Ergogenics   [Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance." (Wilmore and Costill)   Nieuwsbrief over doping, supplementen, voeding en training
Het Boek       Bonds verliest zaak       Gesprek met Mark Fainaru       Interview Williams/Fainaru

1 4 - 0 5 - 2 0 0 6 BALCO reporters could face prison time DAVID KRAVETS AP May. 09, 2006 [Fragment] SAN FRANCISCO - Five people linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative were convicted of doling out steroids to elite athletes. But in an ironic twist, two San Francisco Chronicle writers who reported on the probe could end up serving more jail time than any of them. Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada are the latest reporters to become entangled in the federal government's ramped-up efforts to investigate leaks. They have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating who leaked them the secret testimony of Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and others. The Chronicle, which published the testimony in a series of stories beginning in late 2004, is challenging the subpoena, arguing that the First Amendment protects the reporters and their sources. Both reporters say they aren't going to talk - which means they could be fined and jailed until they divulge their sources, or sentenced to a fixed term for contempt. "Of course, we are going to stand up for our sources and we would never betray them," Fainaru-Wada said. A day in jail would be longer than the probation sentences for BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny, who both pleaded guilty to distribution charges. BALCO president Victor Conte got four months in prison. Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was sentenced to three months, the same sentence facing BALCO supplier Patrick Arnold. On the question of whether reporters are shielded from revealing their sources, courts have gone both ways. The government suspected the leak in the BALCO case came from Conte, and agents searched his San Mateo house to bolster that view. Conte and others pointed to the government as the source. San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan demanded an inquiry. "Violations of grand jury secrecy rules will not be tolerated," he said. But as far as leaks go, this one clearly favored the government. [Link] 0 1 - 0 6 - 2 0 0 6 REPORTERS OPPOSE SUBPOENAS IN BALCO LEAK PROBE BCN 05/31/06 cbs5.com SAN FRANCISCO - Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters asked a federal judge in San Francisco today to quash subpoenas that would require them to disclose how they got the transcripts of a grand jury investigation of a sports steroids scandal. Attorneys for reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada say in a brief filed with U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins that the subpoenas are "unreasonable and oppressive" because there is no urgent need for the Justice Department to know the source of the information. The brief argues that the subpoenas would put a significant burden on the reporters' free speech rights and on their relationships with confidential sources. The leaked grand jury transcripts stemmed from the so-called BALCO case, in which Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Victor Conte and three other men were indicted on charges of giving illegal steroids to professional athletes. The four men eventually pleaded guilty to reduced charges and were given sentences ranging from probation to eight months in confinement. In 2004, Williams and Fainaru-Wada published a series of articles allegedly based on transcripts of the investigation by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. Later, the Justice Department convened a separate grand jury in San Francisco to look into apparent leaks of the transcripts. Under a federal court rule, information about a grand jury proceeding may not be disclosed by grand jurors, members of the prosecution team or court stenographers. The secrecy rule also applies to defense lawyers and their clients who have been given copies of grand jury transcripts. Violations of the rule can be punished as contempt of court. The confidentiality requirement does not apply, however, to grand jury witnesses or to any one else not specifically listed in the rule, including news reporters. But reporters in various cases have sometimes been subpoenaed in an effort to determine whether their sources violated the rule. The Justice Department is being represented in the probe by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The reporters' lawyers asked Jenkins to schedule a hearing on the motion for June 15, but the judge has not yet set a date. [Link] 2 2 - 0 9 - 2 0 0 6 Judge says BALCO case reporters should be jailed Sept. 21, 2006 Reuters SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge said on Thursday the two journalists who refused to reveal their source in the BALCO steroids scandal should go to prison, but he did not implement his decision pending an appeal of the case. San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams have declined to name the source who allowed them access to transcripts of grand jury testimony from top athletes involved in the long-running doping probe, including San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds. "They have said they will go to jail before they will comply," said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. "Certainly no fine is going to facilitate the coercive effect of its order." "The only appropriate sentence is to incarcerate these two individuals," he continued. "The court is hopeful that they will consider their position before their incarceration." The two reporters, who have also written a book about the BALCO scandal that tarnished the reputation of top athletes, face up to 18 months in prison -- longer than any of those implicated in the BALCO doping distribution. Last month, White ruled they must disclose the source. Unauthorised distribution of grand jury transcripts is a crime and government prosecutors are seeking to find out who allowed the reporters access to the materials. The case is the latest in recent years in which U.S. prosecutors have stepped up efforts to get journalists to reveal confidential sources. Prosecutors in the San Francisco case say the two men should be jailed because every citizen must obey court orders. HOPING FOR AN APPEAL The reporters said they were looking to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision. "We remain hopeful that we are going to get some relief at the 9th Circuit," Fainaru-Wada said. "We think we are going to win." Earlier, the reporters addressed a packed courtroom in an effort to have the judge impose a penalty of $1 a day for their refusal to comply with the grand jury subpoena. "Their demands are impossible: They demand I give up my career and my livelihood," Williams told White. "They want me to throw overboard deeply held ethical beliefs." "I do despair for our country if we go very far down this road. No one will talk to reporters." Fainaru-Wada added: "I do not wish to spend even a minute in jail. However, I will not betray the confidences." The judge asked Fainaru-Wada if he knew that obtaining the transcripts might lead to a grand jury investigation, but his lawyer interjected and kept him from answering. The judge praised the reporters and said he was faced with a difficult area of the law, but said every citizen had to answer grand jury questions. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Bonds, the second greatest home-run hitter in U.S. baseball history, lied to the grand jury about his past links to steroids. Bonds' trainer is in prison after refusing to answer questions about the San Francisco Giant. Many professional sports have strengthened testing of steroids in the wake of the BALCO scandal. [Link]

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