Barry Bonds’ Lawyer: My Client More Innocent Than a Ham Sandwich

By Mark Hoerrner

The case of Barry Bonds, San Francisco’s $20 million left fielder, appears to be the jurisprudential boondoggle of the new millennium. After building a far-less-than-rock-solid case for three years that hinges on questionable testimony of a few close associates of Bonds, the U.S. Dept. of Justice has failed to secure an indictment for a second time.

Indicating that Justice’s blindfold is probably there for more than just impartiality, Bonds’ attorney Mark Rains sunk to a cold cut analogy to describe the plight of his client.

"We have all heard the overworked adage that you can indict a ham sandwich," Rains told reporters after the second impaneled jury was released. "And that's true. It's not hard to get an indictment. So what I say to the public is: If it were that easy, why don't they have an indictment? Why don't we? And the answer is: They don't even have enough to indict a ham sandwich, let alone Barry Bonds."

The meat of the case lies in the arena of perjury and tax evasion, though it doesn’t seem that the government has a solid case on either front. It appears that the government has testimony from Bonds’ former girlfriend and a business associate, but these both come with baggage in that both could be perjuring themselves simply to strike out at Bonds.

The key testimony is sought from Bonds’ lifelong friend and personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who has truly gone to bat for his baseball-playing mate in that he’s languished in a federal prison for several weeks for refusing to testify before the Grand Jury. He was released yesterday when the impaneled jury was removed.

Anderson’s unlikely to waver in his support of Bonds, though the government is counting on just the opposite. There’s no end in the immediate future for the case with prosecutors saying that a new Grand Jury will be brought in shortly and that the dance will begin anew. This time, the feds could bring Anderson before the Grand Jury, ask him for testimony and if he fails to offer it, might be placed in federal prison again for an extended period of time. As much time as 18 months, in fact, which may have Anderson weighing the pros and cons of protecting a multi-millionaire friend versus losing a year and a half behind bars.

There may have been wrongdoing. Bonds may have lied under oath and may have used steroids. At this point, perhaps the weight of his largely white-collar crime should be measured against the cost to the government – to the taxpayers – for this continued prosecution of a case where the government has likely no real case to file against the ballplayer. And if convicted, will the punishment be an example to others? Likely not, since the sentence is likely to be less than six months incarceration with most of that served at home in the off-season.

The lesson here for other athletes like Bonds is that the hounds of the government are relentless, even when the trail is lost and the prey seems to be far from treed.

"This is not a moment of great joy," Rains said in a press conference outside the courthouse. "There is at least temporary relief. This is a moment of humility. This is an issue that has plagued Barry, has followed him around on the ballfield and off the ballfield for three years now. He is hoping that this is the end of it. But he doesn't know that. Nor do I."

Bonds returned to play ball last night and helped his team to a 9-3 victory over San Diego, though he refused to comment, as did his team and Major League Baseball.