From: Oakland Tribune
Andrew Haggarly
7/21/07
Does Barry Bonds remain the target of a federal grand jury investigating whether he committed perjury while testifying in the BALCO case 31/2 years ago?
Not even his attorney knows for certain.
“It may be the one and only best-kept secret of the BALCO case by the time we’re done, since everything else seems to have been leaked,” Michael Rains said.
The grand jury has a one-year term and was thought to expire this past Thursday or July 26, though it could have been extended six months longer. Rains went to the U.S. Attorney’s office Web site for clues and saw a notice for members of grand jury 06-1 not to show up again until September.
“That may or may not be the same grand jury,” Rains said.
Bonds reportedly testified in December 2003 that he has not used steroids but applied cream and clear substances provided by his trainer, Greg Anderson, who remains imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury investigating the Giants’ slugger.
Anderson’s imprisonment is a signal that the jury remains impaneled or has been extended, but Rains couldn’t say for certain.
“I don’t think the feds have any legal obligation to notify the public or me, representing Barry, if they are extending the grand jury,” Rains said. “So if that’s been done or is being done, they have no obligation to talk about it.”
Bonds has cited the ongoing federal probe as the reason he has declined to participate in Major League Baseball’s steroid inquiry, which is being conducted by former Sen. George Mitchell.
This month, defense attorney Troy Ellerman was sentenced to a 21/ 2-year prison term after admitting he leaked Bonds’ testimony to the San Francisco Chronicle.
