Prosecutors in the Barry Bonds’ perjury trial were thrown a curveball when the player’s personal physician Arthur Ting denied ever discussing Bonds’ steroid use with Steve Hoskins who testified last week. This testimony may have given the jury all it needs to question if the allegations against the defendant come from reliable witnesses.
Dr. Ting denied having multiple conversations with Hoskins who is one of Bonds’ former business partners and also denied telling him a Bonds1999 injury resulted from steroids use.
Here is that conversation as it played out in court:
Defense Attorney Cristina Arguedas: “Did Stevie ever say to you, ‘I need to get the information so I can get it back to Barry, so we would know what the effect of the steroids was?’ Did he ever say that to you?”
Dr. Ting: “No.”
The later on;
Defense Attorney Cristina Arguedas: “Did Stevie say to you, ‘Barry is taking Winstrol or Deca?’
Dr. Ting: “No.”
That testimony may have put Hoskins on the island of no credibility. Adding insult to injury, Dr. Ting also gave jurors what they may need to create a reasonable doubt that the back and shoulder acne coupled with size changes to Bonds’ testicles were all result of illegal steroids use saying that that corticosteroids could have caused those symptoms. Dr. Ting then verified that he had prescribed corticosteroids to Bonds in the past.
By the time the week was done, Dr. Ting provided a solid counterpoint testimony to Hoskins, Bonds’ former mistress Kim Bell and Stan Conte, the Giants’ ex-trainer. Conte had told the court of physical symptoms he observed on Bonds and that he saw Greg Anderson by the slugger’s side for years.
Bell and Hoskins were grilled by Bonds’ defense team and afterward jurors may have been given reason wonder if these witnesses had ill feelings for Bonds due to the player’s decision to sever ties with them.
One item Dr. Ting did not counter was the testimony of Hoskins’ sister Kathy, who was Bonds’ personal assistant. She told the court that she saw Anderson injecting Bonds prior to a road trip but could not identify what the substance was. Keep in mind, one of the perjury charges stems from Bonds’ denial that anyone other than his licensed physicians ever used needles on him at any time.
To sum this up, by the end of the week the prosecution had to retreat and lick its wounds after Dr. Ting took the stand and turned the tables.
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Used with permission of the author.
Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.
Copyright ©2011 Sports Climax, LLC
“No,” Ting said.
“Did Stevie say to you, ‘Barry is taking Winstrol or Deca?’ ” Arguedas asked at another point.
“No,” Ting replied.
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