SAN FRANCISCO -- While federal prosecutors tripled the number of charges against Barry Bonds, he faces the same amount of prison time he did under the original indictment.
Legal experts said given Bonds' clean criminal record and the nature of the charges, the home run king faces up to 2 1/2 years in prison if convicted of all 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice. If Bonds is convicted of all counts, he expected to be sentenced to serve the prison sentence of each charge concurrently rather than consecutively.
In the superseding indictment handed up Tuesday in federal court, prosecutors worded 14 charges against Bonds as making "false declarations" instead of "perjury." In the original indictment last November, there were four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice.
Legal experts said the difference is without distinction and that Bonds still is broadly charged with lying to a federal grand jury when he denied knowingly using peformance-enhancing drug use. The experts said the prosecutors appeared to change the wording to appease U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who tossed out the original indictment because of technical errors.
