Feds end prosecution of Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds is off the hook. Bonds’s conviction was overturned in April and the U.S. Department of Justice filed notice in court Tuesday that it will not challenge the reversal.

To view the full article, register now. 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.

Since his retirement, Bonds has all but completely faded out of the public eye.

Bonds had been sentenced in 2011 to two years’ probation, 250 hours of community service, a fine of $4,000 and ordered to spend a month of monitored home confinement.

And according to Tuesday’s filing, the U.S. Solicitor General, who, according to the Mercury News, makes final decisions on whether to appeal cases to a higher court (the U.S. Supreme Court in this instance), decided not to pursue any further Bonds and his appeal. 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. Verrilli Jr. will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate decision that overturned Bonds’ obstruction of justice conviction. The grand jury was convened as part of an investigation into the BALCO steroids scandal.

The jury deadlocked on three counts accusing Bonds of making false statements when he denied receiving steroids or human growth hormone or any substance that required a syringe for self-injection from the trainer, Greg Anderson. A player must garner at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected.

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

Bonds was charged four years after he testified before a grand jury after receiving a grant of immunity.

Bonds hit 762 home runs and maintained a stellar 1.051 OPS across parts of 22 seasons in the Majors.