The second week of the 2011 Barry Bonds perjury and obstruction of justice trial came to a close with a highly entertaining day of testimony. The government called three witnesses, but two of them really made the day what it was. The government called Dr. Arthur Ting, Kathy Hoskins, and Dr. Don Catlin. While Dr. Catlin did not wrap up his testimony, Ting and Hoskins brought a huge mix of good and bad news for the government's case against MLB's career home runs leader.
Dr. Arthur Ting is an orthopedic surgeon who conducted approximately eight different surgeries on Bonds over the course of his career. The most notable for this case was the 1999 elbow surgery that came as a result of bursitis and tendonitis with elbow spurs. Things started out on a positive note as he mentioned Steve Hoskins coming to him for information about the side effects of steroids.
However, the government's case took potentially fatal blows from there on out. Over the course of cross examination, the defense brought up the various things Steve Hoskins claimed to have asked of Ting. Hoskins testified he asked about specific steroids and PEDs, and that among other things he had discussed steroids upwards of 50 times with Dr. Ting. Defense attorney Cris Arguendas asked him about each of Hoskins' statements and Hoskins denied every one of them. I'd say it was like a boxer collecting easy points with his jab, but this was more like the defense hitting upper cut after upper cut and the government unable to stop it.
The government tried to rehab things by getting Ting to admit he wasn't sure, but Ting emphasized not hearing Hoskins statements on re-cross. If you had stepped into the court room during the cross examination, you would have assumed Dr. Ting was a defense witness. Arguendas was masterful on cross-examination in that she knew the right questions to ask Ting, but in reality once again I think a law student could have taken down the government today.
It was really quite fitting then at the end of the examination, as Dr. Ting left the court room, he shook hands with a Bonds family member (or maybe friend) sitting in the front row near the defense table. I think it was as much an instinctual shake as anything else, but it was still fitting. Suffice to say, Barry was mostly smiles at that point. Out in the hallway, most everybody agreed that he was going to walk after the government's disastrous showing.
At the same time, the follow-up witness Kathy Hoskins may have given them a small glimmer of hope.....
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