Bonds Case in Extra Innings

An investigation into possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds remains very much ongoing, though no indictments were issued Thursday, federal prosecutors said.

It remains unclear if Bonds -- or perhaps others -- might yet face criminal charges in an investigation tied to the BALCO case, the most far-reaching doping scandal in U.S. sports history.

“We have postponed that decision for another day in light of some recent developments,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan, the chief federal prosecutor in San Francisco, said at a news conference. He said “some unanswered questions remain in this case,” declining to elaborate.

A few moments earlier, outside the front of the federal courthouse here, Bonds’ attorney, Michael Rains, said, “This is not a moment of great joy.” He also said, “There is at least temporary relief.”

Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, said, “The whole process has been draining,” adding, “We have to see what the future will hold. I was hoping that everything would end today.”

But in a telling sign that the matter is far from over, Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was released from custody Thursday morning and served almost immediately with a subpoena ordering him to testify next Thursday before a new federal grand jury.

Anderson’s refusal to testify before the grand jury whose 18-month term expired Thursday had landed him back behind bars July 5 at a federal detention center in Dublin, Calif. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, said of the new subpoena, “We will fight, obviously.”

Bonds, according to Rains, asked the lawyer upon hearing that Anderson was -- at least for a week -- a free man, “When can I go back to working out with him?”

The BALCO scandal, which began in 2003, has sparked presidential interest and repeated congressional hearings about the role of drugs in sports, in particular in baseball. Under congressional scrutiny, Major League Baseball has moved -- twice -- to toughen penalties for the use of banned performance-enhancing substances.

The scandal moved to the courtroom in 2004, when Victor Conte, a self-described nutritionist and founder of BALCO, the Burlingame, Calif.-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, was indicted, along with Anderson and others, accused of running a steroid-distribution ring that provided performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of elite athletes.

Conte and Anderson pleaded guilty in July 2005 to steroid distribution and money laundering. On Oct. 18, Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four months’ home confinement; Anderson received three months in prison, three months’ home confinement.

In December 2003, Bonds testified before the BALCO grand jury. According to transcripts later obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bonds testified that he had never knowingly used steroids.

That grand jury’s term expired.

A new grand jury has over the last several months been investigating whether Bonds told the truth in December 2003 -- and, as well, whether cash from the sale of Bonds-related baseball memorabilia was properly reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Bonds, 41, a seven-time National League most valuable player, stands second on baseball’s all-time home run list, with 722, behind Hank Aaron’s 755.

The expiration Thursday of the follow-up grand jury’s 18-month term had sparked intrigue nationwide that indictments could be forthcoming.

The New York Times, in Thursday’s editions, reported that track coach Trevor Graham was also under investigation. Graham has coached some of the world’s leading track and field athletes, including Marion Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, three gold.

Jones has consistently denied the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Graham did not return a call Thursday to his mobile phone. At least a half-dozen athletes who have trained with Graham have received doping-related suspensions; he has consistently denied misconduct.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco issued a statement Thursday saying it was “not seeking an indictment today.”

The statement also said, “Much has been accomplished to date, and we will continue to move forward actively in this investigation -- including continuing to seek the truthful testimony of witnesses whose testimony the grand jury is entitled to hear,” a clear reference to Anderson.

In response, Bonds’ attorneys struck conflicting notes -- at some points striving to be humble, at others assertive.

Rains said, “This is a moment of humility.” Yet he also said, in reference to the prosecution, “They don’t even have enough to indict a ham sandwich, let alone Barry Bonds,” and, “There’s no doubt in my mind this is a group that is obsessed with Barry.”

Because there was no indictment, another of Bonds’ attorneys, Laura Enos, said, “If you haven’t heard, you’ve heard. The government has no evidence. They failed to get the indictment.”

She also said in an earlier interview that prosecutors “haven’t returned Michael Rains’ phone request to sit down and talk about the case -- that’s in four weeks. They have not contacted the accountant or the taxpayer,” meaning Bonds, “for any records. They haven’t contacted us.”

Prosecutors move at their own speed and discretion, said Peter Keane, a law professor at Golden Gate University and a former chief San Francisco public defender, adding that the pause surely signals more to come.

That prosecutors are so eager to compel Anderson’s testimony, for instance, shows they are “extremely motivated” and aiming to produce “everything that they have in order that they nail him,” a reference to Bonds.

A newly constituted grand jury, Keane said, can simply read transcripts from evidence already presented and can be expected to catch up quickly, he said, explaining, “People shouldn’t even look at [Thursday’s] grand jury expiration as a timetable that needs to drive the government.

“It isn’t. It shouldn’t. And it doesn’t.”

*

Abrahamson reported from Los Angeles, Bailey from San Francisco. Times staff writer Tim Brown in San Francisco contributed to this report.