Feds drop last case against Barry Bonds

The U.S. Department of Justice formally abandoned its pursuit of criminal prosecution against former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds on Tuesday.

“In my opinion they should have never brought charges against Barry Bonds and wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars….”

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.

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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April said Bond’s answer when asked whether Anderson ever injected him with steroids didn’t amount to obstruction.

After the 2011 conviction, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced Bonds to 30 days of home confinement, two years of probation, 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities and a $4,000 fine.

The Justice Department was left with the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was probably unlikely to hear the case. The court held the answer was not “material” to the intensive federal investigation into the use of performance enhancing drugs in the San Francisco Bay area. But the DOJ has filed a one-paragraph notice with the appeals court saying it wouldn’t challenge the lower court ruling.

Despite that, he has not come close to being elected into the Hall of Fame due to his PED ties. The grand jury was convened as part of an investigation into the BALCO steroids scandal.

After seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bonds played for the San Francisco Giants from 1993 until he retired in 2007 as Major League Baseball’s career home run leader with 762. Bonds served the home confinement before his conviction was overturned.

Bonds testified that he wasn’t aware that substances he was using called the “cream” and the “clear” were in fact steroids.

In 2007, Bonds retired from baseball with 762 career home runs, which broke the previous record of 755 set by Hank Aaron.