Facing the possibility of time in jail, former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds was sentenced on Friday to two years probation, 30 days of home confinement and 250 hours of community service over his obstruction of justice conviction in April.

The sentence has been stayed pending an appeal by Bonds defense attorneys over his conviction.

The all-time Major League Baseball home run king was convicted in April of one count of obstruction of justice stemming from the BALCO case. The trial jury found that he obstructed justice by answering evasively when asked by a grand jury in 2003 whether his trainer had ever given him anything that required a syringe to inject himself. Perjury charges were dropped after the jury was deadlocked on those three counts.

The almost decade-long case stems from a federal grand jury probe into the distribution of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes by the Buringame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. Bonds is one of 11 people who were accused of either illegally distributing drugs or lying in connection with the BALCO case. The others all pleaded guilty or were convicted on various charges.

Photo Credit: randomduck, via Wikimedia Commons

• Tag: BALCO, Barry Bonds, Obstruction Of Justice, Performance-Enhancing Drugs, Probation, Sentencing, Steroids