Jury selection begins as Clemens perjury trial opens; judge raps House over audio deposition

Jury selection begins as Clemens perjury trial opens; judge raps House over audio deposition
By Associated Press
July 6, 2011
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WASHINGTON — Roger Clemens’ perjury trial opened Wednesday with both sides raising the prospect of calling a roster of former baseball stars as witnesses and the judge angrily criticizing Congress for withholding an audiotape of Clemens’ deposition at the heart of the case.

Clemens is accused of lying under oath to the House Government Reform Committee in 2008 when he denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs during his record-setting career as a major league pitcher. The trial began with an intensive jury selection process expected to last into next week...

Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justice

Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justice
Mistrial declared in three other charges against home run king
By PAUL ELIAS
NBC Sports
April 13, 2011

A federal jury convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice Wednesday but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it.

Following a 12-day trial and almost four full days of deliberation, the jury of eight women and four men could reach a unanimous verdict only on one of the four counts against Bonds. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on the others, a messy end to a case that put the slugger — and baseball itself — under a cloud of suspicion for more than three years.

Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion. His legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and Illston did not rule on the request. She set May 20 for a hearing in the case.

Barry Bonds' defense rests without calling a single witness in perjury trial

See all posts re Barry Bonds.

Barry Bonds' defense rests without calling a single witness in perjury trial
By Maura Dolan
Los Angeles Times
April 7, 2011

Reporting from San Francisco -- Attorneys for former Giants slugger Barry Bonds rested Wednesday without calling a single witness, clearing the way for jurors to start deliberating whether baseball's all-time home run king lied under oath when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, with the support of the prosecution, dropped one of five felony counts against Bonds because of lack of evidence. Bonds, 46, now faces a charge of obstruction of justice and three counts of lying under oath in his testimony before a grand jury in December 2003.

Illston, in another ruling, changed course Wednesday and decided against throwing out evidence that steroids cause testicles to shrink. Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, testified that his testicles shriveled after he began using the drugs.

Bonds' lawyers had summoned a key prosecution witness to return to the stand Wednesday but rested without calling him. The defense decision means jurors will not hear Bonds testify.

Defense lawyers managed to eviscerate two of three main witnesses called by the prosecution. The third, Kathy Hoskins, testified that she saw Bonds' personal trainer inject him with an unknown substance in the navel in 2002.

Bonds told the grand jury the next year that Anderson had never injected him.

The jury of eight women and four men also heard that a urine sample from Bonds taken several months before his grand jury testimony tested positive for a steroid and a fertility drug that is sometimes used in conjunction with steroids.

Bonds admitted to the grand jury that he used two substances identified as steroids but insisted that he thought they were flaxseed oil and arthritis cream. He also testified that he took various pills that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, gave him and never asked what the pills contained.

Anderson was sent to jail at the start of the trial for refusing to testify, but jurors heard a recording in which Anderson discussed how he injected banned drugs in response to questions about Bonds.

A conviction could lead to a lengthy prison sentence or even home confinement and affect whether Bonds is elected to the Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Bonds surpassed Hank Aaron's record for career home runs, considered the most hallowed record in Major League Baseball.

Smooth lawyers defend Barry Bonds in perjury case

Prosecutor: Bonds’ Defense ‘Utterly Ridiculous’
In day two of trial, Barry Bonds' attorney charms the audience, but can't rattle steroids investigator
By Zusha Elinson and Steve Fainaru
March 22, 2011
The Bay Citizen

In a smooth baritone that filled up the federal courtroom, Allen Ruby, Barry Bonds’ lawyer, laid out the defense of the home-run king, charging the U.S. government and some of Bonds’ ex-friends with rigging up a baseless perjury case against his client.

Ruby repeated Bonds’ assertion that the slugger used steroids but didn’t know what they were at the time he injected and ingested them. The defense strategy was clear: discredit the government, its witnesses and the media’s portrayal of Bonds — without going so far as to say Bonds is a nice guy...

Roger Clemens indicted on charges of making false statements

Roger Clemens indicted on charges of making false statements
By Cindy Boren
Washington Post
August 19, 2010

Roger Clemens has been indicted on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

In February 2008, Clemens and Brian McNamee, his former trainer, contradicted one another in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about whether Clemens had used banned substances.

The hearing came after McNamee had linked Clemens to banned substances in George Mitchell's report on baseball players' use of performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens alleged that McNamee was lying; McNamee reached a deal with federal authorities to avoid prosecution for steroid distribution.

"Whether it's a Member of the Cabinet, a CEO or a professional athlete, if there is evidence that someone has intentionally misled a Congressional investigative Committee, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible," Kurt Bardella, spokesperson for Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking membr of the House committee, said in a statement. "There is no mechanism to justify lying to Congress."

Perjury on trial: Barry Bonds on March 2 and Stutz v. Larkins on April 3

Barry Bonds is being charged with criminal perjury, but Daniel Shinoff's case is different. On my website I accused Shinoff and his law firm, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, of suborning perjury and other wrongdoing during their representation of Chula Vista Elementary School District during my case. Stutz is now suing me for defamation, and the trial is scheduled for April 3, 2009. I'm furiously working to organize my huge amount of evidence so I can present it at trial.


Here's the Barry Bonds story:

Judge unseals Bonds evidence
By Barry M. Bloom
MLB.com
Feb. 4, 2009

A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday unsealed a list of witnesses and evidence to be used by the government against former Giants slugger Barry Bonds in his perjury trial that is slated to begin on March 2.

Among the hundreds of pages of documents is evidence that Bonds failed tests in 2000 and 2001 for the steroids methenelone and nandrolone.

On their witness list is a number of baseball players, including Jason Giambi, although YahooSports.com reported on Tuesday that the former Yankees star, who's back with A's, hasn't yet received a subpoena to appear.

Bonds' attorneys have filed a motion seeking to exclude as evidence blood and urine tests, among other items. A hearing is set for Thursday in the San Francisco court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to determine what evidence will be admitted at the trial.

Bonds was indicted on what eventually has turned out to be 10 counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, for allegedly lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in sworn testimony on Dec. 4, 2003.

The indictment, citing the actual grand jury testimony elicited from Bonds, alleges that Bonds lied when asked if he was ever given or was administered with needles anabolic steroids, testosterone or human growth hormone by his former trainer, Greg Anderson, during the period from 2000 to 2002.

In addition, the documents showed that a government-retained scientist said he found evidence that Bonds used the designer steroid THG upon retesting a urine sample the then 39-year-old Bonds supplied as part of baseball's anonymous survey drug testing in 2003. The test had previously been determined to be negative by the labs used by MLB at a time when THG was not among the drugs listed on baseball's banned list...

Tri-City Medical Center was in bad shape BEFORE it lost the bond election

Tri-City Hospital's old regime was depending on winning the bond issue last November, but voters didn't consider the hospital's leadership to be reliable, particularly when the board gave a $90,000 bonus to CEO Art Gonzalez, who was already making $483,000 per year.

Also, Dave Coles was set to be on bond oversight committee for Tri-City Hospital. Coles is the former Superintendent of Vista Unified School District (VUSD) who took credit for school bond Prop O, then made a mess of it. Money was unaccounted for, there were cost overruns, and money was spent on trailers that now have mold.


Other problems were:
(1) nearby hospitals are attracting Tri-City's former patients;
(2) the older part of the hospital needs retrofitting;
(3) Tri-City is one of two hospitals in the county with higher-than-average mortality rates.

But the San Diego Union Tribune is still trying to blame the new board for the sins of the old board. Here's a link to Keith Darce's shameless article (is he campaigning to become the new Don Sevrens?), which is well-described by one commenter:

"I live in Coronado. I've never been to Tri-City. I know that L.T. did some T.V. work for them. That's it. Don't know any of the parties.

"Here's my comment: this article isn't journalism.

"I'm a lawyer. I know "advocacy". And this is an advocacy piece. It's no different than an "opening statement" a lawyer makes at the beginning of a trial. You line up facts you like, quote your experts and mix the two in a way that leads your listener to form a certain conclusion or develop a certain opinion.

"I'm certain of one thing: if the board hired someone to write a piece from their perspective, using their facts, and quotes from their experts, and if the UT published it, we would all form a much different impression and opinion about this situation.

"To the UT: THE REASON I DON'T SUBSCRIBE TO SO CALLED "INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM" IS BECAUSE OF STUFF LIKE THIS WHICH IS UNFORTUNATELY ALL TO COMMON."

Here are my other posts about Tri-City Medical Center.

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Perjury charge for Roger Clemens?

A jury would be pretty similar to a poll of sports fans, I think.

USA Today
Poll: Majority of fans think Clemens is lying
by Mel Antonen

Despite Roger Clemens' efforts to prove he never used performance-enhancing drugs, the majority of MLB fans still don't believe his testimony.

Clemens could face a Justice Department investigation after denying in Congress he took steroids or human growth hormone, allegations made by his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee.

"The only surprise is that 31% of the fans were duped by Roger Clemens," said Richard Emery, a lawyer for McNamee.

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, had no comment, and Clemens, who arrived Tuesday in Kissimmee, Fla., so he can pitch to Houston Astros minor leaguers this week, addressed the media briefly.

"Everything's been said that needs to be said," Clemens told reporters. "We're moving forward. It's baseball time."

As a result of the drug-use allegations, Clemens' on-field accomplishments, which include 354 career wins, are suffering, with a higher percentage of fans believing Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame than Clemens. In a phone survey of 456 fans conducted Feb. 21-24, 66% said Rose should be elected to the Hall while 62% said Clemens is deserving. Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 for betting on games.

The poll showed 55% of fans think Commissioner Bud Selig should not punish players linked in the Mitchell Report to performance-enhancing drugs. Before the report was released on Dec. 13, 37% did not favor discipline. Selig is looking at the names individually, "and will make public his decisions at the appropriate time," spokesman Rich Levin said.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-02-26-clemens-poll_N.htm

6 months for obstruction of justice by Marion Jones

Marion Jones joined the club of people who sue for defamation even though they know that their target told the truth.

Bloomberg.com

Marion Jones Gets Six-Month Term for Obstruction

By Patricia Hurtado
Jan. 11, 2008

Marion Jones, the record-breaking sprinter who tearfully confessed she used steroids after years of public denial, was sentenced to six months in prison for lying in two federal grand jury investigations.

Jones, 32, of Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of obstruction of justice in probes of steroid use in sports and a check cashing scheme allegedly involving fellow athlete Tim Montgomery...

``This was a worldwide lie,'' U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas said at a hearing today in White Plains, New York. He also sentenced her to 800 hours of community service and two years of probation.

...She was the first athlete convicted in the almost five-year-old U.S. government steroid investigation.

...He ordered her to serve 400 hours of community service for each of the two years of probation. Her service should be with children and emphasize the need to tell the truth, the judge said.

Steroid Probe

In court today, Jones cried as she addressed Karas, asking not to be separated from her two sons, ages 7 months and 4 years.

...Karas turned aside her appeal for leniency, saying that, at her plea hearing in October, she failed to fully admit that she used banned substances.

... She said she believed she was taking ``flaxseed oil'' at the time.

``I am troubled by that statement,'' Karas told Jones today. ``That's a very difficult thing to believe that a top- notch athlete, knowing that a razor-thin margin makes the difference, would not be keenly aware and very careful about what he or she put in her body, and the effects.''

Impeding Investigation

Jones was charged with impeding the San Francisco steroid probe of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or Balco, based in Burlingame, California, and the separate Manhattan investigation of the bad-check cashing scheme.

In addition to pleading guilty to taking substances before the Sydney Olympics, Jones admitted lying about knowing that Montgomery deposited $200,000 in counterfeit checks in a bank account. She lived with Montgomery, the father of her older son, in 2005...

Steve Riddick, 56, a 1976 Olympic gold medalist who was once Jones's coach, was also charged in the check-kiting case. He was convicted of bank fraud after a trial in May and sentenced late today by Karas to 63 months in prison.

Montgomery pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy and bank fraud. His sentencing hasn't been scheduled.

...Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's all-time home-run leader, was indicted in November on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about steroid use. Prosecutors said the outfielder told a panel in 2003 that he never knowingly used banned drugs, according to his indictment.

...Congress is returning to the issue of steroids in baseball following last month's report by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, which linked more than 80 players including Pettitte and Clemens to performance-enhancing drugs. The same House committee held hearings in 2005 and urged a tougher drug policy for the sport.

...In February 2006, Jones settled a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Victor Conte, the Balco founder. Conte, who claimed he supplied Jones with performance-enhancing drugs including THG, served a four-month jail term after pleading guilty to steroid distribution...