A federal judge has denied Barry Bonds‘ appeal for a new trial on the obstruction of justice charges he was convicted on last April.

Bonds was charged with making false statements to a grand jury in 2003 about taking steroids and human growth hormone, but jurors only convicted him of responding with rambling, evasive statements.

According to U.S. district judge Susan Illston, Bonds “repeatedly provided non-responsive answers to questions about whether [Greg] Anderson had ever provided him with injectables, resulting in the prosecuting attorneys asking clarifying question after clarifying question, and even once resulting in one prosecutor interrupting another.”

Bonds’ lawyers argued that the slugger’s steroid use was not relevant to the grand jury, but Illston disagreed. Bonds is reportedly likely to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the decision stands, the MLB’s all-time leader in career home runs could spend anywhere between one and 10 years in prison.

One Comments for “Judge upholds Barry Bonds’ obstruction of justice conviction”

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   September 1st, 2011 at 3:26 pm

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