Barry Bonds' lawyers threw a high and hard one at the government's perjury case Thursday, asking a federal judge to exclude key pieces of evidence against Baseball's all-time home-run king.
The defense also seeks to bar testimony from Bonds' former mistress Kimberly Bell about how steroids might have affected the player's mental and physical state. Defense lawyers want to block other potentially key government witnesses on this issue, including: Stan Conte, a former Giants trainer; Steve Hoskins, a former business partner; and Jeff Novitzky, the Internal Revenue Service agent who spearheaded the case. According to a defense memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Bonds' attorneys are challenging the legality of the bulk of evidence prosecutors collected from now-defunct Balco Laboratories of Burlingame.
The defense wants the court to exclude Bonds' urine and blood tests results, handwritten notes and recorded conversations involving Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson, who went to prison for dealing steroids. It also wants to exclude expert opinion by Donald Catlin and Larry Bowers, two respected Olympic drug testers whose grand jury testimony about the side effects of steroids and growth hormone was characterized as "anecdotal junk science.''
Lead prosecutor Matthew A. Parrella declined to comment about the case, which is scheduled to go to trial March 2. The government is expected to file a response to the motion by the end of the month. The defense requested a hearing on the matter Feb. 6.
Bonds faces 10 counts of making false statements plus an additional obstruction of justice charge. He could serve up to two years in prison if convicted.
The motion comes in response to discovery material presented to the defense and gives the strongest hint as to how lawyers will defend the former Giants slugger. Bonds is accused of lying in 2003 to a federal grand injury that was investigating Balco for supplying performance-enhancing drugs to athletes in Baseball, football, boxing and track and field.
It's not surprising the government's paper trail is riddled with questions of validity. Balco mastermind Victor Conte Jr. created a filing system meant to circumvent drug testers. Prosecutors have used similar Balco evidence to win convictions in related cases.
In the motion, the defense requested that Bonds' drug-test results be excluded because of questions about potential mishandling of specimens during transport to laboratories.
Defense lawyers also requested that supporting exhibits in their motion be sealed, indicating they contain evidence they don't want publicized.
Contact Elliott Almond at ealmond@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5865.
