Barry Bonds wins appeal, did not obstruct justice

The Associated Press broke the news: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Barry Bonds decision on Wednesday. Bonds had been convicted of obstruction of justice for claiming he didn't know what was going in his body, and ... hell, I can't follow this case. Never was able to. Here's the Wikipedia page, which is probably peer-edited by lawyers. You figure it out.

We do know what Bonds won't have to do because of the successful appeal:

30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service

The 2011 conviction was upheld in 2013 -- typical odd-year nonsense -- when the conviction was upheld because ...

"When factually true statements are misleading or evasive, they can prevent the grand jury from obtaining truthful and responsive answers," stated the Ninth Circuit ruling. "They may therefore obstruct and impede the administration of justice within the meaning of the federal criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1503, a statute that sweeps broadly."

The appellate court disagreed. Barry Bonds will not wear an orange jumpsuit on the side of the road, picking up water bottles filled with urine. Not that he was going to. But the image is still kind of funny, even if you like the guy.

This is the part of the article where I put videos of Bonds hitting dingers.

Still pretty sure Bonds wasn't exactly on the level. Still pretty sure he didn't need to be the only one convicted in a Federal court because of it. Mostly, though, I'm writing this for those videos.

Update: Here's the full decision if you're all legal-like.