Appeals Court Decision Over '04 Steroids Results Favors MLBPA
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Will Appellate Court's Rehearing Of
Steroids Case Help Bonds' Perjury Defense? |
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday decided to "rehear a case involving the controversial seizure of the names and urine samples" for about 100 MLBers who failed a '04 steroids test, according to Howard Mintz of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The court "agreed to rehear the case with a special 11-judge panel," and the decision "effectively wipes off the books a divided 119-page ruling issued in January that generally sided with the Justice Department in its effort to use the test results." The MLBPA "never contested the government's seizure of test results from 10 ballplayers directly linked to BALCO." It is unclear whether the test results "would have any impact on the pending perjury case" against former MLBer Barry Bonds, but yesterday's development "makes it even more unlikely the potential evidence could play a part in his trial," which is scheduled to begin next March. Mintz writes the case could "eventually reveal yet more names linked to performance-enhancing drugs beyond those revealed" in the Mitchell Report (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 10/1). MLBPA lawyer Elliot Peters said of the ruling, "It isn't about baseball. It's about private medical records and their privacy as stored on a computer." In S.F., Bob Egelko notes five men, including BALCO Founder Victor Conte, "have pleaded guilty to illegal drug distribution," but no MLB players "have been charged with illegal drug use" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/1).
TIPPING PITCHES? MLB Commissioner Bud Selig in response to the Mitchell Report said that baseball "would immediately end a practice under which drug testers were giving major league teams 24-hour notice" before the testing, but Minor League Baseball (MiLB) employees said that MiLB teams this season "still received advance notice of when testing would occur." The sources said that the manager or trainer of the MiLB club was "called by a tester the day before drug testing was to be done at the ballpark." But none of the sources said that they were aware of "any instances when players were told about the tests ahead of time." In N.Y., Michael Schmidt writes it is "not clear what effect advance notice has had on testing results" in MiLB." This season, 13 minor league players "were suspended for positive drug tests," as opposed to 16 in '07 and 33 in '06 (N.Y. TIMES, 10/1).
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