Barry Bonds' obstruction conviction upheld

• Barry Bonds%27 obstruction of justice conviction was upheld Friday
• In December 2011%2C he was sentenced to two years%27 probation and 30 days house arrest

Barry Bonds' conviction on a federal obstruction of justice charge was upheld unanimously by an appeals court Friday.

Bonds, baseball's single-season and all-time home run leader, was convicted in April 2011 on one count of obstruction of justice. A jury of eight women and four men determined his 2003 testimony to a grand jury - in which he denied knowingly using steroids provided by BALCO - was evasive, misleading and capable of influencing a jury. Bonds appealed his conviction. The jury deadlocked on three other counts of perjury, which were subsequently dropped.

Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Bonds' response to a question about whether his trainer, Greg Anderson, had ever given him any self-injectable substances was evasive and misleading.

In December 2011, Bonds was sentenced to two years' probation, 30 days house arrest, fined $4,000 and asked to complete 250 hours of community service. Bonds subsequently appealed his conviction and could, according to the Associated Press, ask an 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit to reconsider his case. Bonds also could petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal.

Bonds' attorneys did not immediately return phone messages left by USA TODAY Sports.

Anderson was twice jailed and held in contempt after he refused to testify against Bonds.

Judge Mary M. Schroeder, writing the opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel, upheld the ruling that Bonds' rambling answer to a question regarding Anderson providing self-injectable drugs was misleading. Bonds, in his 2003 grand jury testimony, was asked, if Anderson 'ever give you anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?"

Bonds' response was less than direct, noting merely that he and Anderson "are friends, but we don't sit around and talk baseball." Bonds then cited the fact he was the son of a celebrity - his father, Bobby, played 14 seasons in the major leagues - and he "didn't get into other people's business because of my father's situation, you see."

Bonds argued that because his "celebrity child" statement was factually true, that his conviction should be reversed.

But Schroeder, in her opinion, wrote that "while Bonds was a celebrity child, that fact was unrelated to the question, which asked whether Anderson provided Bonds with any self-injectable substances. When factually true statements are misleading or evasive, they can prevent the grand jury from obtaining truthful and responsive answers. They may therefore obstruct and impede the administration of justice."

In response to Bonds' contention that it was not established his statement was evasive, Schroeder wrote that it "served to divert the grand jury's attention away from the relevant inquiry of the investigation, which was Anderson and BALCO's distribution of steroids and PEDs. The statement was therefore evasive."

Bonds, now 49, retired with 762 home runs. He was indicted on the perjury and obstruction charges in November 2007, less than two months after playing his final game.

Contributing: Brent Schrotenboer