As the Barry Bonds Trial Begins, A Threshold Question Remains
After years of delays and appeals, Barry Bonds’ criminal trial for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury will begin on Monday.Anyway, the threshold question for the Bonds trial is whether 52 equals 1?
We know, once again, that Bonds’ trainer and presumed steroids mastermind, Greg Anderson, will not testify for the prosecution and will remain in jail. Without the benefit of Anderson’s critical testimony, the prosecution may call 52 other witnesses to fill in the blanks. The government will call former players, Bonds’ personal assistant and even his old girl friend to present mostly circumstantial evidence of his guilt.
While the amount of evidence from multiple sources can be compelling, the prosecutors will be left to wonder how strong their case would have been if they had the one person who could testify that he gave Bonds steroids, Bonds knew what he was taking, and he lied to a grand jury about it. That testimony and that testimony alone, would be sufficient proof beyond a reasonable doubt to gain a conviction of the home run champ.
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.