Barry Bonds: HR King Doesn't Deserve Anything More Than Probation

While Barry Bonds faced three perjury charges, he was only convicted on one count of obstruction. As a result, he doesn't belong in jail.

According to Howard Mintz of the San Jose Mercury News, Bonds is seeking probation, rather than any prison time.

This is not terribly surprising, and what Bonds is asking for is the best resolution for this drawn-out process.

This isn't a matter of what you do (or don't) believe that Barry Bonds did, or knowingly did. It's certainly true that not being found guilty isn't the same as being innocent. But when it comes to sentencing, that doesn't matter. You can only be sentenced based on what the courts proved you guilty of doing. In Bonds' case, that's obstruction.

Honestly, Bonds doesn't belong in prison anyway. This is coming from a person who's not a fan of his, and as a Giants fan, grew completely sick of him and his act by the time his career came to an end in 2007. 

So, while I am certainly not looking to give Bonds the benefit of any doubt, he doesn't belong in prison. He has no criminal past and the worst of what he was charged with just isn't worthy of landing him in jail.

That doesn't mean he's a nice guy or good role model, that's not up for debate here. There's something else at play.

This case needs to end. These charges stemmed from an incident in 2003. Bonds hasn't played a game since 2007, but we're still talking about him. 

As Mintz said, Bonds plans on appealing the obstruction conviction anyway. If that's the case, he's certainly going to appeal it if it lands him in jail.  

The more severe punishment that Bonds gets, the longer this situation is going to be. I can't imagine that anyone wants any part of that. If he was a hardened criminal, then we would need to stick it out and deal with the extra attention.

But Bonds isn't a hardened criminal. These legal issues need to have a finish line. Him asking for probation is a great step towards getting us to that line.