A lawyer for Barry Bonds urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to toss out the disgraced slugger's obstruction of justice conviction, saying a rambling answer he gave while testifying in December 2003 before a grand jury was not a crime.
Bonds' legal team asked a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the lone felony conviction stemming from his response when asked whether Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, ever gave him "anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?"
Bonds' reply referred to his father, former major leaguer Bobby Bonds. "That's what keeps our friendship. You know, I am sorry, but that - you know, that - I was a celebrity child, not just in baseball by my own instincts. I became a celebrity child with a famous father," he said. "I just don't get into other people's business because of my father's situation, you see . . ."
