Balco filing is (oops!) readable

[mweir145]

Just went through some more of it, it really looks like the government has this all wrapped up. Fainaru-Wada and Williams are probably going to have to testify sometime under that subpoena, and if they refuse to and don't give their source, they could be risking jail time.

I sent a copy of this to a couple of lawyer friends, and I am told this is basically a motion filing by the government trying to force the reporters into court ..

Yep, that's exactly what it is. The government is denying their motion to quash the subpoena.

[DK]

These people most likely did something illegal and now will have to go to court for it and risk jail time?

And this thread is only 2 pages?

If "These people" had been "Bonds" there would be bashers galore about taking his records out and throwing him in jail.

Where are the moral police now? These people obtained a grand jury testimony, most likely illegally.

Are you hunting for their heads?

Calling for their articles to be revoked?

What, no The SF Chronicle*?

The hypocricy is sickening...

[CubsFan7724]

I don't know, were you out for reporter blood when Valerie Plame got outed? I know Wrveres probably is because he figures it wasn't somebody in Bush's own administration, but you DK? The government is doing this to get the source, not the reporters. They threaten the reporters with minor jail time if they don't give up the source. I'd say its more likely that they do jail time than out the source, as they are honor-bound not to do so, and if they did would probably risk them ever scoring any anonymous sources in their job.

[BritSox]

Other than Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield, were any other baseball players called to testify before the GJ?

[Apollo]

Hey now, wrveres. I never said it confirmed the stuff in the book--I said it confirmed what the Chronicle wrote about the Grand Jury testimony, and that's exactly what it did. In fact, the only time I mentioned Bonds in the original post was to say that he did not admit to using steroids. So I don't know why you started reading thinking that there would be anything good about Bonds in there.

As for Conte being the source, he was certainly the source of a lot of information, if not the transcripts themselves. But I get the impression that the government thinks he was the source of the transcripts--otherwise, why would they have devoted so much space to him? When he sent that email titled "the end," I think he was angry that they had published verbatim testimony he had given them. And what are the chances that the reporters would have two different people leaking information to them?

But of course, that is speculation on my part. All we know is that Conte was leaking some information, including Giambi's/Sheffield's admission.

Also, your lawyer friends are correct--this is not a motion from the reporters attempting to avoid a subpoena, this is the government request to quash such a motion--which is why there's so much interesting stuff in there. In any event (DK), the chances are almost nil that the reporters obtained the records illegally, which would have involved breaking into the building or something. However, whoever gave them the records was doing something illegal, and if the reporters refuse to testify about it they may face jail time for helping him.

In the journalistic community, if somebody gives you information off the record it's generally considered a matter of pride that you don't give them up, even if it means going to jail. So if the reporters go to jail here, it will be seen as more "the honorable thing to do" than an admission of actual wrongdoing.

[BritSox]

Hey now, wrveres. I never said it confirmed the stuff in the book--I said it confirmed what the Chronicle wrote about the Grand Jury testimony, and that's exactly what it did. In fact, the only time I mentioned Bonds in the original post was to say that he did not admit to using steroids. So I don't know why you started reading thinking that there would be anything good about Bonds in there.

What the transcript says is that Bonds, Sheff and Giambi all admitted to 'knowingly or unknowingly' using roids.

[Apollo]

What the transcript says is that Bonds, Sheff and Giambi all admitted to 'knowingly or unknowingly' using roids.

I could've sworn that there was a chunk in there about each player's individual admissions. But it has been a good 24 hours since I read it, and it is 59 freaking pages, so I apologize if I was mistaken. Thanks for correcting me.

[DK]

What the transcript says is that Bonds, Sheff and Giambi all admitted to 'knowingly or unknowingly' using roids.

I remember reading the part about Sheff and Giambi, but I don't remember seeing the part about Bonds... care to quote it here? I don't want to go through the 59 pages again.

[BritSox]

It's not actually in the blacked out bit.

On the same day as the article about Conte’s “20/20" appearance, the Chronicle, in articles written by Movants, published detailed accounts of the grand jury transcripts of several professional athletes, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and others. As with the Montgomery disclosure, the articles contained detailed and verbatim
excerpts from the grand jury transcripts, including admissions by Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield that they had used, knowingly or unknowingly, steroids supplied by Balco and
co-defendant Greg Anderson.

Basically confirms that the reports were, in fact, accurate.

[DK]

It's not actually in the blacked out bit.

On the same day as the article about Conte’s “20/20" appearance, the Chronicle, in articles written by Movants, published detailed accounts of the grand jury transcripts of several professional athletes, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and others. As with the Montgomery disclosure, the articles contained detailed and verbatim
excerpts from the grand jury transcripts, including admissions by Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield that they had used, knowingly or unknowingly, steroids supplied by Balco and
co-defendant Greg Anderson.

Basically confirms that the reports were, in fact, accurate.

I was actually more curious about the testimony itself in which they revealed that they used.