Associate Dean Amar Comments on Bonds Case for LA Times
Associate Dean Vikram Amar commented on the perjury trial of Barry Bonds for a story in the Los Angeles Times last week. Bonds, a former Major League Baseball superstar, is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for telling a grand jury that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. Associate Dean Amar commented on delays in the trial that have resulted from prosecutors' decision to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Susan Ilston ruling to exclude evidence of three allegedly positive steroids tests taken by Bonds' trainer and a calendar purported to show when Bonds was given the drugs.
"Assuming the 9th Circuit agrees to hear the appeal at all, it could take months, even up to a year or more," Associate Dean Amar said. "As important as it is to criminal defendants to have their cases tried in a timely matter, I would be shocked if it was something done in a matter of weeks."
Vikram Amar, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law with the UC Davis School of Law, is a national authority in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and remedies. His biweekly column for FindLaw.com, the leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.