Prosecutors: Barry Bonds lied to protect reputation

Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds (C) arrives for the first day of the defense portion of his perjury trial at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, California April 6, 2011.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Prosecutors finished their closing argument in the perjury trial of former baseball player Barry Bonds by painting him as a slippery superstar who lied to hide his use of performance-enhancing drugs while he closed in on the game's all-time home run record.

"All he had to do was tell the truth," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow said before a packed courtroom. "He chose not to tell the truth and that's why he's here."

Bonds, who has pleaded not guilty, watched intently as Nedrow haltingly summarized evidence attorneys had laid out during more than two weeks of trial.

Nedrow said witnesses' testimony, documents, a secret recording, drug bottles and syringes show Bonds lied to protect his reputation, recklessly thwarting a grand jury investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO).

The government agreed not to hold him accountable for his 2003 grand jury testimony -- unless he lied.

"Why would the defendant testify falsely after getting immunity?" Nedrow asked. "The reason was a secret and it was a powerful secret and it was that he had been using anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. He had concern that it would taint his accomplishments."

Bonds' attorneys planned to deliver their closing argument on Thursday with jury deliberations set to begin as early as Friday in the highest profile U.S. case involving sports and performance-enhancing drugs.

The charges against Bonds stem from the BALCO investigation, which led both the laboratory head and Bonds' personal trainer to confess to providing illegal performance enhancing drugs to professional athletes.

As part of the investigation, a U.S. grand jury in 2003 called 30 athletes to testify. Several, including the 2000 American League Most Valuable Player Jason Giambi, confessed to using the substances, as four of them later testified in Bonds trial.

Testifying to the grand jury, Bonds admitted getting drugs from his Anderson, but said he had no knowledge that they included human growth hormones or steroids. He said no one had ever injected him other that medical doctors.

"This professional athlete whose salary is $17 million a year didn't know what he was taking," said Nedrow. "It's implausible on its face."

Although his accomplishments were tainted by talk about banned substances, Bonds was one of the greatest players of his time. He was the National League's most valuable player seven times and finished his career in 2007 with 762 home runs, more than any other player in the history of Major League Baseball. He also set a single-season home run record with 73.

Three months after breaking Hank Aaron's career homer record in 2007, a grand jury indicted Bonds on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Bonds told the grand jury he did not knowingly use steroids or human growth hormone and said he never questioned the flaxseed oil, vitamins, protein shakes and creams his trainer supplied him.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds, 07-cr-732.

(Editing by Peter Henderson and Bill Trott)