Baseball: Unsealed Bonds testimony shows evidence of two positive tests
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Grand Jury testimony given by baseball star Barry Bonds in 2003 was unsealed on a judge's orders on Friday and showed evidence of two positive private drug tests for elevated testosterone.
Details of a 2001 test were contained in the transcript of Bonds's testimony to a grand jury investigating the BALCO laboratory, which was the focus of an illegal steroid distribution scandal.
US District Judge Susan Illston ordered the testimony unsealed at a hearing in the federal case against Bonds, who is facing charges of perjury for telling the grand jury that he did not knowingly use steroids during his career.
Illston agreed Friday with Bonds' lawyers that the four-count indictment against the slugger is flawed and ordered prosecutors to revise it because it contained offences that were improperly lumped together.
However, Illston declined a request by Bonds' lawyers to throw out the case.
Prosecutors now have until the next court date in the case, March 21, to modify their case.
It had already been revealed by the US Attorney's Office that Bonds tested positive for testosterone in November 2000.
The 2003 transcript shows that Bonds was asked about test results for a sample labelled with the initials "B.B." and with date of birth 7-24-64 - Bonds' birthday - from January 2001.
The sample showed levels of free testosterone that could not be accurately measured as they were higher than 5.00.
A normal free testosterone level for a male aged between 20 and 49 ranges between 0.95 and 4.30, the record stated.
Bonds told the grand jury he did not know why the tests had been conducted.
Asked specifically why his testosterone level would be abnormally high, Bonds said he did not comprehend.
"I don't understand this piece of paper. I've never seen it before, once again," he said. "So, I would not be able to answer that question because I don't understand how that works.
"And I don't understand if some people may have more testosterone levels than others. And I just - I can't honestly believe that just because this piece of paper says something that there's a problem. Everyone is different."
Bonds said he had never been made aware of the test results and that he had believed his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, one of the men convicted in the BALCO case, had given him products such as flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.
"I trusted him, I believed him," Bonds said of the test procedure. "I didn't think about it."
On January 23 this year, Bonds' legal team called on Illston to dismiss the case or order prosecutors to streamline it because the indictment is "scattershot" and "falls woefully short of the pleading requirements the Constitution imposes."
Bonds argued that the questions he faced, including those on whether his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, supplied him with steroids, were "vague and confusing."
Prosecutors counter that Bonds was told before testifying that he could consult with his lawyers or ask for a question to be rephrased if he was confused.
"Bonds never said he was confused or asked the prosecutor to rephrase a question," the government's filing stated.
Bonds has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him but has neither denied nor admitted using steroids in his court filings.
Parts of Bonds' 2003 testimony in which he denied using steroids were published in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004.
Bonds broke Hank Aaron's revered all-time home run record by hitting his 756th career blast last August 7 against the Washington Nationals.
He finished the 2007 season with 762 career home runs.
The 43-year-old is a free agent after the Giants let him go at the end of last season, and he is not currently on any team's roster.
