Former San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds arrives for his criminal trial at Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, California March 28, 2011. The Bonds case is one of the last strands in a lengthy investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Doping revelations have tarnished the reputation of baseball, known as America’s national pastime. REUTERS/Stephen Lam (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL CRIME LAW SOCIETY)
Three years after he was first indicated, Barry Bonds’ perjury trial is finally nearing its conclusion.
Charged with three counts of lying to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice, Bonds’ trial has lasted nearly three weeks. And as the jury is set to dilberate, it’s interesting that Bonds’ defense team rested their case on Wednesday without calling any witnesses – not even Bonds.
Now, that could be viewed in a couple of different ways. Maybe his defense team feels so confident about their case that they don’t need to put Bonds on the stand. Maybe they don’t want him to contradict anything that anyone else has said up to this point, or screw the pooch when he’s cross-examined by the prosecution.
Or maybe because if they put him on the stand, they know he would have to lie under oath. Or explain to a jury why he allowed someone to inject something into his body that he wasn’t 100% clear (no pun intended) about what it was or what it was intended to do. Or why he never stopped taking the substance when his head grew to the size of a grapefruit and he looked like the Incredible Hulk.
Yeah, I wouldn’t have put Bonds on the stand either.
As I wrote on Wednesday, I firmly believe that he’ll avoid jail time. If Tammy Thomas received house arrest and probation for similar charges in her BALCO scandal, then Barry freaking Bonds isn’t going to prison over his. In the end, I imagine that people will view this as a big waste of time and money.
