Barry Bonds’ onetime business manager left the witness stand Thursday after four hours of questioning that exposed inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his account of the former Giants star as a serial steroid user.
In response to, methodical cross examination by Allen Ruby, Bonds’ lead lawyer, Steve Hoskins couldn’t provide details about when and where the events he testified about had occurred.
Often, Hoskins had difficulty recalling what was said in a series of meetings with federal agents, and sometimes his account conflicted with the agents’ reports.
And at first, Hoskins had trouble recognizing his own voice on the secret tape recording he made of Bonds’ weight trainer discussing the banned drugs he was allegedly providing the Giants star.
Through it all, Hoskins insisted that he had made the 2003 recording of trainer Greg Anderson as part of an effort to induce Bonds to stop using banned drugs – and not, as Ruby contended, as part of an extortion plot.
Bonds, baseball’s home run champion, is on trial in San Francisco federal court, accused of lying about his use of steroids to the grand jury that investigated the BALCO steroids scandal.
Bonds pleaded not guilty, saying he never knowingly used banned drugs.
Starting Wednesday and continuing Thursday, Ruby probed holes in the details of Hoskins’ account.
One interchange involved whether Hoskins knew in advance Bonds intended to complain to the FBI that the business manager was forging his autograph on sports memorabilia and keeping the proceeds.
Bonds’ complaint, made after he says he fired Hoskins in 2003, proved unfounded, the government says.
“Barry himself told you he was going to the law enforcement authorities?” Ruby asked at one point.
“No – he did not tell me that,” Hoskins responded. “I did not even know he was going to the authorities.”
But a 2005 investigator’s report quoted Hoskins as saying Bonds told him he was going to the FBI, Ruby pointed out.
Hoskins then said he thought one of Bonds’ lawyers, Laura Enos, may have told him that. Later he said he remembered that Bonds had told him that after all.
When did that occur? Ruby asked.
“At some point in time in me and Barry’s conversation,” he said. “I don’t know what day that was and what time it was.”
At another point, the lawyer pressed Hoskins on whether he had “enhanced” the recording of Anderson, which was made in the Giants’ clubhouse and is cluttered with background noise.
The recording was “not enhanced in any way?” Ruby asked.
“No, I did not,” Hoskins responded.
But a report on a 2005 meeting between Hoskins and federal investigators quoted the witness as saying he had made efforts to “enhance” the recording, the defense lawyer said.
By “enhanced,” Hoskins said he merely meant he tried to “make it louder.”
Ruby also questioned Hoskins about a secret recording he said he made of Dr. Arthur Ting, Bonds’ orthopedic surgeon, discussing Bonds and steroids. Hoskins said he made the recording, but it was later lost, perhaps because the recorder malfunctioned.
“The truth is, is it not, you recorded Dr. Ting to get information you could use to extort Barry, isn’t that right?” Ruby asked.
“No,” Hoskins replied.
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