Bonds friend: I saw Barry and trainer with syringe

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A former business partner and friend of Barry Bonds took the stand Wednesday in the slugger's perjury trial, saying Bonds talked to him on several occasions about using steroids. Steve Hoskins' testimony lasted nearly all day long, including a vigorous cross examination by defense attorneys.

Hoskins crouched down in the passenger seat as he left the federal courthouse. He testified that he first became aware of Bonds' anabolic steroid use in 1999. He said it was that year Bonds asked him to research a steroid called Winstrol, saying "Find out what this steroid does and what are the side effects of it and is it good or bad."

Hoskins testified he was there at a 2002 ballpark conversation between Bonds and his trainer Greg Anderson about steroid injections and at 2003 spring training, Hoskins says Bonds told him, "The steroid, the shots, were making his butt sore."

Shortly after that, Hoskins made a secret recording of Anderson, talking about the hazards of steroid injections. Bonds is mentioned once, when Hoskins asks, "Is that why Barry didn't just shoot it in his butt all the time?" Anderson replied, "Oh, no. I never just go there. I move it all over the place."

That garbled recording was played for jurors who followed along with a written transcript, but it was not the bombshell it might have been.

"There's no smoking gun here. There are statements from which one could infer that Greg Anderson is injecting people with some unknown, unspecified, undetectable substance. There are statements where one could infer that Greg Anderson is injecting Barry Bonds," said ABC7 legal analyst Dean Johnson.

Bonds' lead defense attorney Allen Ruby spent his cross-examination trying to paint Hoskins as a bitter former friend and employee fired by Bonds shortly before the tape was made.

Ruby asked if Hoskins made the tape planning to extort Bonds. Hoskins said he made it to prove to Bonds father that his son was using anabolic steroids.

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trials, san francisco giants, barry bonds, steroids, mlb, heather ishimaru

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