Bonds’ fate still on hold

SAN FRANCISCO – They aren’t through with Barry Bonds, not yet.

The federal grand jury considering possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against the star slugger expired Thursday without an indictment. Hours later, Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, walked out of a prison where he spent two weeks for refusing to testify against his childhood friend.

“We are not finished,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said. “We have postponed the decision (to indict) for another day in light of some recent developments.”

Though prosecutors wouldn’t confirm the existence of a new grand jury, Anderson’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said there was one.

He said his client has been subpoenaed to testify before a new panel that will take up the question of whether Bonds lied under oath when he said he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs. Geragos said Anderson won’t budge.

“They can subpoena him every day for the rest of this year, and it doesn’t matter,” Geragos said. “He’s not going to talk.”

Bonds arrived at AT&T Park with his 16-year-old batboy son. As reporters moved toward his locker, team spokesman Blake Rhodes said Bonds would have no comment.

Major League Baseball also declined to comment.

Giants owner Peter Magowan said he hoped to see a resolution soon.

Speculation has been mounting for weeks that Bonds, one of the biggest names in professional sports, would be indicted Thursday with the grand jury expiring.

Joseph Russienello, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco from 1982 to 1990, said handing the case off to a new grand jury means the federal government can lock up Anderson for the length of the new grand jury’s term, which could extend beyond a year. The threat of a lengthy jail term can convince even the most intransigent witnesses to cave.

“It’s no longer a two-week vacation,” Russienello said.