Federal prosecutors had reason to celebrate over the weekend.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston rejected Barry Bonds' effort to junk his obstruction of justice conviction. And she did it in a 20-page order filed at 7:41 p.m., the day after hearing arguments on the motion.
The defense had argued, among other things, that prosecutors were trying to criminalize rambling.
Illston said Bonds during his 2003 grand jury testimony "repeatedly provided nonresponsive answers to questions" about whether his trainer ever gave him injectable performance-enhancing substances, "resulting in the prosecuting attorneys asking clarifying question after clarifying question, and even once resulting in one prosecutor interrupting another who was about to move on to a new topic in order to clarify defendant's mixed responses."
A little vindication for Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow, who was one of two prosecutors who questioned Bonds. The defense had criticized his questioning, and said Nedrow's response of "right" to one of Bonds' responses goaded Bonds into further rambling.
Responding to defense arguments that Bonds eventually did answer the question, Illston wrote: "An evasive answer about an issue material to the grand jury is not necessarily rendered immaterial by the later provision of a direct answer, even if that direct answer is true."
Press reports from the weekend indicate the defense team isn't saying whether it will appeal the order. Lead defense attorney Allen Ruby said Monday afternoon that the defense hadn't made any decisions about an appeal.
No word from the government yet on plans for retrial on the perjury counts on which the jury deadlocked.
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