Greg Anderson made the slow walk up to the front of Courtroom 10 in the Phillip Burton Federal Building Tuesday, standing before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, while his boyhood friend and former client sat nearby. Then a familiar scene unfolded. Illston asked Anderson if he would testify against Barry Bonds, whose trial on perjury and obstruction of justice charges began Tuesday before a courtroom packed with media, lawyers and Bonds' family and supporters. As expected, Anderson refused, and was led away by U.S. Marshals to a holding cell in the courthouse, with a prison stay looming. Although Anderson has been a free man for more than three years, he previously spent a total of 14 months in prison for his silence, and another three months for his role in the BALCO steroid distribution case."You're causing us a lot of dislocation," Illston said to Anderson before he was escorted out of the courtroom. After the brief appearance, one of Anderson's attorneys, Mark Geragos, described the situation this way: "It's extremely disappointing walking into a courthouse with a client and leaving without him. Greg is never going to cooperate with these prosecutors and prosecution, so (jail time) is hardly unexpected."
[ Stop wasting money prosecuting Barry Bonds and please stop jailing his associates for refusing to testify against him. This is the most absurd waste of scarce resources imaginable. Barry Bonds should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame along with Pete Rose. I believe Bonds used PEDs. I also believe many players have used science to improve performance. How is this worthy of a federal court's attention? ]
