With Barry Bonds still firmly in the sights of a federal steroid investigation, prosecutors will impanel a new grand jury to take up where an outgoing one left off on Thursday and consider perjury and tax-evasion charges against the baseball star.
"We are not finished," US Attorney Kevin Ryan said. "We have postponed the decision [to indict] for another day in light of some recent developments."
He declined to comment further on the case.
PHOTO: AP
Word that a Bonds indictment was not imminent came as one grand jury's term expired, but the lawyer for Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson said his client has already been subpoenaed to testify next week before a new grand jury that will take up the case.
The new panel will continue to investigate whether Bonds lied under oath when he said he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs, attorney Mark Geragos said.
"They don't even have enough to indict a ham sandwich, let alone Barry Bonds," said the slugger's lawyer, Michael Rains.
But he seemed to back away slightly from Bonds' earlier statements that he didn't know the substances given to him by personal trainer Greg Anderson were steroids.
"He was suspicious in light of what he had read as to whether those were steroids or not," Rains told reporters outside the federal courthouse here.
Bonds arrived at AT&T Park to play for the San Francisco Giants around 4pm with his 16-year-old batboy son. As reporters moved toward his locker, team spokesman Blake Rhodes said Bonds would have no comment.
Anderson, a key witness, was freed on Thursday from the federal prison where he was sent more than two weeks ago after refusing to testify against his childhood friend.
Geragos, Anderson's lawyer, said the personal trainer already has been ordered to testify next Thursday before the new grand jury. But he again will refuse.
"They can subpoena him every day for the rest of this year, and it doesn't matter," Geragos said. "He's not going to talk."
The judge who ordered Anderson to prison on July 5 had said the personal trainer was to be held until he agreed to testify against Bonds or the grand jury's term expired.
Joseph Russienello, the US Attorney in San Francisco from 1982 to 1990, said handing the case off to a new grand jury means the federal government can lock up Anderson for the length of the new grand jury's term, which could extend beyond a year.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
RSS