Bonds trainer may get out of prison Thursday
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court has ordered Barry Bonds' personal trainer to be released from prison by 5 p.m. Thursday unless a lower court again holds him in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the Giants slugger for perjury.
Greg Anderson, who served a three-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to steroid distribution and money-laundering charges in the BALCO steroids case, has been imprisoned twice for refusing to testify whether Bonds used steroids.
Mark Geragos, Anderson's lawyer, has been demanding Anderson's release. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday, giving U.S. District Judge William Alsup a day to issue another contempt ruling or to set Anderson free.
Alsup responded by setting a 9 a.m. Thursday hearing.
"I'm hopeful and optimistic about tomorrow," Geragos said Wednesday.
In its Wednesday order, the appeals court did not rule on the merits of Anderson's challenge to his latest contempt order. Federal rules of court prohibit a person from being imprisoned on a civil contempt charge for more than 30 days unless the charge is affirmed by a federal appeals court.
Anderson's latest stint in prison has lasted 36 days, and the San Francisco-based appeals court neither has upheld nor rejected the contempt order issued Aug. 28. A three-judge panel last week sent the case back to the trial judge to clarify the contempt order.
Authorities suspect Bonds might have perjured himself in 2003 when he testified before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds said Anderson gave him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm.
A new grand jury wants Anderson to address that statement, but Anderson twice has refused.
Anderson, who also had three months' home confinement as a result of his BALCO guilty plea, served 15 days prison in July for refusing to testify about Bonds.
Geragos also has said he will ask to withdraw Anderson's BALCO guilty plea on the basis that authorities built the case against Anderson on an illegal tape recording of Anderson discussing steroids, an allegation prosecutors have denied.
0 votes
