NPR: Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury Charges

Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury Charges

Barry Bonds waves to fans during his final home game as a player for the San Francisco Giants in September.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

The other shoe just dropped for Barry Bonds.

Bonds, baseball's leading home-run hitter who has been accused of using illegal supplements in his quest for the cherished title, was indicted today in San Francisco on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He's accused of lying when he told a grand jury investigating steroid use that he did not take performance-enhancing drugs.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment says.

It also says that Bonds lied when he said his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, never injected him with steroids.

"I'm surprised," John Burris, one of Bonds' attorneys, told The Associated Press, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time."

5:58 PM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink

Comments

The Gov is after Barry Bond because he is the "home run king". Why are high profile black athletes being persecuted?

Sent by Tommy Vaughn | 10:55 PM ET | 11-15-2007

It's about time !

Sent by pete | 5:18 AM ET | 11-16-2007

This is a new low for our government. To spend years and literally millions of dollars to indict an athlete for allegedly using performance-enhancing drug, in a league that did not have a policy against it. I think the money and the time, would have been better spent, saving hospitals or otherwise helping the citizens, they suppose serve.

Sent by Eddie | 9:25 AM ET | 11-16-2007

This is a point I don't get - there was no policy in baseball against steroid use when Bonds was alleged to have taken them. That's fine. But there have been laws against the non-medical use of steroids for a while.

It's like me arguing that since by employer, NPR, doesn't have any specific rule against me robbing banks, they're OK with the idea.

I don't know if Bonds is guilty or not. But the question here is did he lie about using steroids illegally. Baseball's rules don't have anything to do with it.

Sent by Tom Regan | 9:39 AM ET | 11-16-2007

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