Four current and former Major League Baseball players have testified that they received performance-enhancing drugs from Barry Bonds personal trainer. The government hopes that the baseball players’ testimony will help convince a jury that Barry Bonds lied to a 2003 grand jury when he told them he did not knowingly use anabolic steroids or human growth hormone (hGH).
Colorado Rockies Jason Giambi, former San Francisco Giants Marvin Benard, former Oakland A’s players Jeremy Giambi and Randy Velarde testified that they received steroids and hGH from Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer. None of the four players testifying had direct knowledge of Bonds use of performance-enhancing drugs. The government hopes they can plant the idea of guilt by association in the mind of the jury.
Bonds’ lawyers suggested that Greg Anderson never explicitly told any of the players that he was providing them with “anabolic steroids” or “steroids”. Even though the players may have assumed they were receiving steroids, Anderson may have only described the products as “undetectable” substances.
Since the question facing the jury is not whether Bonds used steroids but whether he knowingly used steroids, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bonds was aware that the substances provided by Anderson were indeed anabolic steroids. If the four players were not told by Anderson that the “clear” and the “cream” were steroids, then the relevance of their testimony in the trial is questionable especiallly since they have no direct knowledge of Bonds’ steroid use.
Bonds already admitted to the 2003 grand jury that he used substances known as “the clear” and “the cream”. Defense attorneys are likely to argue that the testimony from the four baseball players only corroborates what Bonds has already admitted and nothing else.
One of the players (Velarde) testified that Greg Anderson injected him with human growth hormone. One of the perjury charges against Bonds involves his statement that he did not receive injections of any substances provided by Anderson. Again, since Velarde has no direct knowledge of hGH injections Anderson may have given Bonds, the government can only imply guilt by association.
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