Bonds’ Case Put On Hold…
Right now, Barry Bonds is unemployable; however, he got some decent news — his case will be put on hold — at least temporarily.
The perjury case against Barry Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run king, was put on hold by a federal judge on Friday.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Judge Susan Illston, at a hearing in U.S. District Court, was holding the case over until June 6. It was done apparently so government lawyers could correct technical flaws in the indictment of the former Giants slugger.
Bonds has been accused of lying under oath to a federal grand jury. His grand jury testimony, given under oath in December 2003, is at the center of his November 15, 2007 indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors hit Bonds with a five-count indictment — four counts of perjury and one for obstruction of justice — after one of the longest federal grand jury investigations in Northern California history involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).
However, Bonds’ lawyers contended that under law the indictment was deficient. The Chronicle reports that by law the government can accuse a person of only one crime per count of an indictment. Apparently, too many allegations were compiled into too few counts of the original indictment.
The government’s lawyers apparently intend to correct the problem to issue a new indictment before the June 6 hearing.
Does this mean he’ll play in 2008– not necessarily. I would imagine at this point most teams want to stay away from Barry Bonds just for the circus like atmosphere his presence alone would bring…
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