Oct 1, 2008 5:37 pm US/Pacific
SF Federal Court To Hear Baseball Steroids Case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
A federal appeals court has granted the Major League Baseball Players Association a new hearing in its challenge of the government's seizure of urine samples in 2004.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday set aside a three-judge panel's ruling that gave federal prosecutors the authority to use drug-testing records of major leaguers that had been taken. The matter now will be heard by the full court.
The 2-1 ruling by the three-judge panel overturned three lower-court decisions that had determined the government's seizure of medical records was illegal.
Investigators seized computer files containing the test results during raids of labs involved in Major League Baseball's survey drug tests in 2003, which the union and management had agreed would remain anonymous.
The investigators had search warrants for only 11 players, but ended up seizing the samples of every big league player from Quest Diagnostics of Teterboro, N.J., and Comprehensive Drug Testing of Long Beach. The government argued that it seized everything because the 11 names it wanted were mixed with the other names on computer hard drives.
Included in the seized records are samples of about 100 players who tested positive. If the government wins the case, it could use those records as evidence to question players on how they obtained their steroids.
Investigators originally were interested in the test results for Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and others.
The players' association says allowing the government to use the seized medical records without previous evidence of a crime would create a dangerous precedent.
Bonds is pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice. He's accused of lying when he said he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs during his 2003 grand jury testimony.
Bonds' trial is scheduled to begin March 2.
The appellate case is United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing Inc., 05-10067.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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