Trainer Won’t Testify Against Bonds

Greg Anderson, beleaguered personal trainer for San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, again refused to divulge to a grand jury Thursday whether he gave the baseball star steroids. But a federal judge said he would wait 10 days before deciding whether to jail Anderson again for contempt of court.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup decided to review a transcript of Anderson’s 45-minute grand jury testimony to determine his level of cooperation. Alsup set a hearing for Aug. 28.

Prosecutors argued that Anderson, whom Bonds’ attorney once referred to as “Barry’s best friend in the world,” should be sent to jail for refusing to testify before the grand jury.

Anderson, 40, had been jailed for about two weeks in July for refusing to testify before a previous grand jury. He was released July 20 when that grand jury’s term expired.

After Anderson’s brief court-ordered grand jury session Thursday, prosecutors still weren’t satisfied.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella told the court that Anderson seemed contemptuous of the process and offered only small bits of information, such as the spelling of his name and acknowledging that he was subpoenaed to testify before the panel.

“He was more cynical than even before, like it was an attempt to delay the proceedings,” Parrella said. “When he was asked, and I paraphrase, ‘Did you distribute anabolic steroids to Barry Bonds?’ he refused to answer.”

Dressed in a charcoal suit, his hair moussed, Anderson slumped in his chair and said little during the proceedings.

Attorney Mark Geragos said his client followed court instructions and did answer some questions. Geragos told the court he needed time to review the transcript of Thursday’s grand jury hearing to properly defend Anderson.

“I’m sorry it might cause [prosecutors] more work,” Geragos said of the 10-day delay, “but the government is trying to incarcerate my client to coerce him,” to testify before the grand jury.

Prosecutors consider Anderson a key to proving Bonds committed perjury by telling a grand jury investigating the BALCO steroids ring that he never knowingly used steroids.

On Thursday, the controversy surrounding BALCO snared New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

According to documents released Wednesday, Anderson told investigators that he had spoken to Brady by phone “regarding a potential future workout.”

Brady told reporters Thursday that he called Anderson “five or six years ago” but the two never got together.

“That was the first of it and the last of it,” he said. “I never heard from him again.”

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Glionna reported from San Francisco and Pugmire from Los Angeles.