Former Baseball star Barry Bonds confesses to using steroids unknowingly, his attorney said during his perjury trial on March 22 in San Francisco, according to reports. The Associated Press reports that Bonds’ lawyer, Allen Rugby, claims his client was misled into believing he was using flaxseed oil and arthritis cream when his personal trainer was giving him steroids, instead.
“I know that doesn’t make a great story,” Ruby said during his opening statement of the trial, according to reports. “But that’s what happened.”
AP reports Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella countered, saying such claims are “ridiculous and unbelievable.” Parrella stated that Bonds lied to the grand jury even after he was promised that he would face no prosecution charges if he gave a truthful testament.
“All he had to do was tell the truth, Parrella said. “That’s all, but he couldn’t do it.”
According to AP, Parrella attempted to prove Bonds knowingly received drugs from his trainer, Greg Anderson, who had pleaded guilty to distributing steroids following a 2003 raid of the BALCO Laboratory Company, the centerpiece to the government’s investigation into Major League Baseball’s performance enhancement drugs plague. Parrella showed a magazine photograph to the carefully picked jury, displaying Bonds and Anderson together along with BALCO founder Victor Conte, who was also convicted in 2003 after pleading guilty to steroids distribution.
Unfortunately for the prosecution, they wont be able to use Anderson as a key witness. Anderson was sent to jail on March 22 after refusing to testify against Bonds, a childhood friend.
But Parrella has other witnesses, including Bonds’ ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, and former business partner, Steve Hoskins, who will testify that the Baseball legend admitted to them long ago of his use of steroids.
But Rugby countered, discrediting Bell and Hoskins, claiming they both have bad blood with Bonds because he cut off his relationship with them.