contempt

What does Bonds indictment mean for reporters Fainaru-Wada and Williams?

The news that home run record holder Barry Bonds had been indicted came as a shock to much of the bay area yesterday. For several years, Bonds' legal struggle has made headlines and helped shed a light on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports, but after such a prolonged saga, it seemed unlikely that the Giants star would go down. His personal trainer Greg Anderson (whom I met while at the Federal Detention Center in Dublin, CA), spent over a year in custody for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury and many believed that Bonds' indictment hinged on the testimony Anderson had refused to provide.

Anderson is out today, but there is no reason that he caved and testified. The grand jury was due to expire next month and its extraordinarily unlikely that he would give up now. Former US Attorney Kevin Ryan confirmed on a radio news program this morning. Anderson's attorney Peter Garagos stated, Law.com, "Frankly I'm aghast. It looks like the government misled me and Greg as well, saying this case couldn't go forward without him."

There are many unanswered questions about why the government brought the indictment when they did, but what's just barely been mentioned is how this turn-of-events will affect Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, whose coverage of the story for the San Francisco Chronicle and their book, Game of Shadows, led to the reporters being subpoenaed and later found in contempt for not revealing their anonymous sources.

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