Barry Bonds sentence stayed, pending approval

TheGrio REPORT -- A judge has stayed Barry Bonds' sentence of 30 days of house arrest and 2 years of probation pending an appeal, the AP is reporting. The 47-year-old Bonds was sentenced Friday following a federal conviction on obstruction of justice charges. Bonds was convicted in April of giving misleading testimony to a grand jury. The former Major League Baseball star faced up to 21 months in prison...

TheGrio Staff

Dec 16, 2011

A judge has stayed Barry Bonds’ sentence of 30 days of house arrest and 2 years of probation pending an appeal, the AP is reporting.

The 47-year-old Bonds was sentenced Friday following a federal conviction on obstruction of justice charges. Bonds was convicted in April of giving misleading testimony to a grand jury. The former Major League Baseball star faced up to 21 months in prison, and prosecutors had asked for a 15-month sentence.

According to NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra:

In handing out her sentence, the judge observed that she agreed with the jury that Bonds tried to obstruct justice. Just that he failed. She noted that he did not threaten witnesses, for example. When I first read his grand jury testimony three and a half years ago I observed the same thing. You can tell Barry wanted to perjure himself. He just was pretty damn bad at it.

The judge also noted that the sentence took into account that Bonds has a strong record of philanthropy, much of which is unpublicized.

For now, Bonds’ sentence is on hold pending appeal.