Evidence in Bonds case banished

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors have sought an indefinite delay in the perjury trial of former Giants slugger Barry Bonds after a San Francisco judge excluded key evidence.

Trial was scheduled to start Monday but prosecutors said Friday they would appeal the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston to exclude alleged positive steroid tests and other important evidence.

Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader faces several counts of making false statements by telling a grand jury he never knowingly used illegal performance-enhancing substances.

Some of that evidence the judge tossed out includes doping calendars taken from the home of Bonds's former personal trainer, Greg Anderson.

Prosecutors insist the documents could be key to proving that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs and that he lied to a federal grand jury during his testimony late in 2003.

Anderson, who entered a guilty plea to dealing steroids in the BALCO scandal, has not cooperated with federal officials.