Federal authorities end pursuit of Barry Bonds

According to The Associated Press, the Department of Justice on Tuesday dropped its criminal prosecution of Bonds for obstruction of justice. He avoided a perjury conviction, but was found guilty of obstruction for a roundabout answer when asked about his former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, and if he ever injected Bonds with steroids.

Federal prosecutors today informed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that they will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a 9th Circuit ruling overturning Bonds’ sole conviction.

The 9th Circuit barred the government from retrying Bonds on the charge, leaving an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as the Justice Department’s only long shot option to revive the conviction. His answer, which included him saying he became a “celebrity child with a famous father”, was ruled to be evasive and “served to divert the grand jury’s attention away from the relevant inquiry of the investigation”.

Bonds was initially called to testify before the grand jury probing the BALCO steroid distribution scandal that rocked the sports world.

Bonds was indicted on obstruction of justice and perjury charges in 2007 and convicted on a single count of obstruction in 2011 for his rambling answer on whether he received injections of performance enhancing drugs while playing for the Giants. But a federal court overturned that decision in April.

Representatives for Bonds and the Justice Department could not immediately be reached for comment. “I just don’t get into other people’s business because of my father’s situation, you see”. The DOJ said in its court filing that the solicitor general would not appeal the case, meaning the reversal of Bonds’ conviction would stand.

Bonds was sentenced to 30 days of home confinement, two years of probation, 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities and a $4,000 fine.

Though Bonds is no longer a felon, many fans-and even some baseball peers-have concluded that he cheated by using performance-enhancing drugs.

Despite that, he has not come close to being elected into the Hall of Fame due to his PED ties.

The San Francisco slugger left baseball after the 2007 season, ending his career with a record 762 career home runs, surpassing Hank Aaron’s long-standing record of 755.