Thursday, December 6, 2007

Trouble on the Bonds Defense Team

Interesting story in the Wall Street Journal today about disarray on Barry Bonds's legal defense team, on the eve of Bonds's arraignment tomorrow on federal perjury charges.

According to the story, Bonds is finally trying to hire a criminal defense attorney with federal experience, having made due previously with a high-school friend/private inevstigator, a lawyer with a history defending police in state court, and a plaintiffs' lawyer, and the latter two do not like one another. The result has been several empty threats http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifof civil lawsuits, one against Curt Schilling and the other against newspaper reporters, and no clue that last month's indictment was coming. Apparently, part of Bonds's problem in finding a lead federal defense lawyer is his efforts to get reduced rates (one attorney he spoke with charges $ 900 per hour) and dispute over control of public relations.

Tomorrow's arraignment, while likely pro forma, could produce an interesting story.

Update, Friday, 1 p.m. C.S.T.:

Bonds pled not guilty this morning and was released on $ 500,000 personal recognizance. He was accompanied in court by two new lawyers, both experienced federal defense attorneys, whom he hired last night.

0 comments:

Post a Comment