SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has barred the jury in the Barry Bonds’ perjury trial from hearing a newly discovered tape recording prosecutors say bolsters their case that the slugger knowingly took steroids.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled the recording inadmissible because “it’s barely intelligible” and what can be heard is irrelevant.
The tape was a conversation between Bonds’ orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting and his former business partner, Steve Hoskins. Hoskins secretly recorded the conversation in 2003.
Prosecutors had hoped to use the tape to win back some of the momentum they lost when Ting severely damaged Hoskins’ credibility.
Ting last week flatly denied Hoskins’ testimony that the pair had about 50 conversations about Bonds and steroids. Ting said the two never discussed that topic.
Two transcripts of the tape released by the prosecution and defense indicate Hoskins brings up newspaper articles about a federal raid on a Bay Area lab, and the possible implications for Bonds. Ting replies with mostly short answers to Hoskins’ statements.
Also, prosecutors began day 10 of the trial trying to close the loop on the slugger’s 2003 urine sample that tested positive for steroids.
Prosecutors on Tuesday morning called three chemists from the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory to discuss how they handled and tested the sample.
Bonds provided the sample in 2003 as part of Major League Baseball’s initial steroids testing program. Federal investigators seized the sample in 2004 and had the UCLA lab test it in 2006.
The former head of the lab, Dr. Don Catlin, is expected to testify next.
Bonds is on trial for allegedly lying to a grand jury when he denied knowingly taking steroids. The trial is in its third week.
