http://www.nypost.com/seven/1229200...failed_steroid_test_sports_brian_costello.htm
EIGHT OF BALCO 10 FAILED STEROID TEST
By BRIAN COSTELLO
December 29, 2006 -- The 115-page opinion issued by a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday reveals that eight of the 10 players implicated in the BALCO investigation failed steroid tests in 2003.
The identity of all 10 players is not known, but Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield are known to be part of the group implicated in the BALCO investigation. If Bonds failed a drug test, it could help the U.S. Attorney's Office indict the Giants outfielder for perjury. It is not believed that any other players would face legal action.
Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, said his client is not one of the players with a positive test.
"My response to that is that's all well and good, but that means two [of the 10] players didn't test positive and Barry is one of the two," Rains told The Post. "What a terrible break for the government that eight of the 10 players tested positive, but Barry didn't. I think it's another nail in their coffin in trying to go after Barry."
The 2-1 appeals court decision was a defeat for the Major League Baseball Players Association, which has been fighting the government's seizure of drug testing samples and data from two laboratories in 2004. The data includes the names of 104 players who failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, the first year MLB tested. If the list is leaked and contains superstars never before implicated, it would deal another blow to baseball's integrity.
The investigators used warrants to conduct the raids and seized not only the data for 11 players (later reduced to 10) implicated by the BALCO case, but also for all 1,438 tests from 2003. They also took tests for 13 other sports organizations and three unaffiliated businesses, according to court documents.
The union contends this is a violation of privacy rights. The MLBPA won three earlier cases, but lost Wednesday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We respectfully disagree with the two judges who comprised the majority in this case," MLBPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said in a statement. "As the dissent noted, if this opinion is allowed to stand it will effectively repeal the Fourth Amendment for confidential electronic records.
"Under a search warrant seeking information about only 11 baseball players, confidential records for every player were seized, along with confidential records of thousands of other people with no connection to baseball, including many with no connection to sports. The government seeks to retain all of this private information about thousands of people who were not the subject of any criminal inquiry."
Fehr said the union will consult with its attorneys before deciding what to do next. The association could ask the full appeals court for a rehearing of the case before a larger panel or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 2003 tests in question were supposed to be anonymous under "survey testing," as agreed to in the 2002 collective bargaining agreement. The samples could have been destroyed after the season, but for some reason were not.
EIGHT OF BALCO 10 FAILED STEROID TEST
By BRIAN COSTELLO
December 29, 2006 -- The 115-page opinion issued by a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday reveals that eight of the 10 players implicated in the BALCO investigation failed steroid tests in 2003.
The identity of all 10 players is not known, but Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield are known to be part of the group implicated in the BALCO investigation. If Bonds failed a drug test, it could help the U.S. Attorney's Office indict the Giants outfielder for perjury. It is not believed that any other players would face legal action.
Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, said his client is not one of the players with a positive test.
"My response to that is that's all well and good, but that means two [of the 10] players didn't test positive and Barry is one of the two," Rains told The Post. "What a terrible break for the government that eight of the 10 players tested positive, but Barry didn't. I think it's another nail in their coffin in trying to go after Barry."
The 2-1 appeals court decision was a defeat for the Major League Baseball Players Association, which has been fighting the government's seizure of drug testing samples and data from two laboratories in 2004. The data includes the names of 104 players who failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, the first year MLB tested. If the list is leaked and contains superstars never before implicated, it would deal another blow to baseball's integrity.
The investigators used warrants to conduct the raids and seized not only the data for 11 players (later reduced to 10) implicated by the BALCO case, but also for all 1,438 tests from 2003. They also took tests for 13 other sports organizations and three unaffiliated businesses, according to court documents.
The union contends this is a violation of privacy rights. The MLBPA won three earlier cases, but lost Wednesday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We respectfully disagree with the two judges who comprised the majority in this case," MLBPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said in a statement. "As the dissent noted, if this opinion is allowed to stand it will effectively repeal the Fourth Amendment for confidential electronic records.
"Under a search warrant seeking information about only 11 baseball players, confidential records for every player were seized, along with confidential records of thousands of other people with no connection to baseball, including many with no connection to sports. The government seeks to retain all of this private information about thousands of people who were not the subject of any criminal inquiry."
Fehr said the union will consult with its attorneys before deciding what to do next. The association could ask the full appeals court for a rehearing of the case before a larger panel or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 2003 tests in question were supposed to be anonymous under "survey testing," as agreed to in the 2002 collective bargaining agreement. The samples could have been destroyed after the season, but for some reason were not.
