A federal grand jury indicts Barry Bonds on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, AP and CNN affiliate KTVU report.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/14606146/detail.htmlBonds Indicted By BALCO Federal Grand Jury



SAN FRANCISCO -- Major League Baseball's all-time home run king Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday on perjury and obstruction justice charges, according to KTVU reporter Rita Williams.

The five-count indictment -- four counts of perjury and one of obstruciton of justice -- capped one of the longest federal grand jury investigations in Northern California history -- a proceeding that introduced the sports world to the acronym BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) and led to the downfall of American track and field world and Olympic champions Marion Jones, Kelli White and Tim Montgomery.

It touched the NFL with several current and former players called to testify including former All-Pro linebacker Bill Romanowski.

It also sparked the ongoing debate surrounding Major League Baseball and its problems with athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. It's a debate that has gone to such lengths that the home run ball that Bonds ripped out of AT&T Park to break Hank Aaron's all-time record was headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame tattooed with an asterisk.

The charges against Bonds stem from his Dec.4, 2003 grand jury testimony when he allegedly testified that he did not knowingly take performance enhancing drugs.

Bonds trainer and friend Greg Anderson was convicted in the BALCO case on grand jury charges, served time in jail and returned to prison when he refused to testify again against Bonds. He remains in jail.

But others have allegedly testified to the grand jury that Bonds had admitted to using steroids produced by BALCO including the slugger's former mistress Kimberly Bell and a former childhood friend Stevie Hoskins.

The tax charges stem from cash Bonds allegedly collected -- and did not report to the Internal Revenue Service -- from memorabilia shows.

Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record with his 756th home run on Aug. 7 -- an event not without plenty additional drama brought on by the federal drug probe.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig grudgingly attended the games leading up to Bonds historic homer and Aaron did not travel to AT&T Park to witness the feat in person.

The large banners commemorating the record still hang from the light posts on either side of the main center-field scoreboard at AT&T Park.

Bonds ripped 762 homers in his 22 major league season and has recently talked about continuing his career else, possibly in nearby Oakland where the American League's designated hitter rule would allow him to bat but not play in the field where his aging body has robbed him of speed and quickness.
Copyright 2007 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.







[Edited by - marv on 11-15-2007 5:18 PM]

Good

Damn, Federal prosecutors dont have anything better to do than to go after black athletes? Good to see our tax dollars are hard at work. Our streets are officially clean. SMH.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by sebstar:

Damn, Federal prosecutors dont have anything better to do than to go after black athletes? Good to see our tax dollars are hard at work. Our streets are officially clean. SMH.

Amazingly enough they haven't gone after Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Donovan McNabb, Ladainian Tomlinson, C.C. Sabathia, Vladimir Guerrero or hundreds of other black athletes yet.

Oh wait, you mean there has to be a reason to go after them and it's not just a racial witch hunt. That's weird.

Surely race isn't the only factor, but surely you don't think our judicial system is free of racial biases either, right?

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by sebstar:

Damn, Federal prosecutors dont have anything better to do than to go after black athletes? Good to see our tax dollars are hard at work. Our streets are officially clean. SMH.

Amazingly enough they haven't gone after Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Donovan McNabb, Ladainian Tomlinson, C.C. Sabathia, Vladimir Guerrero or hundreds of other black athletes yet.

Oh wait, you mean there has to be a reason to go after them and it's not just a racial witch hunt. That's weird.

Surely race isn't the only factor, but surely you don't think our judicial system is free of racial biases either, right?

Who said that?

Ok, so you think there are racial biases in the judicial system but you thought it was so absurd to imply that they might be at work in the handling of this case that you brought a dozen other black athletes into the discussion?

Posted by franco12:

the problem I have is why did the prosecutor wait until now? is it his trainer that just flipped.

sombody flipped.

bottom line is not that he did the roids, but he purgered and obstructed justice to a grand jury.

You don't phuch with those guys.

The justice system can discriminate but bonds laughed in their face and kept it up.

The cover up is worse than the crime. Ask martha stewart.

Raffiel Palmaro will get his in time also.

Giambi is reported to have admitted use. It leaked, but he was not implicated or charged with anyting. nor was bonds, but the purger and obstruction is a big bozo no-no!