Barry Bonds Swings at the Obstruction Charge but Doesn't Hit This Time

In United States v. Barry Lamar Bonds, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15906 (ND CA 2011), the third superseding indictment charged four counts of false declarations before a grand jury. A fifth count charged

BARRY LAMAR BONDS,

did corruptly influence, obstruct, and impede, and endeavor to corruptly influence, obstruct, and impede, the due administration of justice, by knowingly giving material Grand Jury testimony that was intentionally evasive, false, and misleading, including but not limited to the false statements made by the defendant as charged in Counts One through Four of this Indictment. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503.

In order to assure that there was a unanimous verdict as to guilt, the Government agreed that the jury must be instructed "to agree unanimously as to which statement or statements constitute obstruction of justice." In other words, for example, the six members of the jury could not pick one or more statements for conviction and the other six pick other statements to use for conviction. The jurors would need to agree upon at least one or more actions -- in this case statements -- that constitute obstruction.
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