Dec 21, 2007 11:53 am US/Pacific
Bonds In Court; Surgeon To Testify For Feds
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Barry Bonds arrives at federal court for a previous appearance.
AP
Indicted baseball slugger Barry Bonds made a federal court appearance Friday for a hearing to determine if two of his six defense attorneys have a conflict of interest in his perjury and obstruction case.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston - who will preside over Bonds' not-yet-scheduled trial - called the hearing to decide whether the lawyers can still work for Bonds even though they previously represented other athletes who testified in the government's investigation into performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds, 43, pleaded not guilty Dec. 7 to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly lying in 2003 to a federal grand jury investigating the steroids scheme centered on the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.
Bonds, the former San Francisco Giants star who holds Major League Baseball's career home run record, is accused of falsely saying he never knowingly received steroids or human growth hormone from his trainer, Greg Anderson.
Bonds' defense team consists of six lawyers, including his longtime attorney, Michael Rains of Pleasant Hill, and five veteran federal defense attorneys who joined the case this month.
In court papers made public Thursday, federal prosecutors identified one of Bonds' new attorneys, Cris Arguedas of Berkeley, as having represented disgraced track star Tim Montgomery and football players Chris Cooper, Chris Hetherington and Tyrone Wheatley, all of whom testified before the grand jury.
In addition, lead attorney Allan Ruby of San Jose represented Bonds' personal surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting, when he was called before a grand jury.
"Dr. Ting is likely to be a witness for the government at trial," the government's court filing stated.
The government said it doesn't plan on calling Montgomery or the football players, but it "can not foreclose the possibility" of calling them to the witness stand.
Prosecutors are concerned that Ruby and Arguedas won't conduct a rigorous cross examination of their former clients if called to testify, setting up an appeals avenue for Bonds should he get convicted.
The prosecution argued in their court papers that Arguedas and Ruby can continue to represent Bonds as long as the slugger formally waives any conflict-of-interest concerns he has with the lawyers' representation of the potential witnesses.
The federal attorneys have asked the judge to "personally inquire of the defendant to ensure that the waiver is knowing, voluntary and intelligent."
Arguedas and Ruby didn't immediately return phone calls for comment Thursday.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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