Feds drop prosecution of Bonds without conviction

Though Major League Baseball’s all-time home-run leader has long since been found guilty of practically everything in the court of public opinion, the U.S. Department of Justice finally dropped its case against Bonds on Tuesday after over a decade’s worth of investigation and prosecution.

A jury ruled in 2011 that Bonds obstructed justice when he gave a grand jury a long and evasive answer in 2003 when asked if personal trainer Greg Anderson ever injected him with steroids.

Bonds was acquitted on all perjury charges at his original trial, and in April the US Court of Appeals overturned his conviction on the obstruction charge. Instead, the DOJ said in a one-paragraph court filing Tuesday that the reversal of Bonds’ conviction would stand. He said he’s “relieved, humbled and thankful for what this means for me and my family going forward”. “I just don’t get into other people’s business because of my father’s situation, you see”.

In a statement, Bonds said the finality of Tuesday’s decision gives him “great peace”.

Bonds was initially convicted for obstruction of justice based on his testimony before a federal grand jury in 2003. The jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts charging Bonds with making false statements, and the government later dismissed those charges. Bonds didn’t dispute that he took steroids, but testified to the grand jury that Anderson told him they were flaxseed oil and arthritic balm.

The clearing of his criminal record could eventually pave the way for his entry into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

The appeals court 10-1 ruling erased what was left of the Bonds prosecution, which began in 2003 when his name surfaced in records linked to a then-obscure Peninsula laboratory known as BALCO that became the epicenter of doping in sports, according to Mercury News. His tumultous battle in court has come to a conclusion and the conversation regarding his bid for the Hall of Fame will likely now be more of a pressing topic in the baseball world. A player must garner at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected.