Plea should keep Bonds safe at home

SAN FRANCISCO – BALCO founder Victor Conte’s plea deal could be another home run for Barry Bonds.

The San Francisco Giants slugger, along with Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees and track star Marion Jones, now will likely never be forced to testify in open court about steroid use.

A potentially damaging trial for the celebrity athletes was headed off Friday when Conte pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering in a deal with federal prosecutors.

Greg Anderson, Bonds’ longtime friend and personal trainer, pleaded guilty to the same charges in exchange for a sentence of up to six months. BALCO vice president James Valente pleaded guilty to one count of distributing illegal steroids and is expected to receive two years’ probation.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop dozens of counts against Conte, Anderson and Valente.

A fourth man, track coach Remi Korchemny, delayed accepting any plea agreement.

Conte, who founded the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, was charged with conspiring to distribute performance-enhancing drugs to more than 30 unidentified baseball, football and track and field stars. The money laundering charges carried a maximum 20-year term and the conspiracy charge five years. But authorities said because of sentencing guidelines that consider a wide range of factors, including past criminal conduct and whether a defendant admitted guilt, Conte and the others weren’t likely to get more than a year in prison even if they pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Under Conte’s deal, if accepted by the judge this fall, he’ll spend four months in prison and four months on house arrest.

Some of the biggest names in sports have been under a cloud of suspicion based on BALCO grand jury transcripts that were leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as public accusations against Jones by Conte and others.

None of the athletes publicly has admitted steroid use – Jones has vehemently denied it – and with the guilty pleas, those and other athletes won’t have to testify in their trials and repeat their secret grand jury testimony in a public courtroom.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston pointedly asked Anderson: “Did you distribute steroids to athletes?”

“Yes,” Anderson replied.

Anderson declined to speak with reporters afterward, and his attorney, Anna Ling, declined to address the question of whether Anderson gave Bonds steroids. Conte, Anderson and Valente sat with each other in the gallery for more than an hour before their cases were called.

Korchemny, his attorney and prosecutors appeared to have reached a deal, but he apparently got cold feet while the judge was handling a lengthy drug case before the BALCO case was called before a packed courtroom.

Judge Illston will decide whether to accept the pleas at a sentencing hearing Oct. 18.