More counts, same issues for Bonds

Bonds indictment still about alleged lies, obstruction

By Paul Elias, Associated Press

Originally published 06:36 p.m., May 13, 2008
Updated 11:13 p.m., May 13, 2008

Paul Sakuma / Associated Press/2007

Barry Bonds, shown with his wife, Liz, before a court appearance in December, is facing 14 felony counts of lying to a grand jury and one felony count of obstruction of justice.

Barry Bonds was charged in a new indictment Tuesday with 15 felony counts alleging he lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using performance- enhancing drugs and that he hampered the federal government's doping investigation.

The career home runs leader originally was indicted in November by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

After a motion by Bonds' lawyers to dismiss the case, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in February ordered prosecutors to rewrite the indictment because multiple alleged lies were lumped into single charges.

On Tuesday, a grand jury handed up a superseding indictment charging Bonds with 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury in 2003 and one count of obstruction of justice.

No new lies were alleged.

"It's exactly the same," Golden Gate University law professor Peter Keane said. "It's two ways of saying it's lying, and there's really no substantial difference between what he was charged with then and what he is charged with now."

The case against Bonds remains built on whether he lied when he told the grand jury his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, never supplied him with steroids and human growth hormone.

"Barry Bonds is innocent," the player's lead attorney, Allen Ruby, said.

Ruby said Bonds will appear in court to plead not guilty to the new charges.

Bonds' next hearing already had been scheduled for June 6 before the new indictment was unsealed.

Ruby said it is unclear whether Bonds will be expected to enter a plea then.

The Major League Baseball Players Association said last week it was investigating whether to file a collusion grievance against teams for not pursuing Bonds, who became a free agent when the Giants decided they didn't want him back after 15 seasons.

The left fielder, a seven-time National League Most Valuable Player, says he wants to play this year.

His agent claims no team has made an offer for the 14-time All-Star. Bonds hit 28 homers last year to raise his total to 762, seven more than Hank Aaron's previous record.

• May 13, 2008

  7:46 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  kmeissner writes:

  I don't think he should go to jail. Jails are too full already. He should just have an * next to all of his records. I hope he doesn't get elected into the HOF either! I also hope to NEVER see him on the field again.

• May 13, 2008

  9:44 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  R8R_H8R writes:

  Nice work politicians!
  Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
  Have you ever wondered: if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, why do we have deficits?
  Have you ever wondered: if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, why do we have inflation and high taxes?
  You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.
  You and I don't have the constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
  You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
  You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
  You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
  These 536 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this con game, regardless of party.
  What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.
  No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stands up and criticizes the President for creating deficits.
  The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
  It seems inconceivable that a nation of 300 million can't replace 536 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
  When you fully grasp the plain truth that 536 people exercise thepower of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
  If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
  If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
  If they don't participate in Social Security, but are on an elite retirement plan, not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
  Don't let these 536 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish ... to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject ... to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
  Those 536 people - and they alone - are responsible.
  They, and they alone, have the power.
  They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

• May 13, 2008

  9:46 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  R8R_H8R writes:

  Soaring gas prices yet record profits from Big Oil. A war based on proven lies from this filthy president. Ignoring all this and focusing on b.s. regarding a game.....wonderful. That's what they're hired for? .........NO.

• May 14, 2008

  8:18 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Blind_Pete writes:

  R8R, you are absolutely correct. But these elected liars have lots of help from all the major media (including FOX)and from "professional" educators who take bright children and turn them into lemmings who go about babbling that we are a democracy while being unable to construct a single sentence explaining the meaning of "Constitutional Republic". They created a perennial voting critical mass of those on the government teat that assures them of victory. As long as they can deliver those so-called entitlements, they will continue their oath-violating ways.

• May 14, 2008

  3:17 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  CaptainObvious writes:

  So, um, back to the Bonds story. Yes, get the asterisk ready, and while you are at it, get a jail cell ready too. Congress doesn't suffer liars.

  And R8R H8R and Blind Pete, you guys are way off topic. Care to blame that on public schools or congress too? Goofballs.