Barry Bonds trial: Jury selection begins today...

Nearly eight years after he testified before a federal grand jury, home run king Barry Bonds is being tried on charges he lied to that panel when he said he never knowingly took steroids.

Read from bottom up.



9:24 a.m.: Four jurors fail to show up. Four potential jurors didn't get the memo that they could serve on the high-profile Barry Bonds jury, or perhaps they just didn't care. Of the 60 potential jurors called for jury duty today, four failed to show up at all. That might not sit too well with the judge.

9:02 a.m.: Attorneys getting ready to ask jurors questions.

We don't know exactly what got so many of these jurors bumped from the Bonds jury pool off the bat, but we do know that prosecutors or defense lawyers didn't like their answers to a variety of questions. In some instances, it was their answer to questions about their personal opinion of Bonds or whether they'd formed any opinions about the perjury case. Other questions were more boilerplate, such as whether their religious or political views would hinder their ability to serve on the jury.


Then there are other reasons potential jurors are getting dismissed; one potential juror, sadly, had to be let go because her grandmother passed away over the weekend.

The jury pool will file into the courtroom shortly, and lawyers will get a chance to ask follow up questions in open court.

8:49 a.m.: Jury selection begins, 38 jurors excused..

Prosecutors and defense lawyers have already agreed to bump 38 jurors from the potential pool of Bonds jurors because of the answers they gave on the lengthy questionnaires filled out last week. Those questionnaires included dozens of questions on everything from whether they had scanned media on the long-running case against Bonds to what they know about the problem of steroids in major league baseball.


The bottom line on that development is that jury selection will not be completed today. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston told the courtroom that about 55 of the 90 prospective jurors were called to appear on Monday, and she was a bit surprised at how large a slice had been taken out of the pool so quickly.


Another 30 potential jurors are scheduled to arrive Tuesday if the two sides can't agree on a final panel today. Defense lawyers have also filed papers with the judge asking that eight jurors be bumped for cause, and prosecutors told the judge they've identified another 10 on their side, all as a result of their questionnaire answers.


Prospective jurors are expected to be called into the courtroom in about 10 minutes.


8:20 a.m.: Bonds arrives with entourage.


Bonds has arrived in court with an entourage of family, friends and bodyguards. Everyone is now assembled in the courtroom awaiting the start of jury selection.


7:49 a.m.: Television trucks set up, jurors beginning to file into federal courthouse
The television trucks are arrayed around the San Francisco federal courthouse, the media tent is set up in the plaza and prospective jurors are filing into the building. Jury selection is set to begin soon. Bonds' legal team is huddled in an 18th floor conference room.


Howard Mintz Mercury News Blog of trial proceedings.

With Bonds trial set to start, baseball better get set to duck..

Hey, baseball. Get ready to duck.


Just a week and a half before opening day, the Barry Bonds perjury trial is finally starting. And it is not going to be a spring fiesta for America's national pastime.
The government's strategy against Bonds is easy to predict: The feds will be throwing the nastiest pitches possible -- with the ball covered by spit and mud and any slimy goop that's handy.


To try to prove that Bonds lied to a grand jury, prosecutors intend to call a parade of witnesses that will include former Giants, other players, Bonds' former mistress and others who had access to him in the team's clubhouse while he was playing.
All of those witnesses will be asked a variation of the same question:


"So. Could you just tell us the worst possible crud about Mr. Bonds in the context of how sleazy things were in baseball during what we now refer to as the steroid era? Please?"


Bud Selig, you may now enter the full cringe position.


Selig, the baseball commissioner, no doubt thought he had navigated his boat through the worst of his sport's drug swamp. But the Bonds trial promises to punch some more holes in the boat and allow more stink to seep inside.


For sure, it will be great theater. Some of us were in the courtroom when Bonds first entered his not guilty plea. Alongside him were nearly a dozen lawyers of varying genders and sizes and voices. There were so many attorneys, they could have chosen up sides and played a stickball game. Judge Susan Illston accepted the plea, set a date for another hearing and bemusedly told the lawyers: "However as many of you that want to come, can come."

In other words, be prepared for an entertaining show. In many ways, Bonds' legal guilt or innocence is secondary. Even if he is convicted -- and it's going to be a tough case for the government to make -- most legal experts figure he won't do any jail time. Plus, most people already have decided for themselves whether Bonds is guilty.

He has already admitted using the "cream" and the "clear." The government's perjury case centers around whether Bonds was telling the truth when he answered a question about whether he had ever taken performance-enhancing drugs in this carefully nuanced way: "Not to my knowledge."

Judge Illston has denied prosecutors the right to introduce certain evidence that would have made it easier to prove that Bonds was lying. So to demonstrate that Bonds knew exactly what he was taking and doing, the feds are prepared to use a broad brush:

# Bonds' onetime Giants teammates, Bobby Estalella and Benito Santiago, will talk about the casual clubhouse acceptance of steroids and how easily they could obtain performance-enhancing drugs from Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson.

# Stan Conte, the former Giants team trainer, will likely testify that he was powerless to keep Anderson and others from working with Bonds and feeding him whatever they wanted.

# Jason Giambi, the former A's slugger, will talk about how he eagerly sought out Anderson because of Bonds' home run success.

# The mistress, Kimberly Bell, will talk about the way Bonds flaunted his ability to grow phony muscles without retribution even as his, ahem, male glands were shrinking. (Parents, be prepared to explain the phrase "testicular dystrophy" to your kids.)

None of this will make baseball look good. And not merely in retrospect. It's bound to make fans wonder whether, despite Selig's crackdown on drug testing, the game is still dirty -- especially considering that MLB still does not test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is the most abused performance-amper-upper. (Minor league HGH testing may happen this summer.)

The testimony's smell will certainly waft across town over to AT&T Park, a couple of miles away from the federal courthouse. The Giants' team image might seem bulletproof at this point after last autumn's World Series victory. But ripping open old wounds from the Bonds era isn't the best way to celebrate. Plus, many of the team's administrators remain from that time period. Their names may come up in the testimony.

Also, keep in mind that even if Bonds wins, he loses. Anderson has steadfastly refused to testify. But at the very least, through the testimony of others, prosecutors are going to shine a light on Bonds' relationship with Anderson and the drugs that Anderson carried around in his satchel. Plus, Bonds is spending a ton to defend himself. That's hurting him more than he will ever publicly show.

In his 2003 grand jury testimony, later released publicly, one amusing passage popped out that really captures his personality. One grand juror asked Bonds this question about his relationship with Anderson: "With all the money you make, have you ever thought of maybe building him a mansion or something?"

Bonds' answer was this: "One, I'm black. And I'm keeping my money. And there's not too many rich black people in this world. And I'm keeping my money. There's more wealthy Asian people and Caucasian and white. There ain't that many rich black people. And I ain't giving my money up. That's why."

The truth is, Bonds has already given up a lot of his fortune, his pride and his reputation. One day, he may even come to understand how much he damaged the game. After the verdict in a few weeks, baseball will try to dust itself off and continue with business as usual. Selig wants this trial to be history, fast. The problem is, it will always be in the history books. And the slime will always stick to the pages.

Mark Purdy MercuryNews.com
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It's all pretty funny.
Balco Barry Big Head didn't know when his head and feet grew at 35 it was abnormal?
That every huge HR total was fueled by Roids and his was from vitamins.