Bonds’ perjury case put on hold

The perjury case against Barry Bonds was put on hold for three months Friday, with prosecutors telling a federal judge they plan to obtain a new indictment against baseball’s home run king.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had told prosecutors on Feb. 29 to fix their original indictment because it lumped multiple allegations into too few counts. Illston said that prosecutors needed to drop some of the allegations from the indictment or add more charges.

At a brief court hearing in San Francisco, assistant U.S. attorney Matt Parrella didn’t say when the government would ask a grand jury for a new indictment. Illston ordered the sides to return to court June 6, making it likely any trial would not start before 2009.

Eight people connected to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) have pleaded guilty, including track star Marion Jones, who began a six-month sentence in federal prison on March 7.

Brian McNamee, the former personal trainer who has said he injected former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone, fainted while driving and crashed his car head-on into a city bus, according to published reports.

McNamee told police he blacked out because of an ongoing medical problem, the Daily News and New York Post reported Friday. McNamee’s Lexus, another car and the bus were involved in the crash around 12:30 p.m. Thursday on Central Avenue in Queens’ Far Rockaway neighborhood, according to the newspapers.

No one was seriously hurt, according to the newspapers. No one was charged with any offense in the wreck, the Post said. No information was immediately available from police early Friday.

The Yankees announced that right-hander Chien-Ming Wang would be their opening-day starter at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 31.