Barry Bonds Perjury Charges Dismissed

“The US Attorneyā€™s office in San Francisco dropped three perjury charges against Barry Bonds stemming from allegations that he lied to a grand jury in 2003 about his own steroid use. He will not be retried on these charges.Ā  A jury in April deadlocked on whether Bonds lied about his use of Performance Enhancing Drugsā€“steroids and human growth hormone.Ā  Problematic to many was the way the US Attorneyā€™s office sought the perjury indictment in the first place.Ā  Bonds was forced to testify before the grand jury despite having invoked his right against self incrimination.Ā  This exercise is what led to his indictment on obstruction of justice for his subsequent evasive, misleading and false answers under oath.

The substance of the conviction is based on the following exchange between the prosecutor and Bonds.

Q: Did Greg ever give you anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?

A: Iā€™ve only had one doctor touch me. And thatā€™s my only personal doctor. Greg, like I said, we donā€™t get into each othersā€™ personal lives. Weā€™re friends, but I donā€™t ā€“ we donā€™t sit around and talk baseball, because he knows I donā€™t want ā€“ donā€™t come to my house talking baseball. If you want to come to my house and talk about fishing, some other stuff, weā€™ll be good friends, you come around talking about baseball, you go on. I donā€™t talk about his business. You know what I mean? ā€¦”

Athletes in Court has the Full Story.

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