Cyclist's trial foreshadows Bonds' case

[Mugu]

Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writer

Caught up in the BALCO steroids scandal, an elite athlete adamantly denies using banned drugs, then mounts an aggressive defense to a perjury indictment.

It sounds like the case of former Giants slugger Barry Bonds, accused of lying under oath to the federal grand jury that investigated Burlingame's Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid ring in 2003.

Instead, starting today in federal court in San Francisco, a lesser-known American sports champion - Tammy Thomas, a onetime star of bicycle track racing - goes on trial, charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. Her case is of interest because it amounts to a dress rehearsal for the trial of Bonds, which may get under way later this year.

Like Bonds, Thomas told the BALCO grand jury that she had never used banned drugs - even when prosecutors confronted her with what they said were multiple positive steroid tests, court records show. Also like Bonds, Thomas has insisted she is innocent and has refused to settle her case with a plea bargain.


Complete article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/23/MN79VBRVA.DTL