Barry Bonds files motion to dismiss perjury charges

Barry Bonds requested Wednesday that a federal judge toss out perjury charges against him, calling them "scattershot."

Bonds, 43, was indicted last Nov. 15 and pleaded not guilty Dec. 7 to four charges of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

The indictment was the culmination of a four-year federal investigation into whether baseball's home run king lied under oath to a San Francisco grand jury looking into steroid use in 2003.

But a motion of dismissal filed by Bonds's lawyers claimed that "the questions posed to him by two different prosecutors were frequently imprecise, redundant, overlapping and frequently compound." 

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston will decide whether to toss out the case or order prosecutors to streamline the indictment, which cites 19 different instances of Bonds's alleged lying, or reject the motion and proceed as planned.

Bonds testified in 2003 during the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case that he never knowingly used steroids.

BALCO was a nutritional supplements lab, based in San Francisco, charged with illegal steroid distribution to elite athletes.

Alleged to have received steroids were Bonds, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, former NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski and sprinters Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones.

BALCO president Victor Conte, vice-president James Valente and Greg Anderson, Bonds's former personal trainer, were convicted on Oct. 15, 2006, of operating an illegal steroid distribution ring.

Also convicted were Patrick Arnold, a rogue chemist, and track coach Remi Korchemny. 

Bonds, an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants at the time, testified in 2003 that Anderson provided him with flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, not steroids.

Asked if Anderson supplied him with steroids, Bonds replied: "Not that I know of."

Suspected of steroid use

Bonds has been dogged by allegations of steroid use for years but has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

The New York Daily News reported last Jan. 10 that Bonds failed an amphetamines test in 2006.

In March 2006, Bonds filed a lawsuit against two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who published Game of Shadows, a book that alleged he used steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs but Bonds dropped the suit three months later.

And Kimberly Bell, Bonds's ex-mistress, testified before a grand jury that Bonds told her of his steroid use in 2000.

Bonds is the most prolific slugger of his generation, surpassing Mark McGwire's record for home runs in a single season with 73 in 2001, and breaking Henry Aaron's career mark of 755 homers on last Aug. 7.

Bonds is a career .298 hitter with 762 home runs, 1,996 runs batted in, 2,227 runs scored and 514 stolen bases in 2,986 games over 22 MLB seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Giants.

He owns the major-league record of 2,558 career walks and an unprecedented seven National League Most Valuable Player awards.