Sunday, April 11, 2004
Urine Samples Are Seized in Balco Case
One day after the MLBPA, with MLB's backing, moved to quash a grand jury subpoena for drug testing urine specimens, IRS agents armed with warrants swooped down on the lab where the collection vials were kept and confiscated a number of samples from players specifically linked to the BALCO investigation.
As an unnamed "lawyer connected to the case" told The New York Times:
"A subpoena is a polite way to get results. A search warrant means war is declared. You don't have the ability to quash a search warrant. You seize the materials and then you litigate."
However, it's not clear just which samples were taken. According to the Times, they "include Barry Bonds; Jason Giambi; his brother Jeremy; Gary Sheffield; Benito Santiago; Armando Rios; Marvin Benard; Bobby Estalella; and Randy Velarde, as well as a handful of other players whose names have not been made public. The total is less than 15." However, the AP has previously reported that most of last year's samples had already been destroyed in the ordinary course of business before the grand jury got involved, with only about 500 remaining. Since each player was tested twice, it's likely that for the majority of players, both of their specimens have been destroyed.
Most likely, the IRS warrant demanded all specimens from the specified players, but the IRS was only able to obtain specimens from the subset of those players whose specimens had not already been destroyed. If so, there's less than a 50% chance that retesting the confiscated specimens will resolve the issues relating to any specific player on the list.
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One day after the MLBPA, with MLB's backing, moved to quash a grand jury subpoena for drug testing urine specimens, IRS agents armed with warrants swooped down on the lab where the collection vials were kept and confiscated a number of samples from players specifically linked to the BALCO investigation.
As an unnamed "lawyer connected to the case" told The New York Times:
"A subpoena is a polite way to get results. A search warrant means war is declared. You don't have the ability to quash a search warrant. You seize the materials and then you litigate."
However, it's not clear just which samples were taken. According to the Times, they "include Barry Bonds; Jason Giambi; his brother Jeremy; Gary Sheffield; Benito Santiago; Armando Rios; Marvin Benard; Bobby Estalella; and Randy Velarde, as well as a handful of other players whose names have not been made public. The total is less than 15." However, the AP has previously reported that most of last year's samples had already been destroyed in the ordinary course of business before the grand jury got involved, with only about 500 remaining. Since each player was tested twice, it's likely that for the majority of players, both of their specimens have been destroyed.
Most likely, the IRS warrant demanded all specimens from the specified players, but the IRS was only able to obtain specimens from the subset of those players whose specimens had not already been destroyed. If so, there's less than a 50% chance that retesting the confiscated specimens will resolve the issues relating to any specific player on the list.
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