Evidence
Excluding Steroids Tests Is Key to Barry Bonds Trial Strategy
Posted Feb 5, 2009, 01:49 pm CST
By Martha Neil
As evidence recently made public in the Barry Bonds case makes clear, excluding blood tests that allegedly show he took steroids is key to his trial strategy in a federal obstruction of justice and perjury case.
And a federal judge in San Francisco seems sympathetic to the famed slugger's argument that such evidence is inadmissible hearsay, according to Bloomberg.
"U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston said today she was leaning toward ruling that the evidence is inadmissible unless federal prosecutors have testimony from Greg Anderson, Bonds’s former trainer, or other witnesses who can link the ... blood tests to Bonds," the news agency writes.
His lawyers said in an earlier filing that five positive drug tests, between 2001 and 2006, are unsupported by "chain of custody" evidence showing the exact route they followed from Bonds to the courtoom, reports USA Today.
Additional coverage:
Associated Press: "Judge unseals evidence in Bonds case"
ABAJournal.com (May 2008): "Barry Bonds Re-Charged in Steroids-Related Perjury Case"
ABAJournal.com (Dec. 2007): "After Mitchell Report, Shame, Blame ... and Reform?"