Barry Bonds has been sentenced to two years probation, with no prison time, for his conviction on a single criminal count related to an investigation over steroids use in sports.
Bonds was also sentenced to 30 days of home confinement, 250 hours of community service, and must pay a $4,000 fine.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston handed down the sentence in a San Francisco federal court, and she immediately stayed it pending appeal. Prosecutors had sought a 15-month prison sentence, while Bonds asked for probation.
Bonds, 47, was convicted in April of obstructing a grand jury's doping investigation with an evasive answer during a court appearance in December 2003. The Northern California jury was deadlocked on three other counts of lying to a grand jury.
Bonds is the last of the defendants directly connected to the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative to be sentenced.
The baseball star was accused of lying to a federal grand jury when he said under oath he had taken two substances identified as steroids but that he had been unaware they had been steroids. Bonds admitted getting flaxseed oil, vitamins, protein shakes and creams from his trainer, but he said he had no knowledge of human growth hormones or steroids. He said no one ever injected him other than medical doctors.
The steroids scandal has tarnished some of the biggest stars in baseball.
Bonds was named Most Valuable Player in the National League seven times, more than any other player ever. He made the league all star team 14 times, playing for the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bonds hit 762 home runs, more than any other player in the history of Major League Baseball.
Other stars tainted by the doping scandal include sluggers like Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi and pitcher Roger Clemens.
During the 12-day trial, the prosecution claimed Greg Anderson, Bond's personal trainer, had provided him with steroids. Anderson was jailed at the start of the trial for refusing to testify against him but was released after the prosecution and defence wound up. Bonds's personal shopper, Kathy Hoskins, testified she had seen Anderson inject Bonds in 2002. Bonds got caught up in an investigation into a company selling illegal drugs to athletes.
Prosecutors were asking for a prison sentence of 15 months, arguing that Bonds has never accepted responsibility for his actions. "Bonds' pervasive efforts to testify falsely, to mislead the grand jury, to dodge questions, and to simply refuse to answer questions in the grand jury makes his conduct worthy of a significant jail sentence," prosecutors wrote to the court last week.
The analysts, Bonds's lawyers and the probation department all cited the sentences given to other sports figures convicted of similar charges stemming from the investigation as more appropriate guidelines to follow. Juries convicted the cyclist Tammy Thomas of perjury for testifying she never used steroids and the former track coach Trevor Graham for lying to investigators about his involvement with a steroids dealer. Both were sentenced to periods of house arrest, which is considered a form of probation.
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