The attorneys for former Giants slugger Barry Bonds formally filed a motion for the court to enter "a verdict of acquittal on the count five charge of obstructing the due administration of justice pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1503. If the court will not rule in his favor on this, he alternatively moves under Rule 33 to vacate the jury’s guilty
verdict on Count Five and order a new trial on the obstruction charge.
This is being reported around the Internet as relatively but people should not be too stunned by this motion. It’s new in the sense that the motion has been formally filed, but this was something that was going to happen the minute the jury came back with the guilty verdict. More relative to this appeal is the fact that he was found guilty for what the defense described as “unauthorized rambling.”
There’s no word yet on how long Judge Illston will take to rule on the motion. It’s tough to tell how the judge will rule on this. It comes down to how she views Bonds’ ramblings in front of the grand jury. One way to split the difference would be ordering a new trial, but given the ridiculous nature of this eight year process, maybe she just enters a verdict of acquittal to cut off appeals and just end this circus.