Bonds gets more good news
SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds might not walk, like he did so many times in his baseball career, from his perjury trial next year, but he may get off lightly.
That was the message Tuesday when disgraced track coach Trevor Graham was sentenced by Judge Susan Illston to one year of home detention for lying to federal investigators about steroids, essentially the same charge that Bonds will face.
Graham's sentencing follows a six-month home stay handed down to cyclist Tammy Thomas two weeks ago. In both cases, prosecutors asked for lengthy prison terms.
Judge Illston also is presiding over the Bonds' case, making these precedents doubly important. The most Bonds might get if found guilty on four perjury charges is several months in one of his mansions.
That wouldn't be the tough message prosecutors hoped to send after spending a fortune prosecuting Bonds and several other elite athletes.
Said Illston at Tuesday's sentencing: "I don't view sending Mr. Graham to prison as a useful exercise for this government at this time."
The mild sentence is an even larger setback for the government because of the central role Graham played in steroid abuse in track and field. As an elite sprint coach, Graham was alleged to be a central doping conduit between Texas steroid dealer Angel Heredia and stars such as Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin and other Olympians. No allegations have been made that Bonds played such a broad role with other athletes.
Other factors may have weighed in Graham's behalf. Illston gave the former coach credit for sending U.S. Anti-Doping officials a syringe containing the then-nondetectable "Clear" steroid that helped propel the BALCO investigation. And Graham already has received severe professional punishment: a lifetime ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping agency this July means he never again will coach in any event sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the IAAF or USA Track and Field.
The Bonds case could get even more tenuous for the government Friday. Judge Illston will hear oral arguments on Bonds' motion to dismiss several counts of the latest 15-count indictment.
Just this spring BALCO prosecutors were riding high, winning two jury trials in cases that seemed to bear similarities to Bonds'. The government had viewed the April conviction of Thomas on four felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice as a successful prelude to a trial against Bonds. Thomas had lied to a San Francisco grand jury, just as prosecutors allege Bonds did in 2003.
