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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 12:11 p.m., Tuesday, February 24, 2009

MLB: Bonds' personal trainer expected to remain silent

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds' personal trainer is likely to tell a federal judge on Friday that he has no plans to testify at the home run king's trial on charges he lied when he told a grand jury he didn't knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Greg Anderson had been scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Wednesday to tell her whether he would break his silence. The hearing was postponed until Friday at the request of Anderson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, who is busy with another trial.

The judge granted the request Tuesday.

"Greg and I will be there and I don't expect anything has changed," Geragos said. "I believe Greg is firm in his commitment" to not testify.

Anderson has already spent a year in prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury about his relationship with Bonds. Geragos said he believes the government wants to put Anderson in custody again.

"There is no authority for him to be placed in jail again," Geragos said. "You can't just put people in jail because you want to."

Anderson is key to the government's case as it tries to prove Bonds lied to a grand jury investigating steroid use by athletes. Prosecutors said the trainer can directly link Bonds to three positive drug tests and other evidence collected during a September 2003 raid at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which was at the center of the steroids probe.

The judge has barred prosecutors from using that evidence unless Anderson testifies.

Bonds is charged with 10 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice. The former San Francisco Giants slugger, who holds the major league record for home runs with 762, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to start Monday.