Barry Bonds (Juiced Merge)

[ScriptOhio]

Halle-freakin-lujah!

How many taxpayer dollars were wasted on this useless conviction in a trial that was nothing more than a [censored]ed off federal prosecutor trying to justify his existence?

Re: The trial is expected to last four weeks, and will conclude an eight-year pursuit of the slugger. Various reports have the cost of the investigation ranging from $10 million to $50 million dollars.
http://www.101espn.com/category/rkarraker-blogs/20110324/Bonds-Trial-a-Waste-of-Money/

Well if you can believe ESPN , the investigation alone cost anywhere from $10M to $50M. Quite a range and doesn't even count the trial costs.

At least the ESPN writer did make a good observation: Federal prosecutors won?t do it now, but long ago should have issued a release that said ?overwhelming evidence shows that Barry Bonds took steroids during his baseball career, and then lied about it to a Federal Grand Jury. While we are convinced that Bonds is guilty, in the interest of saving taxpayers? money, we will drop the charges against him now?with the knowledge that we would have won a court case had we pursued it.?

 

[MaxBuck]

This is about perjury, not steroids. I have no problem prosecuting people that commit perjury in front of grand juries. If you don't, why bother? With a high profile person, it was a great opportunity to say "if you lie to a grand jury, you can go to jail."

I have a problem with pursuing someone over "perjury" when the "crime" being investigated in the first place is a trumped-up pile of tax-money-wasting nonsense.

If sports fans are so fucking peeved about steroids, let Miller Brewing Company fund these witch hunts. Otherwise, I'd prefer the criminal justice system focus its attention on actual crimes. The court of public opinion has already spoken on Barry Bonds; I really don't see that much else is needed.

 

[OH10]

I have a problem with pursuing someone over "perjury" when the "crime" being investigated in the first place is a trumped-up pile of tax-money-wasting nonsense.

If sports fans are so [censored]ing peeved about steroids, let Miller Brewing Company fund these witch hunts. Otherwise, I'd prefer the criminal justice system focus its attention on actual crimes. The court of public opinion has already spoken on Barry Bonds; I really don't see that much else is needed.

Illegally producing and distributing a Schedule III controlled substance (steroids) is an actual crime. Lying under oath to a grand jury is an actual crime. Crazy as it may seem...

I'm surprised at the number of people blaming the government over Barry Bonds here. The federal prosecutor could have given a [censored] less about whether Bonds took steroids. He was offered immunity at grand jury to testify truthfully about it. This was never about "getting" Bonds. It was about getting BALCO... for engaging in a large-scale criminal enterprise.

When Bonds lied and the federal prosecutor knew they could prove he lied, should they have just looked the other way? The whole system is built on witnesses taking the oath to tell the truth. Bonds lies, for no good reason other than to protect his image, and we're mad at the prosecutor for it. That's a bunch of bull[Mark May].

EDIT: And I do believe the judge can order, as part of the sentence, that Bonds pay the costs of investigation and prosecution. He should be good for it.

 

[cincibuck]

The fact that it's Barry Bonds, a person with the means to fight federal prosecution, is the reason it cost $10M.

If it had been Hamilton County vs Larry Lunchpail, who was using oxycotton (sp), it would have been in the thousands.

 

[MaxBuck]

Illegally producing and distributing a Schedule III controlled substance (steroids) is an actual crime. Lying under oath to a grand jury is an actual crime. Crazy as it may seem...

EDIT: And I do believe the judge can order, as part of the sentence, that Bonds pay the costs of investigation and prosecution. He should be good for it.

1. I was unaware Barry Bonds produced or distributed steroids. Color me surprised.

2. Re-read the verdict. Bonds lying to the grand jury? Nice if you can prove it; the prosecution failed to do so.

3. Get Bonds to pay for the investigation and prosecution costs? For one count of obstructing justice? Get real.

This was an example of stupid money-wasting hubris by a political opportunist. Had the interest really been in punishing BALCO rather than embarrassing a celebrity (Bonds), none of this crap would have happened - the prosecution would have found Johnny Sixpack who dealt with Balco and spent far less on the case.

 

[OH10]

1. I was unaware Barry Bonds produced or distributed steroids. Color me surprised.

Re-read your first post.

"I have a problem with pursuing someone over "perjury" when the "crime" being investigated in the first place is a trumped-up pile of tax-money-wasting nonsense."

The crime being investigated in the first place was BALCO. Plenty of players were subpoened to testify because they were customers. They were all given immunity by the prosecutor because they were told the gov't wasn't interested in prosecuting them for using steroids. They were only interested in BALCO and their crimes.

2. Re-read the verdict. Bonds lying to the grand jury? Nice if you can prove it; the prosecution failed to do so.

The prosecution didn't fail to do so. That's not what a "hung jury" means. They were 11-1 on one of the counts... ordinarily you re-try a person if that's the breakdown because the "1" is usually an outlier.

And let's not pretend the prosecution wasn't working at a significant disadvantage as a result of Anderson's lack of cooperation. If Greg Anderson testifies, a lot of documentary evidence (including his calendar) that was otherwise inadmissible becomes admissible and Bonds goes down on all 4 counts. Fact.

3. Get Bonds to pay for the investigation and prosecution costs? For one count of obstructing justice? Get real.

In this case, the charges were inextricably intertwined. The judge could order it if she wanted. I doubt she does. If they retry him and get a conviction on at least one count of perjury (and they probably would), he'd likely be on the hook.

This was an example of stupid money-wasting hubris by a political opportunist. Had the interest really been in punishing BALCO rather than embarrassing a celebrity (Bonds), none of this crap would have happened - the prosecution would have found Johnny Sixpack who dealt with Balco and spent far less on the case.

Political opportunist? I don't even know the name of the prosecutor. If he's trying to get his name out there, he's doing a poor job of it.

And while Bonds may be the biggest name involved, plenty of heads rolled in this investigation. Numerous Olympic athletes, baseball players, BALCO executives, Greg Anderson, two reporters and an attorney for BALCO all paid the piper. Bonds, through protection from Anderson, was the only one that went to trial. That's why it cost so damn much. Defiant to the end.

The fact is if everyone that had been offered immunity had just told the truth from the beginning, this investigation would have been over years ago. Stop blaming the gov't for pursuing crimes. Blame the asshole that tried to circumvent the system to protect his celebrity. [censored] Bonds. [censored] him up his stupid ass.

 

[NFBuck]

Still an ass.

 

[Gatorubet]

1. You can have my steroids when you pry them from my large, muscled, sweaty, acne covered dead fingers!

FIFY

 

[MaxBuck]

Stop blaming the gov't for pursuing crimes. [censored] Bonds. [censored] him up his stupid ass.

I've never "blamed the government for pursuing crimes." I've castigated this political opportunist for wasting taxpayer money. Big, big difference.

Quit claiming your virulence is based on a law-and-order mentality when your real interest is in raking Barry Bonds over the coals. Your last two sentences make that pretty evident. I have no love for Bonds myself, but there's little purpose served in spending millions of tax dollars to try to "take him down."

And yes, Barry Bonds is still an ass.

 

[Gatorubet]

I've never "blamed the government for pursuing crimes." I've castigated this political opportunist for wasting taxpayer money. Big, big difference.

Quit claiming your virulence is based on a law-and-order mentality when your real interest is in raking Barry Bonds over the coals. Your last two sentences make that pretty evident. I have no love for Bonds myself, but there's little purpose served in spending millions of tax dollars to try to "take him down."

And yes, Barry Bonds is still an ass.

Max, there is often a very good reason to spend $$ to take down a high profile perjurer. When a rich and famous high profile person forces the government to spend its resources to go to trial, only to be thwarted by the person lying under oath, it is good for the system to have the public see that lying under oath can send you to jail. If you remove the threat (ok, perhaps not "remove", but lessen) of lying under oath it encourages perjury. The general public seeing him reamed for perjury. It will be A LOT of folks hearing about that; the story will be widely disseminated. Hopefully, it will make many folks think twice about lying under oath.

It won't prevent it from happening in the future. But if he is allowed to get away with it (perjury) in a highly publicized case where almost everyone thinks he is lying, it tells a whole lot of folks that it is a real good idea to lie on the stand. Bitch slapping Barry will reach a wide audience. A perception "Uh-oh...better not lie to the Feds" is a good thing to perpetuate.

The cost of a trial is not the biggest factor here.

 

[Onebuckfan]

Government wasted money thats what they're are best at..

 

[MaxBuck]

... if he is allowed to get away with it (perjury) in a highly publicized case where almost everyone thinks he is lying, it tells a whole lot of folks that it is a real good idea to lie on the stand.

You're aware, right, that he wasn't convicted?

What a clusterfuck this was.

 

[Gatorubet]

You're aware, right, that he wasn't convicted?

If he'd been convicted, he wouldn't have "gotten away with it."

What a cluster[censored] this was.

If Kinch and I had represented him, he'd be appealing his death penalty conviction right now.

 

[osugrad21]

Nothing like a thread full of lawyers..

 

[OH10]

I've never "blamed the government for pursuing crimes." I've castigated this political opportunist for wasting taxpayer money. Big, big difference.

Quit claiming your virulence is based on a law-and-order mentality when your real interest is in raking Barry Bonds over the coals. Your last two sentences make that pretty evident. I have no love for Bonds myself, but there's little purpose served in spending millions of tax dollars to try to "take him down."

And yes, Barry Bonds is still an ass.

I don't like cheaters, that's no secret. But Bonds took cheating to a new level here when he tried to cheat the system by lying on the stand. If he tells the truth at grand jury, then this would have been over years ago. That's his fault.

And like Gator said, you can't turn your back on high-profile perjury. There are enough people out there that think they can lie on the stand without worry of any reprecussion. It happens in courtrooms every day... in criminal courts, civil courts, domestic courts. The oath is one of the bedrocks of American jurisprudence and the public needs to know that there are real consequences for lying on the stand.

And before we get into this "but he wasn't convicted" nonesense, lets please look at why he wasn't convicted. Quite frankly, if I were on the jury, I may have had a difficult time finding that the gov't proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. But outside of that venue, in the court of my opinion, Greg Anderson is the lynchpin of Bonds' guilt. I cannot fathom a common sense reason for his lack of cooperation other than his testimony would have buried his friend. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure he's guilty - which, in my opinion, justifies pursuing the case to trial.