The Barry Bonds trial is officially underway and that means the circus atmosphere is only just getting started. Barry Bonds is on trial for perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to his testimony regarding steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs during the BALCO fiasco.
Today was scheduled to be jury selection and the day in which a full jury was empaneled. However, it looks like jury selection will be carrying over into tomorrow as well. Approximately 90 potential jurors were being called, with 55 scheduled to appear today with the hopes of that being enough to fill the jury. However, 38 jurors have been excused because of their answers to the jury questionnaire. That leaves seventeen jurors and slim odds that we won’t see enough challenges to prevent filling the jury box today.
Beyond the 38 dropped, according to the San Jose Mercury News, the defense has identified eight jurors it wants to bump for cause, and the prosecutors have identified ten (some could be the same on both sides).
The Mercury News will be live-blogging today and I’ll be at the trial starting tomorrow.