Barry Bonds Trial Progresses Past Opening Statements

On Monday, the 12-person jury was selected somewhat ahead of schedule for the Barry Bonds trial, meaning that, on Tuesday, the trial could begin in earnest. And the first order of business on Tuesday, after the jurors were sworn in and given their instructions, was for each side to give its opening statement.

The government went first, taking the floor for about 45 minutes. Federal prosecutor Matt Parrella began by discussing the history of the Balco investigation, and the seriousness of the company’s deeds. He then went on to describe Bonds as being a “walking billboard” for the organization, having close personal relationships with head Victor Conte and personal trainer Greg Anderson.

From there, Parrella discussed some of Balco’s products and some of the corresponding symptoms of use, and explained his intent to prove that Bonds is guilty of all five crimes with which he’s been charged. He highlighted his key witnesses and notably delivered the line, “all he had to do was tell the truth,” referring to Bonds’ grand jury testimony. Parrella, of course, asserts that Bonds did not tell the truth, which is the whole reason we’re doing this.

After Parrella was out of words, Bonds’ defense lawyer Allen Ruby took over and explained that Bonds’ testimony was truthful, and has been misinterpreted and taken out of context. Ruby said that no one was familiar with what “the cream” actually was - recall that Bonds testified that he didn’t know he was taking performance enhancers - and seemed to focus on how difficult it is to prove that Bonds knew what he was using. Beyond that, Ruby then explained his intent to discredit the government’s key witnesses, seemingly by showing that many of them hold a grudge. Before closing, Ruby also noted that the testimony of the government’s witnesses won’t have much to do with the actual charges Bonds is facing anyway.

So now the opening statements are all finished. Greg Anderson was then called as a witness, but, as expected, Anderson refused to testify. Judge Illston has ordered that he be taken into custody for the remainder of the trial unless he changes his mind. Next on the witness list will be Jeff Novitzky.

And we’re off and running.

Follow along in this StoryStream for updates, and also get more information from SB Nation Bay Area’s Barry Bonds trial coverage, for which David Fucillo will be live-blogging - and live-tweeting - from the courtroom. You can follow on Twitter @SBNBayArea.