In a last-minute twist in the Barry Bonds trial, prosecutors announced they had a recording of Bonds’ surgeon discussing Bonds and steroids with the slugger’s former business manager.
Arthur Ting threw a wrench in the prosecution’s case last week when he denied ever having conversations about Bonds’ alleged steroids use, contradicting testimony from a key government witness.
That witness, former business manager Steve Hoskins, told jurors he’d had “probably 50” conversations with the surgeon about Bonds’ use of banned drugs.
Hoskins also said Ting researched specific steroids for Bonds and told Hoskins a 1999 elbow injury sustained by Bonds could only have been caused by steroids.
However, when Ting got on the stand, he calmly denied all of it.
“Did I have any conversations with Stevie about steroids? ... With confidence, I can say I didn’t discuss that,” Ting said.
In prior testimony, Hoskins said he had attempted to secretly record one such discussion, but later wasn’t able to find the tape and wasn’t sure if it had recorded properly. After Ting denied the discussions took place in court last week, Hoskins apparently found the tape.
Bonds, the MLB home run king, is on trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with testimony he gave in 2003 to a grand jury investigating steroids.
In that testimony, he -acknowledged taking substances he believed were flaxseed oil and arthritis balm, but denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Prosecutor Matthew Parrella told US District Judge Susan Illston they received the microcassette, the kind used in answering machines, from Hoskins late on Sunday night.
The tape contains a 15-minute conversation between Hoskins and Ting about Bonds and steroids that took place at Ting’s Northern California medical practice “soon after the BALCO search warrants were executed,” Parrella said.
BALCO is the the strip-mall steroids mill that distributed then-undetectable drugs to professional athletes. Bonds’ trainer’s house was raided the same day.
In his testimony almost two weeks ago, Hoskins said he repeatedly spoke with Ting about Bonds’ steroid use. On one occasion, “Barry was sore and I wanted to know if he could keep shooting ... in the same place,” he said.
At one point, Ting advised him that the steroids “were not good and to tell Barry to stop taking them.”
In his testimony, Ting acknowledged giving Hoskins some printouts on steroids, which prosecutors had already introduced as evidence.
However, he denied Hoskins had told him the information was for Bonds, or that he ever researched specific drugs for Bonds.
In addition to contradicting a key government witness, Ting’s testimony undercut an anti-doping expert who had told jurors about the side effects of anabolic steroids.
Parrella told Judge Illston on Monday that his office was working on preparing a transcript of the tape. Defense lawyers said they would need to have their own expert authenticate the recording.
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