Bonds Trial Update on Evidentiary Ruling
On Tuesday, Judge Illston denied Barry Bonds' motion to exclude a recorded conversation between Stevie Hoskins, Bonds' childhood friend and assistant, and Greg Anderson, Bonds' former trainer that took place in the Giants locker room in 2003. Hoskins recorded the conversation without Anderson's knowledge, and claims he did so to convince Bonds' father that Barry was using steroids. In the conversation, Anderson discussed techniques to avoid infections when injecting a substance, referring specifically to Bonds, and later stated that he created a substance that is undetectable. Anderson said to Hoskins, "you can take it the day of and pee and it comes up with nothing."
Judge Illston found that these statements made by Anderson could be statements made against his own interests, which is an exception to the rules of evidence that prohibit hearsay. Therefore, even though Anderson will not testify at trial, parts of the recorded statement could be played to the jury, with the caveat that the government must first lay a foundation at trial that the substances Anderson referred to were illegal at the time. If they weren't illegal, the statements would not be against Anderson's interests and therefore inadmissible hearsay.
Both sides were also instructed to confer and come to an agreement as to what the jury will be told about Greg Anderson's absence.
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