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Bonds' ex-mistress testifies

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-30 07:54

SAN FRANCISCO - When Barry Bonds' ex-girlfriend walked into a San Francisco courtroom on Monday to testify against the famed baseball player, it was the first time the two had seen each other in eight years.

Bonds, in a blue shirt and dark blue tie, looked down as Kimberly Bell strode to the stand and was sworn in.

The former Giants star listened, usually attentively, over the next six hours as Bell testified that Bonds underwent dramatic physical and emotional changes during their nine-year relationship and admitted his steroid use to her in 1999.

Bonds, who holds the single-season and career-home run records, is accused of lying when he told a 2003 grand jury he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

During five hours of withering cross-examination, Bonds lawyer Cris Arguedas painted Bell as a publicity-hungry scorned mistress looking to profit from a failed book deal about her relationship with the US home run king - an accusation Bell steadfastly denied. Bell told jurors that Bonds' "overall body grew dramatically" starting around 1999, and that he experienced back acne, bloating, baldness and sexual dysfunction. An anti-doping expert told jurors last week that all are side effects of steroid use.

Bonds also told her a persistent elbow injury was the result of the banned drugs, Bell testified.

"He said it was because of steroids, because somehow it caused the muscle and the tendons to grow faster than the joints could handle."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 03/30/2011 page22)