San Jose Mercury News reporter Howard Mintz live-blogged yesterday’s court proceedings in the case of Barry Bonds, the home run king charged with lying to a federal grand jury about the use of steroids. Here is an excerpt:
10:30 a.m.: Judge says she may bar jury from considering testicle size evidence
“Bonds’ lawyers are again arguing that prosecutors have not disclosed everything to the defense, including possible advance notice that Kimberly Bell gave conflicting testimony on the alleged shrinkage of Barry Bonds’ testicles (Cris Arguedas, Bonds’ lawyer, called it the government’s ‘preferred’ subject) U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sent the government a serious warning shot, signalling that she may now bar the jury from considering any evidence related to changes in Bonds’ testicle size because Bell basically admitted on the witness stand Monday that she lied when she told a federal grand jury investigating Bonds that his parts shrunk by ‘half.’” Mintz adds helpfully that “Federal prosecuters allege that shrinking testicles result from steroid use.”