December 16th, 2011
02:46 PM ET

Bonds sentenced to 30 days of house arrest; appeal pending

[Updated at 3:21 p.m. ET] Baseball legend Barry Bonds was sentenced Friday to 30 days of house arrest for an obstruction of justice conviction in connection with his 2003 testimony to a federal grand jury investigating pro athletes' illegal steroids use.

But the sentence, which also includes two years of probation and a $4,000 fine, will be put on hold pending an appeal.

The sentencing came in a San Francisco federal courtroom near the ballpark where he broke Hank Aaron's major league home run record in 2007. Federal prosecutors had wanted Bonds, 47, to serve 15 months in prison, according to a sentencing memo filed in court earlier this month.

Jurors who found Bonds guilty in April said he was evasive in his December 2003 testimony, which was part of the BALCO investigation that targeted employees of a California drug testing laboratory and Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson.

The testimony that led to Bonds' conviction came when a grand jury prosecutor asked him whether Anderson ever gave him "anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with."

Bonds told the grand jury that only his personal doctors "ever touch me," and he then veered off the subject to say he never talked baseball with Anderson. In closing arguments two weeks ago, a federal prosecutor said Bonds lied to the grand jury because he knew the truth about his steroids use would "tinge his accomplishments" and hurt his baseball career. Defense lawyers had argued that Bond' thought the creams and ointments Anderson was giving him were made of flaxseed oils.

FULL STORY
Post by:
Filed under: Barry Bonds • Baseball • Sports
soundoff (170 Responses)
  1. Jesus C.

    It's like grounding your son to his bedroom with no supper, lame justice. Bonds might serve 3 hours of house arrest due to house overcrowding.

    December 17, 2011 at 12:51 am | Report abuse |
  2. Joey Isotta-Fraschini

    @ banasy:
    Word.
    Congress lies almost without ceasing.
    Why should anybody be expected to tell professional liars the truth?

    December 17, 2011 at 8:40 am | Report abuse |
  3. ┴┴∩И╛╛∩Я ( ½ ELF slayer & ½ BUGBEAR KILLER )

    i would have a 30-day long party...

    December 17, 2011 at 9:12 am | Report abuse |
  4. Art

    Free Bond! If you want him in jail your a racist, stupid, jealous individual. People lie about small things all the time and they don't go to jail.

    December 17, 2011 at 10:43 am | Report abuse |
  5. Antonio Doorbell

    is this an April's fools joke? .. W T F !

    December 17, 2011 at 12:08 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Bugs Ears

    @ Antonio Doorbell, Is you name a joke... lmao 🙂

    December 17, 2011 at 12:11 pm | Report abuse |
  7. ┴┴∩И╛╛∩Я ( ½ ELF slayer & ½ BUGBEAR KILLER )

    30 days... shoot.. he could just watch lord of the rings, and the harry potters.. and a few seasons of south park and be half way thru the 30 days...
    .
    or invite shaq over and make a rap album..

    December 17, 2011 at 1:25 pm | Report abuse |
  8. CiiroC

    To everybody who is down talking barry bonds...you all need to get over it cause jus like all the rest of the haters you accused him of using steroids n he hit another home run and broke the record...after all this time they doing something just seems lame and an attemt to put a brusing in his legacy which in all reality are just boosting it up..fools

    December 18, 2011 at 1:16 am | Report abuse |
  9. Interesting

    I just hope all the people saying that Bonds should have an *, or be erased from the record books, apply that same logic to Paterno...but then again..Paterno just harbored a criminal...it's not like he killed dogs, or accepted a house or anything, right?

    December 18, 2011 at 7:15 pm | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9