SAN FRANCISCO – Federal prosecutors on Thursday may have put on
their best witness in their perjury case against home run king
Barry Bonds. But there is little doubt they also put on by far
their worst.
Story by Howard Mintz
SAN FRANCISCO – Federal prosecutors on Thursday may have put on their best witness in their perjury case against home run king Barry Bonds. But there is little doubt they also put on by far their worst.
In testimony that undermined a key part of the government’s case, Dr. Arthur Ting, Bonds’ longtime orthopedic surgeon, said that he never discussed the former Giants’ slugger’s steroid use with Steve Hoskins, a former business associate who claimed in his sworn testimony to have had “fifty” such conversations with the Bay Area doctor. Ting testified that he had one generic conversation with Hoskins about steroids, but that Bonds and concerns about his steroid use were never a topic.
By the time Ting left the witness stand, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston was expressing serious concerns about discrepancies in Hoskins’ testimony. Even prosecutor Jeff Nedrow was forced to concede Hoskins _ considered one of the few with alleged firsthand knowledge of Bonds’ steroid use _ had been “impeached heavily” by the doctor for sports stars ranging from Joe Montana to Terrell Owens.
The prosecution fared better Thursday with the testimony of Kathy Hoskins, Steve’s sister, who told the jury that she saw Bonds injected in the stomach by his former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, in 2002.The ballplayer called it a “little somethin, somethin” he took before heading out on road trips. Hoskins, a frisky witness who insisted she was only testifying because she was “thrown under the bus” by her brother, stuck to her story throughout questioning from Bonds’ lawyers.
At the time, Hoskins was Bonds’ personal shopper and helped him pack for road trips, and Bonds allegedly told Anderson it was OK to inject him in front of her because, Kathy Hoskins recalled, “This is Katie, she’s my girl, she won’t say anything.”
The testimony is crucial to one of the government’s perjury counts against Bonds, which accuses him of lying to a federal grand jury in December 2003 about ever being injected with anything by anyone other than his doctor. Prosecutors allege Anderson regularly injected Bonds with performance enhancing drugs, but Kathy Hoskins is the only witness who has told the jury she witnessed such an encounter.
Other witnesses, including former Bonds’ mistress Kimberly Bell and Steve Hoskins, have said they saw Bonds and Anderson retreat behind closed doors, but did not see injections.
Bonds overall is charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice for lying to the grand jury probing the Balco steroids scandal about using performance enhancing drugs. Bonds has admitted he later learned substances he received from Anderson were newfangled steroids, but denies knowing they were steroids when he testified before that grand jury.
The government is expected to wrap up its evidence on Monday and, depending on whether the defense puts on any witnesses, the San Francisco jury could begin considering his fate by midweek.
In Thursday’s testimony, Ting was called by prosecutors to confirm the fact he had conversations with Hoskins about steroids, but quickly departed from the script by saying he recalled just one instance, when Hoskins asked about whether tendon injuries could be caused by steroid use and Ting supplied Hoskins with literature on the subject. Ting denied that there was any mention of Bonds.
When Bonds lawyer Cris Arguedas questioned Ting, she quickly pounced on the discrepancy with Hoskins, who testified last week that he discussed his worries about Bonds’ steroid use an estimated 50 times and had specifically had conversations with the doctor about side effects, including whether Bonds’ 1999 elbow injury was related to steroid use.
“Did you and Stevie talk about steroids 50 times?” Arguedas asked. “No,” Ting replied, adding that he did not recall any such conversations.
Steve Hoskins was a childhood friend who became Bonds’ business associate before they had a falling out in 2003 over Bonds’ belief that Hoskins was cheating him out of money. Defense lawyers have depicted Hoskins’ story about Bonds and steroid use as retaliation for Bonds cutting him out of his financial affairs.
Ting, meanwhile, also provided the defense fodder to undercut the prosecution argument that Bonds’ physical changes were the result of using performance enhancing drugs. Ting acknowledged that he prescribed legal cortico-steroids for Bonds, which are regularly used to treat athletes recovering from injuries, and that those drugs create the same side effects as anabolic steroids, such as bloating, acne and decreased sexual desire, all of which were outlined in Bell’s testimony.
Ting also revealed that he would draw blood for Bonds for tests, even going to his home, but the slugger was so afraid of needles he needed a novocaine shot for such procedures.
Arguedas, through her questions, tried to show that Kathy Hoskins’ testimony was influenced by her brother, but Kathy Hoskins refused to budge, sobbing at times and reminiscing about Bonds, who she took to a high school Sadie Hawkins dance.
She told the jury she never intended to tell the feds about the one instance she saw Bonds get injected, but that Steve Hoskins told investigators they should talk to her because she had shared the incident with her brother.
Asked by prosecutor Matthew Parrella whether she was testifying because of her brother, Kathy Hoskins replied:
“Absolutely not. I was put in the middle of it.”
