Bonds has done all is career at least in the steroids era has been in self denial and has done it well and has never admitted to it and has taken the high road and has said he is innocent and has said he hasn't done anything and it's pretty hard if you look at the facts. Bonds is not dumb and Bonds has not looked nervous and the trial has not even started yet and Bonds is going to claim he's innocent and that's the stance that's he's going to take right to the end of this case. When the case goes to trial it will be interesting when the pressure is on and how he acts and then also how he reacts and it's easy for Bonds to maintain the composure of how he is now but once things get going and things get rough for him that's when it's going to get interesting to see how he reacts. Facing the evidence: The government wants Greg Anderson to take the stand, and you can expect that Anderson will take the fifth amendment. If he refuses to testify you can expect to find him to be held in contempt of court and back in the Dublin Correctional Facility. But you can expect Anderson to find himself back in there again for contempt of court. Obviously this is all evidence and we want to point out and there are fans for Bonds who are either listening or reading this that there are not too many athletes who are great athletes and you have to call Bonds a great athlete that have had their trainer or themselves that have had to go to jail. That they had their trainer in jail because he refuses to testify with all this stuff going on you have to realize where there's smoke there's fire. The prosecution and this has been said more than once would not be going to trial if they didn't think they could win and if you ask the prosecutor he would come back and say that he is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he could convince everyone in the jury that Bonds is guilty of perjury. Moving onto the Oakland A's: Billy Beane has been trying to pursue him. Eric Chavez the A's top player said that it would be awesome to have someone like Bonds on the team and some other players interviewed by the Chronicle have said that they would love it if Bonds joined the A's. There are the questions about how much the A's are willing to pay Bonds and will he work for a lot less money. Also what are the goals of the A's with a Bonds acquisition? Are the A's going to try and win this year or are the A's going to rebuild the team and if Beane is trying to rebuild the team we don't see Bonds other than selling tickets for the team being offered a contract. On the other hand if the A's stick with the line up they have and not make any trades and stay with the pitching staff they have they might say he's a bat that we can use in the line up despite all the baggage Bonds brings he will sell tickets and there is a strong enough chemistry in the locker room where he's not going to off set that. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin are covering the Barry Bonds BALCO/steroids perjury case at San Francisco Federal Court. Join Joe and Ken for Sportstalk on 1690 KFSG Sacramento. |
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