U.S. ends prosecution of Barry Bonds without conviction

He served the home confinement portion while waiting for his appeal to be decided. Instead, the DOJ said the reversal of Bonds’ conviction would stand. 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.

He was eventually convicted of a single count of obstruction in 2011 for a rambling answer to a federal grand jury as to whether he received injections of steroids from personal trainer Greg Anderson while he played for the Giants.

Bonds was legally cleared by an appeals court back in April. An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that conviction in April. Breaking news on Tuesday found the U.S. Department of Justice is no longer going to pursue the criminal prosecution of Barry Bonds. “I am relieved, humbled and thankful for what this means for me and my family moving forward”.

He was indicted in 2007 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice after allegedly lying to a grand jury over the use.

According to the Associated Press, the United States Department of Justice dropped Bonds’ prosecution after almost 10 years of legal fighting.

“The most one can say about this statement is that it was non-responsive and thereby impeded the investigation to a small degree by wasting the grand jury’s time and trying the prosecutors’ patience”, he wrote.

Though Bonds is no longer a felon, many fans-and even some baseball peers-have concluded that he cheated by using performance-enhancing drugs. A player must garner at least 75 per cent of the vote to be elected.

A federal judge 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 after the 2011 trial and conviction. Thank you to all of you who have expressed your heartfelt wishes to me; for that, I am grateful.

When he retired, Bonds had amassed 762 career home runs, 2,558 walks and 688 intentional walks – all Major League Baseball records – in 22 seasons with the Pirates and Giants.