Judge Rules New Evidence Inadmissable In Bonds Case

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston turned down the prosecutors bid to allow the jury in the Barry Bonds perjury trial to hear new evidence discovered yesterday. The prosecution had hoped a secret tape recording from 2003 between Bonds and his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting, could be used as evidence. Here is more from the AP and espn.com.

Prosecutors had hoped to use the recording to win back some of the momentum they lost last week when Ting directly contradicted Steve Hoskins (former business partner of Ting), who was a star witness and claimed the pair had repeatedly discussed the home run king and steroids.

Illston, however, said much of the tape was inaudible, and what could be heard was irrelevant and inadmissible.

Prosecutors finished presenting their evidence by having court staff read a transcript of Bonds' December 2003 grand jury testimony.

The former baseball star is charged with three counts of lying during that court appearance when he denied knowingly taking steroids and human growth hormone. He is also charged with one count of lying when he testified that only Ting has ever injected him with any substance and one count of obstruction.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6296272

The prosecution now rests their case. It will be up to the jury to decide whether or not Bonds is guilty. If convicted, Bonds could face up to 10 years in prison.