Federal prosecutors on the Barry Bonds case have brought in more witnesses to testify against the former Giants catcher. While Greg Anderson, Bonds’ former trainer still doesn’t want to show up in court, several close friends of Bonds will be used as government witnesses to testify that the athlete had indeed used anabolic steroids in his career.

Among the list of witnesses are Kathy Hoskins and her brother Steve Hoskins, both childhood friends of Bonds. The defense was already aware that Steve would be testifying although they have just recently learned of Kathy’s participation. Kathy used to be Bonds’ assistant and personal shopper, and had traveled with him in several occasions.

From San Francisco Chronicle:

And for the first time, prosecutors said they have a witness who says she saw Bonds being injected by Anderson - Hoskins, who is also the sister of Bonds’ former longtime business manager, Steve Hoskins, another key government witness.

In 2003, Steve Hoskins secretly tape-recorded a conversation in which Anderson described the regimen of undetectable drugs he was giving Bonds, the government says.

In Friday’s filing, prosecutors did not assert that the injection Bonds allegedly received from Anderson contained banned drugs. Nevertheless, the claim is significant, because in his testimony before the grand jury that investigated BALCO, Bonds said he had never received an injection of any kind from Anderson, saying he had received injections only from doctors.

Kim Bell, Bonds‘ former girlfriend will also be standing in as a witness although the defense has claimed that she would be doing it in order to publicize her tell-all book. Bell claimed that Bonds admitted to her that he had been injecting with anabolic steroids and that she had also noticed steroid side effects including back acne and shrunken testicles.

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U.S. District Judge Susan Illston will be giving the prosecution for the Barry Bonds’ case a very hard time this coming trial. She has mentioned that she might be forbidding the use of the records taken from the raid in the Nevada laboratory that had run the anabolic steroids drug tests as evidence. According to Illston, the prosecution will not be able to link the urine and blood samples tested to Bonds. There is no concrete proof that these samples really belong to the athlete. Amidst the protests, prosecutors know that they do lack the important witness to do this.

From The Mercury News

Illston is expected to issue a final decision soon, but if she blocks use of the drug tests it would mark the strongest suggestion yet that prosecutors will be hobbled because they lack the testimony of Greg Anderson, Bonds’ former personal trainer who has steadfastly refused to cooperate and tell his account in a courtroom.

Federal prosecutors insist Anderson supplied Bonds with steroids, and that he was responsible for getting his urine and blood tested through Balco, the now-defunct Peninsula lab at the heart of the biggest sports doping scandal in history. But unless Anderson were to testify that he did so, defense lawyers have argued that there is no way to validate the steroids tests, or to ensure Bonds’ legal right to cross-examine Anderson, who would be his chief accuser in absentia.

Without Anderson, the defense will have the upper hand. Prosecutors need Anderson to testify that Bonds did use performance enhancing drugs. Unfortunately for them, the former trainer has not expressed any intention to show up amidst possible contempt charges and serving another year in prison. Although the government knows that the documents they have are enough to charge Bonds of lying, they lack the legal means to do

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Prosecutors for Barry Bonds’ perjury trial will be calling in several Major League players to testify in court in order to support that Greg Anderson, Bonds’ trainer, created an anabolic steroids calendar scheduling the use of performance enhancing drugs and training. Prosecutors are hoping that a calendar with Bonds’ initials seized from Victor Conte’s office in 2003 will indirectly prove that the athlete is lying about not knowing that he was taking steroids. The players who will be called are the Giambi brothers, Jason and Jeremy, Bobby Estalella, Gary Sheffield, Benito Santiago, Randy Vellarde and Marvin Benard. Bonds’ trial will be held on the 2nd of March.

From Daily News:

Estalella told the BALCO grand jury in 2003 that he received the steroids “the cream” and “the clear” from Anderson, who also created a drug schedule for him but said he never discussed those substances with any other player, presumably including Bonds.

The defense would most probably try to sway the jury that Estalella is inconsistent and that he should have already testified about knowing Bonds’ steroid use during the 2006 trial. Still, there are other players who do know about Anderson’s calendar.

Jason Giambi played with the Yankees from 2002 through last season. He became a free agent and signed a contract to return to the Oakland Athletics in 2009. Giambi reportedly told the BALCO grand jury that Anderson told him “the cream” and “the clear” were an alternative to steroids that would not show up in drug tests. Giambi also acknowledged that Anderson kept a calendar outlining his training program and drug use, as did Jeremy Giambi

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Barry Bonds, a former San Francisco Giant, is facing charge of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with a 2003 testimony he had released under oath. Although he admitted to using “the cream” and “the clear”, Bonds said that he didn’t know that they were performance enhancing drugs. Further investigations convinced agents that he was lying when an unnamed source identified a urine sample positive for anabolic steroids linked to Bonds.

In the middle of trying to prove his guilt, Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, is constantly being pressured by the court to testify against Bonds. Last Wednesday, Anderson’s mother-in-law’s home was raided and several documents showing that she owes several creditors a lot of money. Madeleine Gestas, the mother of Anderson’s wife, has been having trouble with her online banking business. Her lawyers believe that the raid was an attempt to force Anderson into being a federal witness in Bonds’ hearings.

From San Francisco Chronicle:

Anderson pleaded guilty to steroid dealing in the BALCO drug case, but in 2006 and 2007 he repeatedly refused to testify before the federal grand jury that later indicted Bonds on charges of lying under oath when he denied knowingly using steroids. The trainer served a year in federal prison for contempt of court.

Then, in what defense lawyers said was a new attempt to induce Anderson to testify about Bonds and steroids, prosecutors in June informed both the trainer’s wife and his mother-in-law that they were targets of a federal conspiracy probe

If Anderson chooses not to show up, he would again be charged of contempt and possibly serve another year in prison. The trainer, however, still hasn’t shown signs that he will be testifying. Federal agents believe that with Anderson as a primary witness, it will be a lot easier finally convicting Bonds.

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Barry Bonds’ belief of Nietzschian philosophy of ‘whoever cannot lie does not know what truth is’ could be his admission to a correctional institution.

As you well know, Bonds is now facing charges for lying to 2003 grand jury investigating anabolic steroid use among professional athletes, including those from the Major League Baseball roster.

From the Boston Globe:

Federal prosecutors say they will prove personal trainer Greg Anderson supplied Barry Bonds with the steroids that led to a positive test in November 2000, the offseason before the slugger hit a major league record 73 home runs.

In a court filing Wednesday, prosecutors provided a glimpse of their trial strategy against Bonds, who’s accused of lying to a 2003 grand jury investigating steroids use among elite athletes. Prosecutors said they have two documents showing Bonds tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2000 and that Anderson supplied the drugs, but they did not give details.

Federal prosecutors served 15 felony charges against Bonds, but Bonds’ attorneys are maneuvering to have nine of those 15 charges be dropped. They said prosecutors asked ambiguous and confusing questions when Bonds appeared before the grand jury.

To illustrate their point, they argued that the question, “In the weeks and months leading up to November 2000, were you taking steroids?” was ambiguous because of an ill-defined time element. Bonds answered no to that query.

But prosecutors are opposing that move, stating that a jury should decide whether that particular question was ambiguous and unfair. The two documents they have as evidence will put that question into context.

Bonds has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice. He was accused of lying when he said he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs during his 2003 testimony. Bonds said before the BALCO grand jury that he received ‘a clear substance and a cream’ from Anderson saying he was informed by Anderson that they were nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis. The two substances were later identified as ‘the cream’ and ‘the clear’, both anabolic steroids.

Bonds’ trial is set for March 2 next year.

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With the recent conviction of Trevor Graham, all eyes are now turned to slugger Barry Bonds. Bonds was indicted November 15 last year on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. His trial is expected to take place not until next year.

Bonds was accused of lying when he said he was unaware that he was using steroids provided to him by his trainer Greg Anderson. He was also accused of committing perjury when he denied that his trainer never injected him with steroids. Anderson, meanwhile, has served prison term for refusing to testify against Bonds.

In the book Game of Shadows, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams have chronicled Bonds’ use of steroids and other banned substances. The controversial book described how and why Bonds turned to steroids after the 1998 season to enhance his performance in the Major League. The book alleged he was jealous of Mark McGwire’s popularity because of the latter’s impressive record. At that time, McGwire was the proud holder of the single-season home run record.

In 2001, he beat McGwire’s 70 home runs – Bonds hit 73. The book reported that at that time Bonds was already into two designer steroids called as “The Cream” and “The Clear”. The book further alleged that aside from the two designer steroids, Bonds was also using insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid developed to improve the muscle quality of livestock.

In September 2003, federal investigators raided the Bay Area Laboratories Co-Operative (BALCO), in Burlingame, California. BALCO was tipped on by Trevor Graham as the source of steroids of many American and European athletes. In said raid, financial and medical records were seized. Two days after, authorities searched Anderson’s home and found documents that suggested Bonds was using steroids and other banned drugs.

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