By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Prosecutors trying to prove Barry Bonds lied when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs suffered a setback Thursday, with a federal judge saying she might toss some of the strongest evidence against the home-run king.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said her "preliminary thoughts" were to exclude from trial three 2000-2001 positive drug tests that prosecutors say belong to Bonds unless there is a direct link that the urine samples came from the former San Francisco Giants slugger.
"If there's no testimony to establish that, I don't think any of them work," Illston said.
The only person who can do that seems to be Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who spent more than a year behind bars for refusing to speak to a federal grand jury investigating Bonds. And Anderson's attorney, Mark Geragos, has said his client will not testify against Bonds at the trial, scheduled to start March 2.
Judge may toss some evidence in Bonds case....
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.
