Prof. Rory Little Weighs in on Bonds Case
UC Hastings Professor Rory Little commented on whether the prosecution in the Barry Bonds perjury case is overmatched, according to an article published yesterday in the New York Times.
Today, Barry Bonds is scheduled to appear in the United States District Court in San Francisco. He will be tried on charges that he lied to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he testified that he had never knowingly used steroids.
According to legal experts, Bonds has spent over $1 million dollars on his defense and has seven lawyers. Three—Allen Roby, Cris Arguedas and Dennis Riordian—are considered some of the nation's best, and will likely sit with him at the defense table during the trial.
The prosecuting attorneys—Matthew Parrella and Jeffrey Nedrow—come to the table with less money and celebrity trial experience, says Little, a former federal prosecutor who worked in San Francisco when Nedrow was there.
"But they are not overmatched in two areas: their familiarity with the criminal justice system and the evidence," Little says. "You can fool a jury for one day, but you can't fool them for two weeks if the other side has the evidence to prove its case."