STEROIDS | CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Law Blog by Defense Lawyer John Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair

August 28, 2010

ROGER CLEMENS TAKES THE MOUND AGAINST U.S. GOVERNMENT

Filed under: Federal Crimes Lawyer — Tags: false statements, JUICED, PED, Perjury, presumption of innocence, STEROIDS — johntfloyd @ 12:36 am

False Statements, Perjury and Prosecutorial Over-Charging

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Between 1984 and 2006, Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, was arguably the best—certainly one of the top five—pitchers ever to take the mound in Major League Baseball (“MLB”). Nicknamed the “Rocket,” Clemens’ 354 wins (ninth on the all-time win list) and his 4,672 strikeouts (third only to career strikeout leader Nolan Ryan and runner up Randy Johnson) make a compelling argument that he is one of the greatest MLB pitchers of all time.

Then it happened. Former Oakland Athletics outfielder Jose Canseco released his book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big (William Morrow 2005), and pointed the finger at a number of prime time baseball stars as steroid users, including Clemens. Canseco’s book spurred the congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (“Oversight committee”) in March 2005 to conduct a hearing titled “Restoring Faith in America’s Pasttime: Evaluating Major Baseball’s Efforts to Eradicate Steroid Use.” Canseco and a host of other prominent MLB stars, including Mark McGwire, testified before the committee, either confirming or denying performance enhancement (“PED”) drug use by themselves or others.

Over the next year MLB reeled under one revelation after another about the magnitude of PED use among its star athletes. Home run and hitting records, as well as pitching wins/strikeouts, were being called into question. The word “asterisk” became routinely associated with Barry Bonds’ single season and career home run records along with McGwire’s smashing of Roger Maris’ single season 61 home run record. “Juiced” became part of our daily vernacular. It caught our attention last year.

In March 2006 MLB Commissioner Bud Selig asked former U.S. Senator and Ambassador George J. Mitchell to investigate PED use in major league baseball. The former federal judge and U.S. Attorney was imminently qualified to lead such an investigation. Twenty months later Mitchell issued a 409-page report titled “Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball” (“The Mitchell Report”).

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June 3, 2009

JUICED BY THE DESIRE FOR FITNESS

Filed under: Drug Defense Attorney — Tags: Anabolic steroids, drugs, fitness, Illegal drugs, JUICED, STEROIDS — johntfloyd @ 2:49 am

Addiction to Pumping Iron and Juicing Leads to Massive Arrests in Houston Area and Ft. Bend County

By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

It was billed by raiding law enforcement officials as the “largest drug operation” in Fort Bend County history. The stark, glaring headlines and the “perp walks” would lead one to believe that a violent Mexican drug cartel had just been “busted” in Fort Bend County.

But that wasn’t the case. The “drug operation,” coined Operation “Farmacia de Juicy Phruit,” involved about six dozen personal fitness trainers and body builders who sold human growth hormones, anabolic steroids, Hydrocodone, and Ecstacy in area fitness centers. The mass arrests, which included a Houston firefighter (as if the Houston Fire Department needed more adverse publicity), culminated a two-year investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright. Fifty-one of those arrested were booked on state charges while the remaining 22 were indicted on federal charges, including money laundering and conspiracy to possess, distribute and manufacture a controlled substance.

“The investigation started here with the sheriff’s office and we ended up following it to other areas where they were bringing in raw products, or were connected otherwise,” DEA special agent Zoran Yankovich told the media. “And it led us into California, Indiana, Louisiana, Georgia, and internationally where raw products were being imported from Mexico, Canada and China.”

Now the primary targets of the investigation face a 46 count federal indictment, a maximum period of incarceration of 20 years and forfeiture of all property and money traceable to their alleged crimes. A stiff price to pay for the endless pursuit of getting bigger and better. (more…)

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June 12, 2008

BARRY BONDS: HOME RUN KING OR STEROID USER?

Filed under: Drug Defense Attorney — Tags: Illegal drugs, STEROIDS — admin @ 11:28 am

Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd Discusses Perjury, Obstruction of Justice and the Barry Bonds Case

Barry Bonds was 21 years of age when he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986. He was lean, mean, and fast – and certainly not considered a fearsome home run slugger. During his first seven years in the majors, he averaged 25 home runs a year. Then in 1998 St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGuire eclipsed Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs in a season by pumping out 70 home runs. The following year Bonds showed up for spring training with the San Francisco Giants with a “bulked up” upper body. In 102 games that year, he still managed to hit 39 home runs. In 2000, Bonds appeared in 143 games and the new “Giant slugger” hammered out 49 home runs. The following year Bonds’ “ballooned up” upper body looked awkward in what appeared to be match-stick legs but it was enough for him to easily breezed by McGuire’s record with 73 home runs. During his last seven full playing seasons (not including 2005 in which he played only 14 games and hit a meager 5 home runs), Bonds averaged 44 home runs.

Most home run kings hit more home runs during the early years of their careers than in the final years. For example, major league home run king Hank Aaron averaged 31 home runs a season during his first seven years in the majors while averaging 28 a season during his final seven years; and Willie Mays averaged 35 home runs during his first seven years while averaging only 18 during his final seven years.

With home run power displays becoming a fixture in major league baseball, beginning in 1998 with the Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa’s chase to break the Babe Ruth/Roger Maris 60-61 home run records and culminating with Bonds’ 73 home run performance in 2001, rumors began to swirl inside and outside of Major League Baseball that rampant performance enhancing drug use was corrupting the cherished sport.

In 2003 the federal government was investigating what became known as the “Balco steroids ring” – the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in San Francisco which was owned and operated by Victor Conte. In September of that year federal agents conducted a raid on Conte’s lab and seized documents that, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, included the “doping calendars,” “drug regime,” and “payment records” for performance enhancement drugs used by Barry Bonds. The documents also included “positive” tests results for steroid use against Bonds in 2000, the year before he hit his record-breaking 73 home runs. (more…)