Feds end prosecution of Barry Bonds without conviction

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.

The US Department of Justice formally dropped its criminal prosecution of Barry Bonds today, almost eight years after he was first indicted on obstruction of Justice and perjury charges. In this case prosecutors, no doubt motivated by a high profile defendant in a high profile case pushed on.

As a result, Bonds has cleared his name of the felony rap. A federal appeals court overturned that conviction in April. The government had a deadline to file with the Supreme Court this week, but on Tuesday abandoned the appeal option.

Bonds had been convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011 for his rambling testimony given before a grand jury in 2003.

The steroids scandal sullied a few of the biggest stars in baseball.

That conviction was based on Bonds’s meandering testimony in 2003 before a grand jury investigating BALCO, which was suspected of supplying Bonds and other athletes with banned performance-enhancing drugs.

The answer included musings about being “a celebrity child with a famous father” and other remarks jurors later said were meant to evade questions about his steroid use. He was acquitted on all perjury counts at his original trial.

Howard Mintz covers legal affairs.