11:40 AM: Barry Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, told a federal judge in San Francisco today that he refuses to testify in the baseball home-run champion’s perjury trial.
Anderson answered “No,” when U.S. District Judge Susan Illston asked, “Will you testify here today?”
Illston then found Anderson in contempt of court and ordered him into the custody of U.S. marshals, to be jailed for the duration of the trial. Anderson left the Federal Building courtroom escorted by marshals.
Anderson’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said he will appeal the custody order after Illston issues it in writing later today.
Prosecutors had sought to have Anderson as a key witness against Bonds, who is accused of lying when he told a federal grand jury in 2003 that he never received steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs from the trainer.
Anderson previously spent more than a year in jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Bonds before a grand jury investigating the alleged perjury.
Earlier this morning, a federal prosecutor told jurors in his opening statement that Bonds could easily have answered questions truthfully in his 2003 testimony, but didn’t.
“All he had to do was tell the truth. That’s all. But he couldn’t do it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella said.
But Bonds’ lead attorney, Allen Ruby, said Bonds did tell the truth in his two hours of testimony before the grand jury on Dec. 4, 2003. He said a “word-for-word account” in the testimony transcript will show that to be the case.
“Barry answered every question, he told the truth, he did his best,” Ruby said.
Ruby said the transcript will also show that Bonds “provided the grand jury with useful information” for the panel’s investigation of the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.
Bonds, 46, faces four counts of making false statements and one count obstruction of justice. Among other charges, he is accused of lying when he told the grand jury that he never knowingly received anabolic steroids, human growth hormone or an injection from Anderson.
Parrella told the trial jury that, as is routine with grand jury witnesses, Bonds was offered immunity from prosecution for anything he told the grand jury in 2003.
The federal attorney said that prosecution evidence will show not only that Bonds failed to tell the truth, but that “he planned not to do it.”
He said prosecutors will present a combination of eyewitness testimony showing that Bonds knew his statements were false as well as circumstantial evidence showing that Bonds experienced the side effects of taking steroids.
Parrella said there will be “testimony from people who knew him for decades that the defendant what he was doing.”
Those witnesses will include Bonds’ former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell; his former assistant and childhood friend, Steve Hoskins; and Hoskins’ sister Kathy, who was a personal shopper for Bonds and allegedly saw Anderson give Bonds an injection, Parrella said.
The trial is expected to last about four weeks and prosecution testimony will begin later today.
Bonds set Major League Baseball’s single-season and career home-run records while playing for the San Francisco Giants.
11:26 AM: Barry Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, told a federal judge in San Francisco today that he refuses to testify in the baseball home-run champion’s perjury trial.
Prosecutors had sought to call Anderson as a key witness against Bonds, who is accused of lying when he told a federal grand jury in 2003 that he never received steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs from the trainer.
Anderson previously spent more than a year in jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Bonds before a grand jury investigating the alleged perjury.
11:01 AM: A federal prosecutor told jurors in the perjury trial of baseball home-run champion Barry Bonds in San Francisco today that Bonds lied in his testimony before a grand jury in 2003.
“All he had to do was tell the truth. That’s all. But he couldn’t do it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella told the jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in his opening statement in the case.
But Bonds’ lead attorney, Allen Ruby, said Bonds did tell the truth in his two hours of testimony before the grand jury on Dec. 4, 2003. He said a “word-for-word account” in the testimony transcript will show that to be the case.
“Barry answered every question, he told the truth, he did his best,” Ruby said.
Ruby said the transcript will also show that Bonds “provided the grand jury with useful information” for the panel’s investigation of the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.
Bonds, 46, faces four counts of making false statements and one count obstruction of justice. Among other charges, he is accused of lying when he told the grand jury that he never knowingly received anabolic steroids, human growth hormone or an injection from his trainer, Greg Anderson.
Parrella told the trial jury that, as is routine with grand jury witnesses, Bonds was offered immunity from prosecution for anything he told the grand jury in 2003.
The federal attorney said that prosecution evidence will show not only that Bonds failed to tell the truth, but that “he planned not to do it.”
He said prosecutors will present a combination of eyewitness testimony showing that Bonds knew his statements were false as well as circumstantial evidence showing that Bonds experienced the side effects of taking steroids.
Parrella said there will be “testimony from people who knew him for decades that the defendant what he was doing.”
Those witnesses will include Bonds’ former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell; his former assistant and childhood friend, Steve Hoskins; and Hoskins’ sister Kathy, who was a personal shopper for Bonds and allegedly saw Anderson give Bonds an injection, Parrella said.
The trial is expected to last about four weeks and prosecution testimony will begin later today.
Also today, Anderson will be called to the stand outside the presence of the jury and will be asked whether he will continue to refuse to testify as a prosecution witness.
Prosecutors have asked Illston to jail Anderson for the duration of the trial for contempt of court if he declines to testify.
Bonds set Major League Baseball’s single-season and career home-run records while playing for the San Francisco Giants.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
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