Bonds perjury trial postponed

The perjury trial of baseball star Barry Bonds was postponed Friday as prosecutors appealed a judge's order throwing out urine tests and other evidence they claim shows drug use by the home run king.

The appeal came several hours after Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, told the judge that he would not testify against his childhood friend at his trial, due to get underway on Monday.

Without that testimony, the judge ruled, the urine tests and drug calendars cannot be introduced at the trial.

Prosecutors appealed US District Judge Susan Illston's ruling to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, forcing Illston to indefinitely delay the trial.

At a hearing Friday, Illston expressed annoyance at prosecutors for waiting until the last minute to decide whether to file the appeal.

"It would be an enormous expense and inconvenience if the trial does not begin next week," she said.

Bonds' lawyers filed their own motion, calling on Illston to dismiss the charges against Bonds -- 10 counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice.

The lawyers said the government's appeal and resulting delay "will frustrate Mr. Bonds' interest in now putting this matter, alleging offenses occurring more than five years ago, behind him once and for all."

Bonds is charged with lying in 2003 to a grand jury investigating the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by elite athletes.

He testified that he took substances provided by Anderson, but assumed they were flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm.

The case is the latest in a series tied to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). Olympic star Marion Jones went to prison and forfeited her five athletics medals from the 2000 Sydney Games after admitting she took drugs supplied by BALCO.

Anderson, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to distributing steroids and money laundering and served three months in prison, went back to jail for another year for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors when they were presenting the Bonds case to a grand jury. On Friday, he repeated that he would not testify against Bonds.

Illston warned Anderson that "if you refuse to testify, you will be in contempt of my order, and I will send you to custody until you purge yourself of the contempt." Anderson told the judge he was aware of the possible consequences of maintaining his silence.

Illston has ruled that, without Anderson's testimony, the government cannot link three positive drug tests from 2000 and 2001, or drug calendars kept by Anderson -- including one that had a list of drugs beneath the name "Barry B" -- directly to Bonds.

"This is highly unusual, especially when the person has been in prison for contempt and continues to refuse to cooperate," said Jean Rosenbluth, a law professor at the University of Southern California.

The 44-year-old Bonds is baseball's career leader in home runs with 762, and set the single-season record of 73 in 2001.

He has not played since the 2007 season, but has not retired and has tried to interest clubs in signing him to a new contract.