Barry Bonds Trial Hears Closing Arguments On Thursday

The Barry Bonds trial is just about in the hands of the jury, now. All that was left for them to do before beginning deliberation was hearing the closing arguments from both sides, which are being presented on Thursday.

The prosecution went first, with Jeff Nedrow handling the duties. Nedrow began by saying that all Bonds had to do was tell the truth to the grand jury, which the prosecution alleges he did not. Nedrow set about discussing the testimony of the government’s witnesses, highlighting the implausibility of a player like Bonds not knowing what he was putting in his body. He also talked about Greg Anderson being a known steroid dealer, and pointed to the testimony of former players who took substances given to them by Anderson, understanding them to be undetectable steroids.

Additionally, Nedrow underscored that Kathy Hoskins claims to have witnessed Anderson injecting Bonds in the stomach with HGH. He closed by saying that “common sense” would lead the jury to finding Bonds guilty of his crimes.

The floor was then turned over to Bonds defense lawyer Allen Ruby, who immediately argued that the government had failed to present any meaningful proof of anything. He said that Bonds answered every question in his grand jury testimony truthfully, and that there’s no proof otherwise. Ruby also used Bonds’ positive THG test as evidence of innocence, as THG was barely understood for a few years after Bonds began using and wasn’t detected in Bonds’ 2003 urine sample until 2006.

On top of that, Ruby argued that the government failed to prove that Bonds’ grand jury testimony was material to the investigation, which the jury must consider true if it is to find Bonds guilty of perjury.

That’s where we stand now, with Ruby in the middle of his closing argument. After this, prosecutor Matt Parrella will present the final rebuttal, and then it’ll be up to the jury to decide how this goes.

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.