Neues » that much of it is over

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds may yet overturn his obstruction of justice conviction. NFL Jerseys Cheap . Several members of an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed skepticism Thursday over the sole count that baseballs career home run leader was found guilty of following a trial three years ago. Circuit Judge William A. Fletcher called the prosecutions definition of obstruction "alarming" because Bonds ultimately answered questions before a grand jury about whether he was given drugs to inject himself with, an assertion he denied. Fletcher compared it with lawyers who evaded questions in civil litigation with the intent to mislead, and asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Merry Jean Chan whether that would be criminal behaviour. Chan said she believed it would. "So how many San Francisco lawyers do you intend to put in jail?" Fletcher said. "That is common behaviour in civil litigation. Have you just criminalized half the bar here? ... I find your reading of the statute absolutely alarming, and half the bar, maybe three-quarters, maybe all of the bar is in big trouble." A decision is not expected until next year. During an hour-long hearing, Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber had similar skepticism for prosecutors arguments that Bonds intended to mislead the grand jury, saying she doesnt see "there is sufficient evidence" because Bonds was asked and answered similar questions about drug use later during his 2003 testimony. After a three-week trial in 2011, the jury failed to reach a verdict on three counts charging Bonds with making false statements when he denied receiving steroids and human growth hormone from trainer Greg Anderson and denied receiving injections from Anderson or his associates. Prosecutors later dismissed those three charges. Bonds was convicted for giving a rambling answer to a question about whether he received injectable substances. Bonds appellate lawyer, Dennis Riordan, argued that Bonds "unresponsive" answer did not constitute obstruction. He was immediately met with questions on his logic. "One can mislead with the truth," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said. "One can mislead with irrelevant statements to lead a grand jury down a blind alley." Chan argued that Bonds had a "corrupt intent" to mislead the grand jury with the rambling answer. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld Bonds obstruction conviction in a unanimous vote last year, but a majority of the courts 28 participating judges voted to set aside that decision and have the larger group rehear the appeal. Prosecutors asked Bonds during the grand jury appearance whether Anderson ever gave him "anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?" Bonds referred to his father, former major leaguer Bobby Bonds, when he responded, "I was a celebrity child, not just in baseball by my own instincts. I became a celebrity child with a famous father. I just dont get into other peoples business because of my fathers situation, you see." Bonds answered "no" to similar questions later in his grand jury appearance, which Riordan argued was sufficient to cure any non-responsive answers. Some of the judges questioned whether Bonds had sufficient notice of what he was being charged with, since the third superseding indictment contained a broad obstruction charge and the specific statement was not included until the prosecution proposed jury instructions about a month ahead of the trial. The three-judge 9th Circuit panel ruled unanimously in September 2013 that Bonds testimony was "evasive" and capable of misleading investigators and hindering their probe into a performance-enhancing drug ring centred at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. "The statement served to divert the grand jurys attention away from the relevant inquiry of the investigation, which was Anderson and BALCOs distribution of steroids and PEDs," Senior Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder wrote. "The statement was therefore evasive." Barry Bonds has already served his sentence of 30 days of home confinement and paid a $4,000 fine. He was also placed on two years of probation and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities. Cheap Wholesale Jerseys . According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the deal will pay Schenn $2.25 million in the first year and $2.75 million in the second year. In 82 games with the Flyers in 2013-14, Schenn scored 20 goals and added 21 assists. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Outlet . Anderson shook off some unusually poor shooting and hit two clutch 3-pointers in overtime that carried the New Orleans Pelicans to a 111-106 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapnflwholesalejerseys.net/ . Following the Ford Womens World Curling Championship gold medal match that attracted record-breaking audiences to TSN, the networks exclusive live coverage of the tournament begins Saturday at 7am et/4am pt with Canadas opening draw against Denmark.International football badly needed a good World Cup. The jury is yet to deliver a verdict with the knockout rounds still to come, but all indications are that this will not be a good World Cup. Indeed, it is on track to be a great World Cup. Two weeks to the day that the opening match of the tournament between Brazil and Croatia came to a close, the curtain came down on the group stages and what a sensational show it was. We are now already through three quarters of the tournament, but rather than be sad that much of it is over, we should be grateful with what we witnessed. It was a group stage that gave us more special moments than the three previous World Cups combined. A group stage of surprises, where tactically versatile and organized sides shocked the so-called super powers of the game. A group stage that saw the renaissance of 3-5-2, used so well by surprise teams like Netherlands, Costa Rica and Mexico. A group stage of counterattackers, comebacks and headers, trends that the Netherlands used in their demolition of Spain back on Day 2. Their superb pressing and clinical finishing gave us a glimpse of what was to come in Brazil, but not before that look and pass by Daley Blind just before the half-time break. The ball landed on top of the supremely intelligent head of Robin van Persie and his magnificent header over Iker Casillas changed everything. It became the group stage of headers with 27 more following van Persies, but none of them beating it. It became the group stage of comebacks. Spain, massacred by the Dutch 5-1 in the third game of the tournament, was already the second team, after Croatia a day earlier, to lose a game they led. A small, exclusive group of only four from 2010 would grow quickly as Uruguay, Japan, Ecuador, Algeria and Australia joined them in the first week. During their second group games Germany, Ghana, Portugal and USA all managed to not win games against each other that they led in. Even Uruguay, Greece and Algeria had comebacks of their own, all qualifying despite losing their opening World Cup match. Only Spain did that in 2010. It became the group stage of counterattacks, once again ignited by the Dutch over Spain as they scored their last three goals with a combined 29 seconds in possession, and never more highlighted than when Switzerland broke away in the final seconds to score a dramatic, crucial winner over Ecuador. It became the group stage of creative, left-footed masters who glided across the field into space left open by a transition. The group stage of substitute goals, 24 in total, highlighted by Miroslav Klose joining the great Ronaldo on 15 World Cup goals and James Rodriguez dancing his way through the Japanese defence for one of the goals of the tournament. In the end, though, it was the group stage of goals as an incredible 136 wennt in (there was a total of 145 scored in South Africa). Cheap NHL Jerseys China. It was no surprise that a wind of caution blew around the stadiums as the third group games took place but before they started the goals per game ratio stood at a wonderful 2.96. It ends the group stage at a beautifully high 2.83. There are still 16 games to go, of course, but no World Cup since 1970 has come close to that average. It wasnt just about the amount of goals, however. Many of the worlds stars were the ones scoring and we already have three world class stars on four goals each through three games. My 23 man squad of the group stages GK – Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica), Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria) D – Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Cristian Gamboa (Costa Rica), Kostas Manolas (Greece), Rafa Marquez (Mexico), Mario Yepes (Colombia), Raphael Varene (France), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Costa Rica), Daley Blind (Netherlands). M – Jose Vazquez (Mexico), Hector Herrera (Mexico), Blaise Matuidi (France), Charles Aranguiz (Chile), Toni Kroos (Germany), James Rodriguez (Colombia) F – Neymar (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Thomas Muller (Germany), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands) Group Winners – Brazil, Netherlands, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Argentina, Germany & Belgium. For the third time in the last four World Cups, three teams that were not seeded won groups. For the second successive World Cup, the only seed that didnt progress through to the next stage was the previous winners (Spain 2014, Italy 2010). Since the World Cup went to 32 teams in 1998, over the last four World Cups, nine group winners have lost in the next round (average of more than two per World Cup) and there hasnt been a World Cup in that time when all group winners advanced. Runners-up – Mexico, Chile, Greece, Uruguay, Switzerland, Nigeria, USA & Algeria. With that stat in mind it is likely that at least one of these teams will beat their opponent. Look for Greece, Uruguay, possibly Mexico, USA and even Chile to continue this streak. After that? In nine of the last 10 World Cups a group runner-up has made it to at least the semi-final stage. That will be the target of one of these teams going forward. Ranking teams eliminated at this World Cup based on performances in Brazil 32. Honduras31. Cameroon30. Japan29. South Korea28. England27. Iran26. Bosnia & Herzegovina25. Russia24. Portugal23. Australia22. Spain21. Croatia20. Ivory Coast19. Italy18. Ghana17. Ecuador Ranking teams left at this World Cup based on their chances of winning the World Cup 16. Switzerland15. Algeria14. USA13. Greece12. Costa Rica11. Nigeria10. Mexico9. Belgium8. Chile7. Uruguay6. Colombia5. France4. Netherlands3. Germany2. Brazil1. Argentina ' ' '