Ex-girlfriend to testify in baseball steroids case
Source: Agencies |
March 3, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A FORMER girlfriend of baseball slugger Barry Bonds will be allowed to testify how alleged steroid use affected his sexual performance and caused fits of rage, a United States judge ruled on Tuesday.
At the hearing Bonds pleaded not guilty for the second time to charges of lying to a grand jury. Prosecutors recently revised charges in the trial which is expected to delve deeply into steroid use in professional athletics.
The Tuesday hearing ensured that the trial, set to begin March 21, will include some of the most lurid evidence the government has amassed.
Bonds' former trainer, Greg -Anderson, again refused to testify about whether he gave steroids to the baseball star.
US District Judge Susan Illston's ruling means the government can try to use indirect evidence from Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, to show he used steroids and thus lied to a grand jury.
Bonds testified in a grand jury investigation of steroid use in professional sports surrounding the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Prosecutors said he lied about his own use to the jury, the chief crime with which he is now charged.
Bell is expected to say Bonds' -testicles shrank, that his performance in bed was hampered and that he was prone to fits of rage.
Bonds' attorneys asked that such evidence be excluded. Bonds' attorney Cristina Arguedas said an episode in which Bonds allegedly threw Bell against a wall and threatened to kill her would prejudice the jury against Bonds.
"If it were true - and we contend it is not - it would be an act of domestic violence," Arguedas said. "There are people who, if they thought someone committed an act of domestic violence, would hate him."
Illston said she would allow Bell to discuss her own experience.
Bonds' attorneys also argued that even medical experts have trouble detecting the effects that steroids have on testicle size, and said there is little scientific evidence that steroids use can cause people to fly into a rage.
At the hearing Bonds pleaded not guilty for the second time to charges of lying to a grand jury. Prosecutors recently revised charges in the trial which is expected to delve deeply into steroid use in professional athletics.
The Tuesday hearing ensured that the trial, set to begin March 21, will include some of the most lurid evidence the government has amassed.
Bonds' former trainer, Greg -Anderson, again refused to testify about whether he gave steroids to the baseball star.
US District Judge Susan Illston's ruling means the government can try to use indirect evidence from Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, to show he used steroids and thus lied to a grand jury.
Bonds testified in a grand jury investigation of steroid use in professional sports surrounding the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Prosecutors said he lied about his own use to the jury, the chief crime with which he is now charged.
Bell is expected to say Bonds' -testicles shrank, that his performance in bed was hampered and that he was prone to fits of rage.
Bonds' attorneys asked that such evidence be excluded. Bonds' attorney Cristina Arguedas said an episode in which Bonds allegedly threw Bell against a wall and threatened to kill her would prejudice the jury against Bonds.
"If it were true - and we contend it is not - it would be an act of domestic violence," Arguedas said. "There are people who, if they thought someone committed an act of domestic violence, would hate him."
Illston said she would allow Bell to discuss her own experience.
Bonds' attorneys also argued that even medical experts have trouble detecting the effects that steroids have on testicle size, and said there is little scientific evidence that steroids use can cause people to fly into a rage.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
