Greg Anderson subpoenaed to Barry Bonds trial; Trainer's mother-in-law's home raided
By TERI THOMPSON, MICHAEL O'KEEFFE, CHRISTIAN RED and NATHANIEL VINTON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Federal prosectors have subpoenaed Barry Bonds' former trainer Greg Anderson, and Wednesday they raided the home of his mother-in-law in what appears to be an attempt to rachet up pressure on Anderson to testify in Bonds' upcoming trial for perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
Twenty agents from the FBI and IRS raided the home of Madeleine Gestas, who has been targeted by the feds for financial crimes. She is the mother of Anderson's wife, Nicole.
Anderson is expected to be one of the first and most crucial witnesses called by the government in Bonds' trial, which is set to begin March 2 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
According to Anderson's attorney, Mark Geragos, his client will not testify. Anderson, who has already served two stints in jail for refusing to testify against Bonds, may end up in jail again on civil contempt charges.
"Now they're asking if he intends to testify," Geragos told the Daily News. "Greg has made it clear to me that he's not cooperating with these people because he doesn't trust them and they're not men of their words."
Anderson will be required to appear before Judge Susan Illston on March 2, where he will be accompanied by Geragos and will take the stand. The most likely scenario is Illston will hold a hearing that day and then determine whether sending Anderson back to prison would serve as a coercive purpose or would simply be a punitive measure.
Anderson, 42, pleaded guilty in 2005 to drug distribution and served a three-month jail sentence for his involvement in the BALCO steroid ring.
When he later refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Bonds in July 2006, Anderson was charged with civil contempt and sentenced to jail a month later. He remained in Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif. When the grand jury returned an indictment against Bonds just before its term expired on Nov.15, 2007, Anderson was released. Geragos believes his client will avoid more prison time unless the government can prove it needs his testimony to proceed.
"They've got to prove, before they put him in contempt, that they can't make the case without him," said Geragos, pointing out that prosecutors indicted Bonds without Anderson's help, even though they continued to pressure him to cooperate.
"The day after Greg was released, they sent a target letter to his wife," said Geragos. "Almost 30 days before the trial, they now execute a search warrant at his mother-in-law's house. This is coming on the heels of a letter they wrote me two days ago, demanding to know whether or not he was contingent to testify. I'm ashamed of my government. Even the mafia spares the women and children. It's nothing more than cheap theatrics and frankly, disgusting tactics. It's blatant intimidation."
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Apparently the Obama justice department works exactly like the Bush department of justice.Total abuse of power and total corruption.All this for a perjury case.I doubt they would make that much effort in a terrorism case.Obama is just more of the same crap!!!
