Friday, December 16, 2011

Blast From the Past: Barry Bonds Sentence

Barry Bonds was sentenced today for his conviction of misleading a Grand Jury. More on that later. The sentence was for a month of home confinement, a fine of $4,100, 250 hours of community service and 2 years probation. The sentence was immediately stayed by the Judge to allow Bonds to appeal his conviction to the Federal 9'th Circuit Court of Appeals, a process that could take an estimated 18 months. The federal prosecutor, who was seeking a prison sentence, was not happy. He argued that Bonds led a double life, used steroids, kept mistresses while he was married 3 times, none of which had one shred of anything to do with what Bonds was convicted of. More on THAT later too!

I have to admit to conflicting feelings about the whole sorry steroid/performance enhancing drug(PED) mess. On the one hand, I abhor the whole notion that kids feel they have to take drugs like this to have a chance to succeed in their chosen sport. I want a level playing field for kids who don't put harmful substances into their bodies. The whole PED episode in Major League Baseball has diminished my own appreciation for the achievements of many players during that era, including those of Barry Bonds. On the other hand, PED's, in one form or another, are ubiquitous in the workplace for all of us, and have always been a part of the game of baseball.

Caffeine is a PED. It is a stimulant that makes you feel energetic when you would otherwise feel tired. It makes you alert when you would otherwise feel sleepy. It's everywhere! It is mildly addictive. Society has decided that it's benefits far outweigh any harm that it does or any unfair advantage it may give us. As far as I know, there is no disease process that has been linked to caffeine except maybe some irregular heart rhythms in some people, and there is no evidence that is shortens anyone's life.

Nicotine is a PED. There is a reason why it is used by many ballplayers during games other than peer pressure. Nicotine improves concentration and possibly other cognitive functions. Similar drugs have been studied as possible treatments for Alzheimer's Disease. Unfortunately, nicotine is highly addictive and it's long term use causes a host of terrible diseases that cost all of us enormous amounts of money in increased healthcare costs. There is no question that it shortens lives. Once upon a time, society accepted that the benefits of nicotine outweighed its negatives. While that is no longer the case, it is still a legal drug that can be purchased without a prescription, even though it continues to be a significant public health problem.

Alcohol could be considered a PED when used in small-moderate quantities in certain social situations. When used in high quantities or for prolonged periods of time, it can be extremely impairing and downright dangerous. It has severe addictive potential and can cause a wide variety of diseases, some fatal. It is legal for adults to buy and sell alcohol and it is widely used.

Amphetamines are PED's. They have a similar effect as caffeine only much more dramatic. They are highly addictive and can lead to behaviors that endanger not only the user but others around the user. Society has collectively decided that the risks of amphetamines outweigh the benefits. Most of them are either illegal or else require a special prescription from a physician. Yet, their use remains widespread. They were used extensively by ballplayers in the 60's and 70's, probably the 80's too.

Anabolic steroids are also PED's. They aid in building muscle mass and possibly in wound healing. Long term use can cause a variety of disease processes and behavior disorders. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that their use by baseball players and participants in other sports was widespread in the 1990's and early 2000's. Although many of these substances , like amphetamines, were illegal to prescribe or distribute, they were not banned by Major League Baseball until the last Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA) with the Player's Association. There is abundant evidence that they were used with the knowledge and support of the people who govern the game. Society has rightfully collectively determined that these substances not only give the users an unfair advantage, but also carry a greater risk than benefit to the users. Although Major League Baseball has banned these substances and is now testing players for them, the Ryan Braun incident tells us that they are likely still being used by some baseball players.

I'm not sure what the point of all that is. I'll just make a few summary observations:

1. Most of us use PED's of one form or another in our own work and lives.

2. Drugs that are clearly harmful are still perfectly legal and easily obtainable.

3. Whether drugs/PED's are considered "good" or "bad" or acceptable vs unacceptable is largely determined by the consensus of public opinion.

I believe it is an open question whether it is right for players who used PED's prior to their formal banning in the CBA to be punished, either by MLB or by society through the judicial system. Of course, now that there is a formal ban and players are being tested, the rules need to be either enforced or eliminated.

In my opinion, the "War on Drugs" has done way more harm to our country than the drugs themselves. Not only has it led to incredible levels of violence and deaths, not only has it diverted resources that would be better used for other things, it has led to an erosion of our civil liberties that we should not tolerate.

A common practice by prosecutors is to use Grand Juries as a "perjury trap". Unlike other settings, you are not allowed to invoke the 5'th amendment in Grand Jury testimony if you are not the target of the Grand Jury, but neither do you get immunity from prosecution for things that are revealed by your statements. Most of us first became aware of this practice during Kenneth Starr's pursuit of Bill Clinton in the Whitewater investigation that somehow morphed into the Monica Lewinsky investigation and, well, you know the rest.

Federal prosecutors set the same trap for Barry Bonds. He had already told investigators he did not knowingly use PED's. Now he was going to be asked these questions again under oath in front of a Grand Jury. If he admitted to using PED's, then they would charge him with perjury in the investigation. If he denied using them, the prosecutors were confident they had enough evidence to convict him of perjury to the Grand Jury. Mind you, there was never any attempt to convict him of, you know, actually using PED's.

Bonds answered the key questions with "rambling, non-sequitors" that the Jury in his trial determined were "misleading" to the Grand Jury. He was convicted, not of lying to the investigators, but of misleading the Grand Jury, Obstruction of Justice. Fair enough. My only question is why is it a crime for Barry Bonds to "mislead" a Grand Jury, but it's apparently perfectly alright for the prosecutor to attempt to mislead the jury and judge by invoking all kinds of irrelevant information such as Bonds' still alleged longstanding PED use, and his habitual use of mistresses while he was married 3 times? Non sequitors! Now, THAT ought to be Obstruction of Justice!

In my opinion the biggest lesson we all should learn from this sad, sordid tale is that we can all apparently be convicted of a crime if we fail to enthusiastically support an investigation. That, and the general misuse of prosecutorial power, ought to scare the heck out of all of us.

10 comments:

  1. Great post. Informative, and right in my wheelhouse as to how I feel on the issue.

    I really believe Barry Bonds will be viewed differently in twenty years. He will not be a sympathetic character by any means, but he was an amazing ballplayer. I stumbled into his 600th, the Willie Mays tying HR (the best and most emotional) and the 700th. I also just missed getting hit by a foul ball that the gent next to me had an elbow the size of a softball. The next pitch resulted in one of them splash landings the Gints like to hype so much.

    PEDs have been around a ton. I'm going tomorrow to have an early Christmas brunch with my wife's Great-Uncle, 95 years young. The army gave him all the nicotine, caffeine and yes, Benzedrine, aka red devils, aka beanies, aka amphetamine that he wanted. He has a cautious personality, never one to indulge in anything. He served as a forward artillery observer in Normandy, the Hurtgen Forest and the Bulge. He was constantly offered Benzedrine during the battle of the Hurtgen forest, refused steadily during 26 days on the line. Finally accepted, got pulled off and couldn't sleep for days (I'm sure there were some mitigating factors as well) Ballplayers used speed constantly to get through road trips, hot summer days and injuries and hangovers. Its way more prevalent than any moralizing sportswriter would have you believe.

    The only thing I can add is this - educated people in this country need to go to their assigned jury duty and demand to be a part of their peers. It is not fun, it takes time, but if you want equal treatment when the time comes for you, you should show the same respect. I take a lot of ribbing and the occasional bad argument about this issue, but nobody takes civil liberties and courtesy serious until they're on the wrong end of it, and that is a huge mistake.

    Cheers DrB. Thanks for posting this.

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  2. As recently as when I was a Resident Physician working in the local VA hospital, a volunteer would go down the hospital halls once a day passing out free cigarettes to any of the patients who wanted them, including patients who were there for smoking related illnesses. I believe they don't do that anymore!

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  3. Dr. B & Shankbone,

    Appreciate both of your comments.

    The hypocrisy of MLB (what, drugs in OUR game? when? where?) and the incredible waste of money, resources and time for those ridiculous Congressional hearings has always been troubling to me. We, as a society, seem to encourage drugs, cheating and immorality right up to the point of getting caught. Then the "guilty" are blind-sided with full fury, almost being punished in full measure not just for their own "crimes" but also for the actions of those who were not caught. It has always struck me as false, and sends the message to cheat, and cheat well.

    Hey Shank, were you saying that you were at the yard for Bond's 600, 660 & 700? I was there for 500 (about the last big Bonds HR I saw in person). I agree with you, Shank, that while there may come a time when people will appreciate Bond's amazing abilities more fully, they will always want to vilify him. He is, and will always be, the poster boy for the steroid era.

    Also, Shank, agree with you on welcoming being a part of the judicial process as a peer. Of course it's a hassle. But I believe it is so important to be a part of the process. To not be removed from it. I've been eligible for 27 years. Received the card 5 times. Been called in twice. Got into the courtroom once. And was the last juror released (alternate) for that one time. (Lost the position to a Stanford Law professor who was UNHAPPY to be chosen.) When I was leaving the court, I happened to share the elevator down with the family of the accused. And the father of the accused took time to mention that he would have been happy to have me serve on the jury as I seemed to be honest and forthright. So, I felt good about that.

    I wanted to serve. But I've only know one other person who felt the obligation to serve and the reverence for the process. (Maybe I need to start circulating with different folks. heh)

    Anyway, huge digression, sorry.

    While I don't want to Champion Bonds for using, I am clear that the individual is not to blame for the drug situation in baseball. Past or present. It is the circumstance that baseball set up, and it's unwillingness to earnestly take steps (previously more than presently) to prevent drug abuse in the game. The circus that has followed has always made me shake my head.

    And, as Doc points out, baseball is microcosm for society at large. I have to agree, that the "War on Drugs" is a miserable, miserable failure. And it really reveals our combative, punitive nature, and our desire to find someone to blame and punish.

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  4. Kelly - yup, moved back from NY to the City for the 2002 season. Saw about half the games at the park in person 2002-5. Moved down to the southland after that. I got to see 600, 660 and 700 live. Pretty sweet seats, 1st base side, 20 rows up from the field. Too young for Mays or Stretch, Bonds is definitely the best player I've ever seen with my own eyes.

    War on drugs has been a complete failure.

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  5. I was at PetCo Park when Bonds hit the tying homerun 755. I went to that entire series hoping he would break it but seeing him tie the record was pretty exciting. It was great to see the idiots who were booing him and yelling cheater, and then the next minute were screaming and getting on their phones saying they witnessed history. People were outside the stadium trying to buy our tickets as souveneirs or to sell on Ebay. We didn't budge. The Padres fans after the fact were very excited even though they just saw the most hated Giant tie one of the most sacred records in all of sports.

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  6. bonds was convicted of doing what he used to do in every interview...and the prosecutor did set him up, as he never directed him to answer the question

    i think the judge saw that, and that is why the sentence is a total joke

    in fact, i am now willing to contact the judge to tell him that i was the one who told barry to ramble on the stand...for i too would like to spend 30 days at his house

    the ped prosecutions are very reminiscent of the black sox prosecutions

    with the black sox, the players were all told that the powers that be just wanted to get rid of the gambling elements....and yet not one person who was alleged to have anything to do with the fix was actually prosecuted...instead, they went after the players

    every gm, owner and the crook that sits in the commish chair, knew exactly what was going on...and they did nothing...shoot, the dodgers kept documentation based on players cycles

    hey...cubbies just traded 4 players for latos

    if sabes is forced to trade either cain or timmy, that means giants should get a whole team in exchange

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  7. I think it was the Reds who traded for Latos. Yeah, like this package a whole lot better than what they got for AGone. And yeah, this package is the starting point for what Cainer or Timmy would be worth in a trade.

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  8. sorry...i meant reds

    and friars made out like bandits in the trade

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  9. hello DrB-

    It is a preponderance of legal minutiae. An excellent analysis of drug use in our society - to become suddenly puritan is quite obtuse. It's close to impossible to define Bonds using PEDs as "cheating" or "illegal", and, of course, if the CBA did not mention steroids, it was by omission sanctioned. Giambi, of course, had it in his contract, which I'm sure passed MLB muster.

    The "D" word (drugs) puts PC America in a frenzy, but there is a difference between their existence and abuse. They are two different animals. This is where our tax dollars have been horribly misspent.

    I suppose you are correct about the message sent to youth about "anything to get ahead". But then again, that is sadly the society we live in. If you take primary definitions of, say, alcoholism, and place the word steroids in place of alcohol, steroids are not a societal threat. That they are "wrong" does indeed open up a huge can of worms as to what it "wrong" - most things, if you think about it.

    I'm against gross tarnishment of baseball history, of course. I'm against drug abuse. I'm against an uneven playing field. I suppose we'd all be a tad better off if Barry Bonds had a more charming personality. I should be out helping orphans, and I shouldn't have so rudely dumped my girlfriend when I was 17.

    There's a lot of "wrongs"... but did any of them really affect baseball in a manner that defiles the game? I'm not sure they did.

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  10. FYI, very good article on Barry Bonds by Biz of Baseball:

    http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5557:the-barry-bonds-case-isnt-over-but-there-are-50m-reasons-why-it-should&catid=68:jordan-kobritz&Itemid=156

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