Court to reconsider Barry Bonds’ felony conviction

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court will reconsider Barry Bonds’ felony conviction for obstruction of justice.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a limited en banc panel of 11 judges will review a 2011 jury verdict finding Major League Baseball’s career home run leader guilty of giving evasive testimony to a grand jury investigating elite athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Arguments have been scheduled for the week of Sept. 15 in San Francisco.

“Mr. Bonds’ challenge to his conviction is alive and well,” Dennis Riordan, one of his lawyers, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit last year upheld the April 2011 conviction, which stemmed from a rambling answer Bonds gave in response to a question about whether he received injections from anyone other than his doctor.

A majority of the active judges on the 9th Circuit voted to have the en banc panel hear the appeal and set aside the decision of Senior Circuit Judges Mary M. Schroeder and Michael Daly Hawkins and Circuit Judge Mary H. Murguia.

Riordan has argued that Bonds’ answer was, in fact, true: He felt the pressure of being a child of a celebrity.

Bonds already has served his sentence of 30 days’ house arrest and paid a $4,100 fine. He also was sentenced to two years of probation and 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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