San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Baseball's home run king was back in court on Friday, as Barry Bonds again pleaded not guilty, this time to 15 refiled federal charges of lying to a grand jury.
The not guilty pleas were entered in an early morning hearing. At another session starting at 11 a.m. (pt) U.S. District Judge Susan Illston set a trial date of March 2, 2009. Bonds has been charged with 14 counts of lying to a grand jury and one count of obstruction that he denied knowingly taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
STORY....
Bay City News Service and Associated Press
Baseball star Barry Bonds will be arraigned before U.S. magistrate Bernard Zimmerman in San Francisco on 14 counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice stemming from 2003 grand-jury testimony in a sports-steroid probe. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Federal Buiding on Golden Gate Avenue.
Bonds pleaded not guilty to similar accusations in December, but a judge ordered prosecutors to rewrite the slugger's indictment in mid-May to fix legal matters in the document.
Thereafter, at 11 a.m. before Judge Susan Illston, a trial date is slated to be set and a status conference held.
