Michael Ventre

As the saying goes, one man’s witch hunt is another man’s botched attempt at protecting his ill-gotten legacy.

The Barry Bonds apologists have taken to the streets. They’re upset because federal prosecutors obtained an indictment of their bulky hero on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. They feel it’s selective prosecution, that there are more important targets at which to throw tax dollars, that Barry is being made a scapegoat, that there was never any evidence that Barry did anything wrong even though there are reams of it, that Barry is really a sweetheart, that he is as magical as Harry Potter and as popular as Hanna Montana.

The “W” word — “witch hunt” (well, actually, it’s two words, so it probably should be identified by “WH,” although it is hyphenated in some dictionaries, so therefore the “W” word is acceptable) — is now the whine du jour. Those who defend Barry believe he’s being crucified because he can be a tad disagreeable at times, and because he’s a huge star who happened to break a hallowed record in the steroids era and therefore is being made to take the fall for the sins of others.

But there is no witch hunt. He is indeed innocent until proven guilty, but he’s in this mess because there may not be a more arrogant individual on the sports landscape.

The Feds don’t like to be lied to. If Barry had simply said, “Yes, I took steroids. I wanted to gain a competitive advantage. I saw the attention that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa received during their chase of Roger Maris and I succumbed to temptation. In retrospect, I made a mistake,” he would be off the hook today, at least when it comes to his legal troubles.

But perjury and obstruction of justice are more serious crimes in the eyes of federal prosecutors because they impact the very integrity of the process. When you testify to a grand jury, you do so under oath. If they feel you are lying, they will come after you with the full force of the Justice Department because it is an affront to what they do for a living and a slap at the system.

Now, do the Feds like to nab a big fish? Of course they do. What prosecutor wouldn’t want to bag a high-profile suspect? All you have to do is look at the Michael Vick case. Did federal prosecutors go to Vick first and say, “If you testify against your accomplices, we’ll give you a light sentence, because the ones we really want to nail are your underlings”?

No, of course not. But again, bagging a star wasn’t the original intent. Barry would have been fine if he pulled a Marion Jones early on — the post-disclosure Marion Jones, that is, who unfortunately didn’t fess up until she ran out of wiggle room — and told federal investigators the truth about his use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances. The targets of the initial BALCO investigation were those who trafficked in steroids, not the users, no matter how famous they happened to be.

When prosecutors go after a guy who blatantly thumbs his nose at them after they gave him a chance to come clean, that’s not a witch hunt. That’s Barry printing his own “Wanted” poster.

Bonds faces federal charges Bonds pleads not guilty to 5 federal charges Ventre: HR king isn't so fearsome anymore Bonds wants to play somewhere in 2008 Robinson's widow: Don't condemn Bonds yet Opinion: Blame Bonds’ ego for this mess TODAY: 756 ball buyer to put asterisk on it Ex-trainer Anderson 'never going to testify' Ventre: Bonds targeted by witch hunt? Please   Opinion: Goodbye . . . and good riddance

The “witch hunt” allegation is usually raised by Barry supporters who like to jumble issues in order to make a case for victimization. This is not about steroids. There is ample evidence to prove that Bonds took steroids because the Feds raided BALCO, and his name arose out of disclosures from that, including a positive drug test.

My favorite part of the whole scandal has always been Barry admitting that he took something called the “clear” and the “cream,” but thought they were simply flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm. Is there anyone left on the planet — and I’m including many of our underdeveloped nations where the education systems are in tatters — who really believes that?

Yes, there are others in baseball whose numbers were artificially inflated. Why doesn’t the government go after them? Well, maybe it’s because evidence wasn’t discovered on those players, and more importantly, if evidence was unearthed, maybe they didn’t lie to a grand jury afterward.

We live in an era that is characterized by a lack of responsibility, and many defense lawyers are guilty of abetting that behavior. Whenever a high-profile individual is accused, the defense lawyer’s first line of defense is to deny, deny, deny, and then later settle. Billy Martin, who represented Vick, came out in his initial press conference on July 26 and read a statement on behalf of Vick that said in part: “I take these charges very seriously and look forward to clearing my good name.” One month later, Vick entered a guilty plea.

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Foot tapper Larry Craig pled guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, because he wanted the incident in the public restroom to go away quietly. When he realized it wouldn’t, he became indignant and tried to weasel out of it.

Bonds is following the same course of action. Instead of owning up, Barry lashes out. He did so back in August, when he had two Bay Area attorneys issue a statement that threatened to sue anyone who made “false statements” about him. Then on Thursday, after the indictment came down, another of his attorneys, Michael Rains, read a statement that said, in part, “Everybody should worry about a Justice Department that doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture and can’t tell the difference between prosecution on the one hand and persecution on the other.”

By slipping waterboarding into this discussion, at least Rains exhibits an understanding of what it has been like for reporters to interview Barry all these years. But beyond that, it is one of those acts of desperation an attorney resorts to when he knows the tide has turned against his client. If he were quietly confident that the government had no case, he wouldn’t need the bombast.

This is not a witch hunt, not by any means. This is instead a Barry capture. And he only has himself to blame for leaving such an easy trail to follow.

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