Legal News

Pregaming Week Two in Bonds Trial: Things Could Get Very Interesting

By Ashby Jones

The Barry Bonds trial wasn’t in session on Friday, so we can’t bring you news of today’s testimony.

Still, a post on the slugger’s perjury trial is well in order if only to whet your appetite for what could be on tap next week. Ladies and gentlemen, this could get downright, well, bodily.

Thursday’s testimony largely surrounded that of Larry Bowers, a scientist with the U.S. Anti-Doping agency. According to this account at the SF Chronicle, Bowers hardly even mentioned Bonds’s name. He didn’t need to: his job was simply to inform the jury about some of the strange and harmful side effects of prolonged anabolic steroid use.

According to the Chronicle, Bowers testified that:

Acne, especially on the back and chest, occurs because steroids stimulate sweat glands. The drugs also affect hair follicles, sometimes causing premature baldness, he said.

Sexual problems occur because the drugs can interfere with the body’s ability to produce natural testosterone; that can cause occasional impotence, the scientist said. Meanwhile, he said studies by a Harvard professor have documented increases in aggressive behavior, also known as ” ‘roid rage.”

And why was this testimony necessary? In short, to prepare the jury for what could come next week: the testimony of Kimberly Bell, Bonds’s former girlfriend. And this is where things could get a little ugly for Bonds, still the only player in Major League history to post an on-base percentage of over .600 for an entire season (.609 in 2004). According to the Chron:

Bell has told investigators that in 1999, Bonds admitted to her that he was using steroids. After that, by her account, Bonds’ body and psyche underwent dramatic changes: He became significantly more muscular, suffered occasional bouts of impotence and flareups of back acne, and had bursts of violent temper.

Allen Ruby, Bonds’s lawyer, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday afternoon.

For more on the Bonds trial, we recommend Rob Iracane’s work over at Yahoo! Sports. A little off color, yes, but a good punch-by-punch account of what’s going on.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 25, 2011 (boomark / email).