Posted on 02/14/2007 4:30:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters will avoid jail time after a criminal defense lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to leaking them secret grand jury documents from the BALCO steroids investigation.
Troy Ellerman admitted allowing reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to view transcripts of the grand jury testimony of baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery, according to court documents. The Chronicle published stories in 2004 that reported Giambi and Montgomery admitted taking steroids while Bonds and Sheffield testified that they didn't knowingly take performance enhancing drugs.
A federal judge ordered the reporters jailed after they refused to divulge the source of the story. They have remained free pending an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ellerman's plea agreement stated that the federal prosecutors will no longer try to put the reporters in prison.
Maybe the attorney can sign up for the prison baseball team to stay in shape,,,
Play Ball!!!
I wonder if they will send him to the medium security prison in Mississippi.
There must be more to the story than this. Why would a lawyer throw away his career for this? Did he get money or what? Very strange. He most certainly will be disbarred and loose his right to practice law.
I'm confused. How did a defense attorney get the transcripts, and if he got them, why did he have to keep them secret. I thought only prosecutors and grand jurors were required to keep GJ testimony secret.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.