Well, that was a waste of time.
Out of the four charges facing Barry Bonds, he was found only guilty of one - obstruction of justice. Yet, this verdict is confusing as there was a deadlock on the other three charges of perjury. Essentially, what the jury was saying is that they could not determine if Bonds lied to a federal grand jury, but he somehow managed to impede the federal investigation into the steroid scandal. Not sure how that would be mutually exclusive to lying to the grand jury.
In the end, this is a victory for Barry Bonds. Not only does he get some semblance of vindication when he stated that he 'never knowingly used steroids,' but he can now claim that the allegations against him were fabricated by those who were trying to get revenge against him. As if to punctuate this, Bonds flashed a victory symbol as he exited the courthouse yesterday, as he now can rest easy knowing that the federal government really has nothing on him.
It is still possible that the obstruction conviction could be thrown out, should the defense successfully argue that the conviction does not make sense in light of the deadlock on the perjury charges. Either way, Bonds has managed to win yet again in the steroid era.
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