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1 1 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 4 In Conte's '20/20' Talk, Legal Experts See a Risk
By JERE LONGMAN
As lacerating as Victor Conte Jr.'s remarks were about widespread doping in elite sport, his appearance last Friday on the ABC program "20/20" [ErGs] was also puzzling to legal experts.
Why would Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative who has been charged with distributing steroids and laundering money, incriminate himself on national television by admitting to a role in providing banned performance-enhancing drugs to athletes?
Was this an outsize ego thumbing his nose at sports officials and drug-testing authorities? An attempt to take down others in the face of overwhelming evidence against him? A dicey legal strategy of seeking a deal with the federal government in return for little or no jail time? A good-faith effort to help clean up track and field and baseball from the abuse of anabolic steroids?
All of the above?
Whatever the reason for his appearance, it was risky for Conte, many legal experts said, and it also undermined the attempt by Conte and his three co-defendants to have the case dismissed because of pretrial publicity.
"His own attorney is having a coronary and can't understand why this renegade client is incriminating himself in public," said Robert Weisberg, director of Stanford University's Center for Criminal Justice.
According to people with knowledge of Conte's strategy, he thought he would not receive a fair trial because of leaks in the case, which he blamed on federal prosecutors. [ErGs] He also believed he had been unfairly labeled a villain. [ErGs] In his mind, he was simply helping athletes who felt they had no choice but to use illicit substances because many other athletes were doing the same.
By speaking without the guarantee of a plea arrangement, Conte thought his remarks would have more credibility, even if he exposed himself to a conviction and jail time, said two people knowledgeable of his thinking.
In an e-mail message, Conte added, "I realized that telling the truth to the entire world, as painful as it was for me to tell and for the world to hear, was the right thing to do."
It is unclear exactly what effect Conte's comments on television will have on the criminal case. There have been a number of pretrial hearings in recent months, and the case appears likely to go to trial in the spring or summer. Many experts said that Conte seems to have little wiggle room to defend himself. Robert Holley, Conte's lawyer, did not return a call seeking comment. Federal prosecutors have repeatedly declined to comment.
"He has essentially pled guilty to the charges," said Ed Williams, who represented several track athletes who were implicated through evidence developed by federal investigators in the Balco case. "There are no facts to be tried. All they have to do is roll the video and say, 'Is this you?' I don't know what his motives are. I haven't spoken to his psychiatrist, and he ought to have one."
Brian Getz, a lawyer representing the sprinter Michelle Collins, who was found guilty yesterday by anti-doping authorities of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs obtained from Balco, said of Conte, "It might be that he felt, with the totality of evidence against him, he had nothing to lose and might as well enjoy it."
Alan C. Michaels, who teaches criminal law at Ohio State, said he wondered whether Conte had received payment from ABC or was seeking a book deal, noting that Conte had no public image to rehabilitate, as does someone like Martha Stewart.
"If you want to sell it to the judge, 'I've really helped and tried to turn things around,' ABC is not the place to do it," said Michaels, a former assistant district attorney in New York. "The place is in the prosecutor's office and through good works." Steven Ungerleider, [ErGs] a psychologist and anti-doping expert, said that Conte's television appearance echoed the strategy of former East German authorities, who claimed in criminal trials in the late 1990's that they had tried to level the playing field with state-sponsored cheating that would give athletes an edge without hurting them.
"This is complete arrogance and disregard for the psychological harm, side effects and health consequences for the athletes," Ungerleider said of Conte.
However risky Conte's appearance on ABC was, some lawyers thought it might work.
"This could enhance his standing as a cooperator, with him saying, 'I did it before I got a deal, because I've decided to help sport, even at the risk of ruining my own reputation,' " Weisberg said. Jim Coleman, senior associate dean of the Duke University School of Law, said that Conte presumably knew more than he said on ABC. For instance, he could probably identify for prosecutors the person who made THG, the designer steroid at the center of the Balco scandal. By appearing on television, Conte might have had a triangulated strategy, Coleman said.
Conte could be signaling to baseball and track officials and to Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is keenly interested in anti-doping matters, that he could help clean up sport. In return, Conte would want McCain and sports officials to seek leniency for him with prosecutors. (Niet onmogelijk. Conte schreef eerder een brief aan George Bush met zo'n strekking - redactie.) [ErGs] [ErGs]
In that sense, Coleman said, Conte's possible aim is to become like "the safecracker who advises the bank on security measures."
For starters, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has said it wants to speak with Conte, now that he has broken his silence. "Obviously we are aware that he is a central figure in the Balco doping conspiracy," said Travis Tygart, the anti-doping agency's director of legal affairs. "He could provide additional information regarding athletes and others involved in it."
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
