Bonds to be sentenced in December

San Francisco, CA – Former slugger Barry Bonds is scheduled to be sentenced December 16 for his obstruction of justice conviction.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston set the sentencing date Tuesday, four days after she upheld the ruling and denied the defendant's request for a new trial on that count.

According to the Mercury News, Bonds could spend nearly two years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but his sentence isn't expected to be that long.

The verdict from a 12-member jury came down in mid-April, convicting Bonds of being evasive during his 2003 grand jury testimony in the BALCO case.

The jury did not reach a verdict on three perjury charges that alleged Bonds lied to the grand jury when he denied that he knowingly used steroids. A mistrial was declared on those counts.

Bonds was originally indicted in November 2007, and the trial had been scheduled to start more than two years ago, but an appeal over evidence and subsequent motions set the start date back to late March.

A seven-time MVP, eight-time Gold Glove winner, 14-time All-Star and two-time batting champion, Bonds owns seven single-season major league records, most notably a 73-home run season in 2001 with the Giants and 762 career homers.

His final season ended a little more than a month before he was indicted.