Prosecutors drop remaining charges

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal prosecutors dropped all the remaining charges against Barry Bonds on Wednesday, days after a judge upheld the slugger’s conviction on an obstruction of justice count.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco filed court papers informing U.S. District Judge Susan Illston it was dismissing the three charges of making false statements still pending against Bonds, Major League Baseball’s all-time home runs leader. A jury deadlocked on the three counts at Bonds’ trial in April.

The deadline for prosecutors to start the process for a retrial on those charges was about 30 days away. Now, Bonds won’t face a new trial on accusations that he lied to a grand jury back in 2003 when he testified that he never knowingly received steroids or human growth hormone from trainer Greg Anderson, and that no one other than his doctors ever injected him with anything.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella declined comment.

Bonds’ lawyer, Allen Ruby, said that his client’s legal team was focused on the slugger’s sentencing hearing in December. Ruby declined to discuss whether Bonds intended to appeal the obstruction conviction.

Bonds was among the biggest stars convicted as a result of an investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) steroids ring, a probe headed by federal agent Jeff Novitzky that also ensnared Olympic gold medal-winning track star Marion Jones.

Tags: sports, mlb, baseball, steroids, bonds