Barry Bonds seeks to bar mistress Kimberly Bell's testimony

[Bear]

DAILY NEWS STAFF
Friday, January 16th 2009

Barry Bonds is seeking to bar former mistress Kimberly Bell from testifying at his March trial about alleged rages and physical changes caused by steroids.

Bell, who has said in interviews that she had a nine-year relationship with Bonds beginning when she was 24, claimed that Bonds admitted to her that he used steroids to recover from injuries. She said she saw significant changes in his body, from acne on his back to bloating, and that Bonds displayed changes in his behavior from steroid use. Bell testified in 2005 before a grand jury investigating Bonds.

The all-time home run king is accused of lying to a federal grand jury that was investigating steroid use among elite athletes in 2003. He told the jury he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds is scheduled to go to trial in March in San Francisco.

In a court filing Thursday, Bonds also sought to block much of the government's evidence against him, including urine and blood samples that allegedly tested positive for steroids, as well as a "doping calendar" purportedly kept by Bonds' former personal trainer. Those samples were seized in the government's raid on BALCO in 2003.

BALCO founder Victor Conte, who pleaded guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering in 2005 and served four months in prison, has cast doubt on those calendars, writing in the Daily News that the readings on an allegedly "positive" test on Bonds from 2001 is subject to interpretation. He has also raised chain of custody issues regarding the tests.

Bonds has pleaded not guilty to perjury and obstruction charges.

It seems no one wants to hear what Kimberly has to say. First she is thrown off this board, and now Barry wants to keep her out of the court room. Poor Kim! :(

[McCovey]

Poor Kim. She wants to show off her substanital assets and no one is letting her! :p

[#25]

It seems no one wants to hear what Kimberly has to say. First she is thrown off this board, and now Barry wants to keep her out of the court room. Poor Kim! :(

I liked Kimberly. Why was she kicked off the board anyway?

[SF Kid]

The Bear knuckled down under political pressure.

Apparently Kim was a has been porn star and ruffled feathers. :rotf:

[#25]

A porn star? What proof of that is there and where does it say you can't be on a baseball board because you have done anything in life? That's BS!

[TkleMstr52]

It was a long drawn out god fearing discussion. Lets not go back there.

[#25]

It was a long drawn out god fearing discussion. Lets not go back there.

It may have been but someone got screwed!

[TkleMstr52]

I agree, they should have just asked him to change his avatar over cutting the strings. Someone was offended. Not my call.

[#25]

I agree, they should have just asked him to change his avatar over cutting the strings. Someone was offended. Not my call.

A little too thin skinned to be sure.

[TkleMstr52]

Ya, as far as I am concerned it was fine. Its done now tho.

[Bear]

Ya, as far as I am concerned it was fine. Its done now tho.

Well the Bear can work miracles. If you guys want me to contact Kim I can ask to have the avatar changed and ask if there is interest in a return engagement.:eek:

[TkleMstr52]

Things happen for a reason Im told so maybe it would have been worse to keep her around? These guys can make the call, I am not concerned either way.

[SF Kid]

Barry Bonds' perjury trial opens

Associated Press

Bonds Perjury Trial
Barry Bonds perjury trial to start with jury selection Monday in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO -- Some love Barry Bonds so much they can't be impartial. Others already believe he's guilty. A mother worried about the effect sports doping would have on her impressionable children. And so the laborious process of selecting a jury began Monday in the criminal case of USA v. Bonds.

More than three years after the all-time home run leader was charged with lying to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs, his trial got under way in San Francisco federal court. The judge and lawyers were attempting to winnow about 100 prospective jurors down to 12 jurors and four alternates for a case that could take up to four weeks.

"It's hard to make decisions about other people's lives," juror No. 9 told U.S. District Judge Susan Illston when asked if he could be impartial.

"It's the hardest thing we do," replied the judge, who has sealed the prospective jurors' names until after the trial concludes."


Barry Bonds has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to investigators about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

"I haven't done too good with (my life)," juror No. 9 concluded before sitting back down. He remained eligible for the jury, but 42 other people in the pool were dismissed from the case before the questioning began Monday.

Illston excused one juror because of a death in a family. A second person was dismissed because of his allegiance to the San Francisco Giants.

"I'm a Barry Bonds fan and I'm a huge SF Giants fan. It's my life. I don't know if I could judge Mr. Bonds after providing me with so much entertainment. It's an intimate relationship," prospective juror No. 22 wrote on a questionnaire he filled out on Thursday. "I don't think I could find him guilty."

No. 22 identified himself as age 35 and working at Target as an "in-stock team member."

Illston also granted the request of both sides to dismiss 38 prospective jurors with perceived biases.

"My opinion is that steroids is ok to be used since these are the jobs of athletes," prospective juror No. 29 stated in his questionnaire before being dismissed. "If a player must advance in his/her jobs, supplements should be able to be used."

Illston said she expects to have just enough people to fill the jury. Most of those who remained told the judge they could stay impartial, though several with strong impressions of the case still remained in the jury pool, taking direct questions from the judge.

The judge spent the morning questioning the jury pool and then prosecutors and Bonds' lawyers quizzed the assembled group after lunch. At about 2 p.m. local time, the judge announced the end of questioning and the two sides began to silently pick a jury by exchanging recommendations on paper with one another. It was still uncertain if the two sides could agree to sit an entire jury from the pool of prospective jurors that showed up Monday.

"I would be reluctant to render a judgment against a great athlete like Bonds," juror No. 24, a single, 61-year-old man living on disability payments, told Illston. "It would color my judgment."

The judge thanked the man for his time, and he sat down to await a decision on whether he would remain on the jury.

Juror No. 74 said her experience working as a flight attendant on baseball teams' flights years ago would make it tough for her to be fair. "I'm still getting over my baseball charters," she said.

Another juror identified herself as an administrative assistant with Google Inc.

"Everyone looks up to these athletes, including young kids and its sad they take drugs to do better. What are kids learning?" the 42-year-old wrote on her questionnaire. "I have young impressionable kids and they do sports. I would be distraught if they felt they had to take drugs to do well in any arena."

Bonds, who played for San Francisco when he hit 73 homers in a season and when he broke Hank Aaron's career home-run record, has pleaded not guilty to one count of obstruction and four charges of lying to a grand jury.

When he initially entered his plea in December 2007, he was met by a huge crowd of media, fans and others as television helicopters hovered overhead. Much of that attention was missing on Monday. About a dozen photographers milled outside, but few fans were there to see Bonds walk into the federal courthouse in San Francisco dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and silver tie.

While Bonds sat with his star-studded legal team at the defense table, Jeff Novitzky, the federal agent who led the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, joined the prosecutors. Bonds is the biggest name to go to trial from the BALCO probe.

[Bear]

Wake me when it's over. Bonds will not serve one day in jail, and it is costing the tax payers millions to bring this to trial. To what end. The government is going broke, and they spend millions going after Bonds. If he is guilty, and I am sure he is, so what. This is a baseball matter, and has little to do with the real worlds problems. This makes me sick.:shakehead:

[SF Kid]

Got a feeling Bonds may be going down. Now they say they have some recordings from Bonds' doctor (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6289428). Not looking too positive!

Pretty funny anybody is spending money on this shit. Then that scum bag Clemens will be next. LOL.

[SF Kid]

Bonds trial: Tape barred, Feds rest

Associated Press

Prosecution Rests Case

SAN FRANCISCO -- Prosecutors rested their case against Barry Bonds on Tuesday as the judge turned down their late bid to get a newly discovered audio tape of two key witnesses heard by the jury.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston refused to let the panel listen to a tape recording of a conversation between Bonds' orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting, and his former business partner, Steve Hoskins.

ESPN.com's Mark Fainaru-Wada is live from the courtroom during the Barry Bonds perjury trial. Follow along with our up-to-the-minute Twitter coverage

Prosecutors had hoped to use the recording to win back some of the momentum they lost last week when Ting directly contradicted Hoskins, who was a star witness and claimed the pair had repeatedly discussed the home run king and steroids.

Illston, however, said much of the tape was inaudible, and what could be heard was irrelevant and inadmissible.

Prosecutors finished presenting their evidence by having court staff read a transcript of Bonds' December 2003 grand jury testimony.

The former baseball star is charged with three counts of lying during that court appearance when he denied knowingly taking steroids and human growth hormone. He is also charged with one count of lying when he testified that only Ting has ever injected him with any substance and one count of obstruction.

After the grand jury transcript was finished, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella told the judge "at this point, the government rests." Asked about the defense's case, Bonds lawyer Allen Ruby said that if the slugger were to testify it would be Wednesday, though that had not been decided.

Earlier Tuesday, the 10th day of the trial, four lab employees testified about the handling and testing Bonds urine samples collected in 2003. One of those samples later yielded a positive test for the designer steroid THG, which is also known as "the clear."

Bonds' attorney Allen Ruby told the jury during opening statements two weeks ago that Bonds unknowingly took steroids. Ruby said that Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, provided him with designer steroids that he was misled to believe were flaxseed oil and arthritis cream.

Prosecutors' task has been to prove that Bonds knew he was taking performance-enhancing drugs when he was breaking the single season home run mark in 2001 and Hank Aaron' career home run mark, which he did in 2007.

Bonds' former mistress, Kimberly Bell, testified that he once told her that he used steroids and that she witnessed the slugger undergo physical and behavioral changes prosecutors allege are side effects of steroid use.

Defense attorney Cristina Arguedas tried to portray Bell as a vengeful ex-girlfriend who posed nude for Playboy magazine and appeared on tawdry radio and television talk shows to get back at Bonds.

Prosecutors also hoped to rely on Hoskins' testimony to show Bonds knew he was taking steroids.

Hoskins testified that in 2003 he was becoming increasingly concerned that Bonds was using steroids, and that he had about 50 conversations with Ting regarding those fears. He also testified that he secretly recorded one of those conversations, but had lost it shortly afterward.

Last week, Ting flatly denied ever discussing steroids and Bonds with Hoskins.

On Sunday, Hoskins found the recording he thought he lost and turned it over to prosecutors. On Tuesday, prosecutors urged the judge to let them play the recording for the jury.

"Hoskins's credibility on the issue of his conversations with Ting is critical to the government's case that the defendant's statements to the grand jury were knowingly false and for the purpose of obstructing justice," prosecutors wrote in a brief filed with Illston.

Bonds lawyers argued that the recording was illegally made -- state law requires both parties consent to a recorded conversation -- and was done at a time when Hoskins was under investigation for defrauding Bonds. Bonds complained to the FBI in early 2003 that Hoskins was selling Bonds' memorabilia without his permission.

"If the recording is indeed of a Hoskins-Ting conversation, it was made in an attempt to extort Mr. Bonds after Bonds fired Hoskins in the spring of 2003," Bonds' attorneys wrote.

The judge simply said the tape was mostly inaudible and that the conversation appears to be a one-sided exchange, dominated by Hoskins discussing news coverage of the federal raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in September 2003. BALCO was the center of a steroids distribution ring that included Anderson, Bonds' trainer.

After the prosecution rested, Illston dismissed the jury for the day, though the judge and lawyers were to meet later.

[SF Kid]

This should be over one way or the other very soon. Frankly I don't care what happens but it would be nice for it to be over.

Gonna be hard for Bonds to get into the HOF I think.

[McCovey]

This should be over one way or the other very soon. Frankly I don't care what happens but it would be nice for it to be over.

Gonna be hard for Bonds to get into the HOF I think.

It's going to be a very long time if ever. If it does happen Bonds will be like 75 probably.

[Bear]

It's going to be a very long time if ever. If it does happen Bonds will be like 75 probably.

Remember a wise Bear told you don't bet the Farm on this statement. :nono:

[SF Kid]

Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction


SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice Wednesday but a jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that the home run king lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using steroids and human growth hormone.

Follow the trial

ESPN.com's Mark Fainaru-Wada is live from the courtroom during the Barry Bonds perjury trial. Follow along with our up-to-the-minute Twitter coverage.

The verdict, following a 12-day trial and almost four full days of deliberation, was a messy end to a case that put the slugger in the spotlight for more than three years.

Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion. His legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and U.S. District Judge Susan Illston did not rule on the request. She set May 20 for a hearing in the case.

The case also represented the culmination of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroids ring. Federal prosecutors and the Justice Department will have to decide whether to retry Bonds on the unresolved counts.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

:shrug:...although I think it's fair to say he won't be in the HOF for years and years if ever. Who cares though?

[Bear]

Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction


SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice Wednesday but a jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that the home run king lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using steroids and human growth hormone.

Follow the trial

ESPN.com's Mark Fainaru-Wada is live from the courtroom during the Barry Bonds perjury trial. Follow along with our up-to-the-minute Twitter coverage.

The verdict, following a 12-day trial and almost four full days of deliberation, was a messy end to a case that put the slugger in the spotlight for more than three years.

Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion. His legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and U.S. District Judge Susan Illston did not rule on the request. She set May 20 for a hearing in the case.

The case also represented the culmination of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroids ring. Federal prosecutors and the Justice Department will have to decide whether to retry Bonds on the unresolved counts.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

:shrug:...although I think it's fair to say he won't be in the HOF for years and years if ever. Who cares though?

Lots of people who think the trial was a sham and those who think he needs jail time no matter what the cost. 30 plus million for what? The trial was BS and the truth be told many more people took roids and lied about it but will never go to trial. It's pure BS. :puke: