BY PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds faces the possibility of probation or up to 21 months in prison when he is sentenced Friday for his felony conviction of obstruction of justice.
Federal probation officers are recommending U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentence the Major League Baseball home-run leader to some form of house arrest and community service rather than the prison term that prosecutors seek.
Legal analysts expect Illston to follow most of the probation department’s suggestions and impose a sentence less harsh than the federal guidelines calling for 15 months to 21 months in prison.
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Bonds, 47, was convicted in April of obstructing a grand jury’s doping investigation with an evasive answer during a December 2003 court appearance. He is the last of the defendants directly connected to the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative to be sentenced.
The analysts, Bonds’ lawyers and the probation department all cite the sentences given to other sports figures convicted of similar charges stemming from the investigation as more appropriate guidelines to follow.
Juries convicted cyclist Tammy Thomas of perjury for testifying she never used steroids and former track coach Trevor Graham for lying to investigators about his involvement with a steroids dealer. Both were sentenced to periods of house arrest, which is considered a form of probation.
Prosecutors dropped three other counts of making false statements against Bonds after the jury deadlocked on those charges. They accused Bonds of lying to the grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs and said he allowed only doctors to inject him.
Prosecutors are asking for a prison sentence of 15 months, arguing that Bonds has never accepted responsibility for his actions.
“Bonds’ pervasive efforts to testify falsely, to mislead the grand jury, to dodge questions, and to simply refuse to answer questions in the grand jury makes his conduct worthy of a significant jail sentence,” prosecutors wrote to the court last week.
Bonds will have two weeks to file his intention to appeal his conviction after he is sentenced.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
