Advocacy outside the courthouse: Bonds's lawyer comes out swinging

Barry Bonds's lawyer, Michael Rains, who has an impressive if non-traditional resume, took some nice cuts at the government's case in recent interviews.  Reading between the lines, it seems Rains has already picked his defense and needs to get it out there in the press.  He's alleged an unspecified ethical violation by the prosecutors.  I will follow up once we learn his theory on that.  Some critics have suggested that Rains's tough talk will backfire, because it may harden the prosecutors' stance and force Bonds to fight the matter all the way through trial.  I can't discout that 100%, but what were the odds that the prosecutors were going to offer Bonds a generous settlement anyway? 

In the mean time, here are some choice quotes from Rains, as provided in these two articles:

"[The DOJ] doesn't know if waterboarding is torture and can't tell the difference between prosecution and persecution."

"My initial reaction was that they cherry-picked four statements occupying a combined total of two or three minutes of testimony out of what amounted to four hours of testimony in December of 2003."

"Barry got up on the stand and did his best to answer questions and to answer them truthfully."  "He told them like it is."

"They have spent millions of dollars and turned (chief Balco investigator) Jeff Novitzy loose in an unsupervised fashion for half a decade now."  "They need to say they got something for their efforts. Why not take a flier now?"

"Everybody has an opinion about Barry. A lot of people love and respect him and a lot of people dislike him. He understands that."  "Whether you like him or dislike him, the way the federal government has proceeded in this case is going to be a very, very sad commentary on the enormous power of the government to ruin people's lives and to scar their reputation for no good reason."

Advocacy outside the courthouse is sometimes frowned upon,  but sometimes is what the client needs.  It's seems that Bonds is going to come out fighting.

Comments

[RJC]

It's not clear why you're getting so excited about these statements John. They're pretty tepid and boilerplate stuff. And Rains' first reaction to the indictment, as I recall, was to wonder out loud what new evidence the government must have. If that's "coming out fighting" by San Francisco standards then the Bay Area is the new geographical center of the collaborative law movement. I've never understood how a supposedly sophisticated and cultured city, alone among the baseball following world, could cheer for Bonds. Do they use HGH instead of fluoride in the water out there?

[John Steele]

RJC,

Thanks for posting. That other comment was from Burris, not Rains.

What I find interesting about Rains is (1) he's fighting it in the press, and (2) he's highlighting the themes he's presumably going to use at trial. Rains may strike you as tepid, but that's not my read on the guy. As they say, time will tell . . . .

By the way, if you meant to suggest that I am "cheering for Bonds," I am curious why you'd think that.

[Bo Knows Ethics]

What ever happens I can't wait to see the baseball metaphors/analogies.

You started off with one 'Bonds's lawyer comes out swinging' (also good for when a boxer is involved)

Will we see his lawyer hurl a dose of "chin music" as he attacks the case. Or will we see Bonds stride to witness stand, dig in, and take a mighty cut.

The case will enter the "7 inning stretch"

Perhaps everyone thought Bonds was going to get an "intentional pass" on the whole thing.

Perhaps both sides will have to go the "bullpen" now and then.

[John Steele]

Will the judge say to Bonds at sentencing, "grab some pine, meat"? It seems that the case will come down to a swearing contest between Bonds and a few others. My guess is that the prosecutors will be able to create a context in which it's impossible to believe Barry didn't know. Plus, if his former girlfriend is believed, he's sunk. It's early, but I'd put the odds at 60% conviction.