U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, presiding over the federal case involving Barry Bonds, excluded what prosecutors hoped would be key pieces of evidence proving the former Major League Baseball star lied to a federal grand jury in 2003.
Judge Illston’s written opinion highlighted her belief that Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, will not testify against Bonds and most of the excluded evidence centers around Anderson’s corroboration.
“Under these circumstances, this is not a case in which the chain of custody has a few ‘rusty’ links,” Illston wrote. “Rather, crucial pieces of the chain are missing altogether. Accordingly, if Anderson continues to refuse to testify, defendant’s motion is granted with respect to the records.”
Illston’s decisions hurt the prosecution’s case against Bonds but didn’t come as a surprise. In recent pre-trial hearings, Illston gave prosecutors reason to believe some of the evidence stacked against Bonds would be tossed out.
Focusing on Anderson’s refusal to testify, Illston noted it was unlikely he would do so now after having refused to testify in the past. Anderson has already served two jail terms for refusing to testify against Bonds.
The New York Daily News reports that sources revealed people closest to Anderson have said he will never testify against Bonds, and is prepared to go to jail again.
After reviewing the transcript of a secretly recorded conversation in which Anderson describes steroid injections to another close associate of Bonds, Illston divided the transcript into three sections and said two were admissible and one was not.
Excluded was a section about the loopholes in baseball’s drug testing program. Admitted to the trial are parts of the conversation in which Anderson described cysts that can form as a result of steroid injections, and the undetectability of the drugs BALCO was providing.
Judge Illston rejected the government’s argument that this is admissible as a statement against interest, because “the government has not established that it was a criminal or civil offense in 2003 to help athletes evade detection by professional sports associations.”
However, Illston’s decision to throw out that portion of the transcript seems to circumvent the Federal Rules of Evidence. If a BALCO (or any other testing facility) employee was informing players or anyone representing them about future drug tests, MLB should have a valid claim against the testing facility and the employee.
Among other evidence excluded are calendars supposedly outlining Bonds’ steroid use and results of positive drug tests seized from raids of BALCO and Anderson’s home in 2003.
Bonds’ attorneys sought to have the expected testimony of his former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, tossed out as well. Bell will testify to the side effects she witnessed on Bonds’ body, including acne, hair loss and decreased testicle size.
Illston, however, will allow Bell to testify against Bonds. Illston refused the defense’s argument that Bell wasn’t qualified to make a determination if the side effects were caused by steroid use.
The Bonds trial is scheduled to begin March 2 in San Francisco.
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