SAN FRANCISCO: US baseball's home run king Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice Wednesday for his misleading and evasive testimony in a 2003 steroid probe. US District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on three further counts of perjury after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on them. Prosecutors did not immediately indicate whether they will seek to retry Bonds on any of those counts, in which Bonds was accused of lying to a grand jury when he said he never knowingly used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone or received injections from his personal trainer. Bonds, 46, one of the biggest names to be caught up in the BALCO steroid distribution scandal, could face up to 21 months in jail — but Illston has been reluctant to impose prison time in related cases. The former San Francisco Giants slugger broke Hank Aaron's revered record for career home runs with his 756th homer on August 7, 2007, going on to take his career tally to 762. He also owns Major League Baseball's single-season record for home runs with 73 in 2001. The jury deliberated for almost four days, after hearing three weeks of testimony that was sometimes emotional or combative. During the trial, Bonds' ex-girlfriend testified that he became prone to fits of steroid-related rage. In one of the most dramatic courtroom moments, Kimberly Bell told jurors that Bonds threatened to “cut my head off and leave me in a ditch.” Several well-known Major League players also testified about drug use. Ex-New York Yankee Randy Velarde matter-of-factly told jurors about Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, injecting him with human growth hormone in a series of parking lot meetings in 2002. Marvin Benard, a former San Francisco Giants teammate of Bonds, explained he started getting drugs from Anderson after the trainer advised him against taking veterinary steroids he bought in Mexico. Prosecutors had hoped jurors would infer that Anderson gave Bonds the same drugs, and find Bonds guilty of lying when he said he believed the preparations Anderson gave him were flax seed oil and arthritis balm. At the end of the proceedings, one juror said that the panel was 11-1 in favor of convicting Bonds of lying about receiving an injection from someone other than his doctor. Bonds' former personal shopper, Kathy Hoskins, testified she once saw Anderson inject Bonds, but the jury foreman said that one juror wasn't convinced by that single eye-witness account. Jurors voted 8-4 to acquit Bonds of lying about steroids and 9-3 to acquit him of lying about use of human growth hormone. US Attorney Melinda Haag said prosecutors welcomed the single guilty verdict. Bonds, who did not testify in his own defense, was impassive as the verdict was read in court. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said that they would continue to try and clean up the sport. It is the fourth BALCO-related perjury case to result in a conviction. A sentencing hearing was not immediately scheduled. Bonds' lawyers asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and will return to court May 20 for a status hearing.
