After a Monday filled with jury selection, day two of the Barry Bonds perjury and obstruction of justice trial has wrapped up and we are right in the thick of things. The two sides took care of their opening statements this morning (government – defense) and we moved right into witnesses. After the jury was removed for lunch, the judge called in Greg Anderson to handle the matter of his refusal to testify. He continued to refuse and was accordingly removed by US Marshals for refusing to obey the order to testify.
After lunch, the first witness in the case, former IRS Agent Jeff Novitzky, took the stand. I was in the courtroom leading up to lunch but was unable to stick around after lunch. My plan going forward is to tweet (@sbnbayarea) and post from court until lunch time. For the afternoon I point your primarily to tweets from Mark Fainaru-Wada and George Dohrmann.
In following their tweets this afternoon, Novtizky appeared to come across very well. The government guided him through his BALCO investigation step-by-step to explain all the details to the jury. All accounts indicate he came off very well as he addressed the jury in detail. At the same time, AUSA Jeff Nedrow, who handled the direct, came off as a bit nervous and unclear at times. This can’t reflect well on the prosecution’s case, no matter how clear Novitzky was in his testimony.
Defense attorney Allen Ruby handled the cross examination and the accounts seem to indicate he couldn’t get what he wanted from Novitzky as he worked to raise question marks about his dealings with Steve Hoskins in relation to the indictment. It sounds like it didn’t work as well as he want. Indications that he grew a little hostile towards Novitzky would indicate a man not quite as in control of the witness as he would otherwise like.
There will be plenty of recaps around the Internet. The San Jose Mercury News ran a live-blog that included more details than one can fit in tweets, so feel free to check out their afternoon trial coverage. I’ll be back tomorrow morning from the courtroom as the cross examination of Jeff Novitzky continues. Once Novitzky wraps up, the government will be calling Bonds’ childhood friend Steve Hoskins.