Barry Bonds case officially over

Per Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times, Bonds’ conviction was overturned in April 2015 by a federal appeals court, and it means that federal prosecutors failed to get convictions on every charge brought against the former MVP and Roger Clemens. And with the conviction overturned, the DOJ chose to end its pursuit of Bonds, issuing a terse, one-paragraph announcement of its decision. A federal appeals court overturned that conviction in April.

According to the Associated Press, the United States Department of Justice dropped Bonds’ prosecution after almost 10 years of legal fighting. Bonds’ lawyers have argued that the answer could not amount to a felony, and the 9th Circuit agreed, warning that the obstruction statute used to convict the former baseball star was not intended to criminalize such courtroom testimony.

The U.S. Department of Justice ended its prosecution of Barry Bonds.

A jury convicted him of obstructing justice because of the answer he gave when he was asked if his personal trainer Greg Anderson ever injected him with steroids.

Bonds was indicted in 2007 on perjury and obstruction charges related to lying to the grand jury in the midst of what became the most extensive investigation of steroid use in sports. But he was caught in the middle of baseball’s BALCO performance-enhancing drug scandal in the early 2000s.

Now the question is, could this clearing of his criminal record spark him finally gaining entry into baseball’s Hall of Fame?

Bonds was called before a grand jury investigating BALCO in 2003. The DOJ said in its court filing that the solicitor general would not appeal the case, meaning the reversal of Bonds’ conviction would stand. A player must garner at least 75 per cent of the vote to be elected.

Bonds has already served his sentence of one month of home confinement and 250 hours of community service.

“Thank you to all of you who have expressed your heartfelt wishes to me; for that, I am grateful”, Bonds said.

Now Bonds, who did admit to unknowingly using the substances the “cream” and the “clear”, has a clean criminal history to present to Hall of Fame voters along with his 762 career home runs.