Bonds' trainer sent to prison for contempt in perjury case

~ Anderson refused to testify before the grand jury investigating the Giants' outfielder.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds' personal trainer was held in contempt of court and taken to prison Wednesday for refusing to testify to the federal grand jury investigating the San Francisco Giants' slugger for perjury.

Greg Anderson, who served three months in prison after pleading guilty last year for his role in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid scandal, was led out of U.S. District Judge William Alsup's courtroom by two deputy U.S. marshals. He will be housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in nearby Dublin, but his stay may be short.

That's because Anderson will be set free once the grand jury's term expires, which will occur within weeks, Alsup said.

Anderson initially was ordered in March to testify to the grand jury investigating whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified to the original BALCO grand jury in December 2003 that he never knowingly used steroids or other banned performance enhancing drugs.

"Every person, even the President of the United States as held by the Supreme Court, has to give testimony," Alsup said in ordering Anderson to prison.

Alsup denied Anderson's request for bail or to remain free while his attorney, Mark Geragos, appeals the decision.

"You have done a masterful job of postponing this day of reckoning," the judge told Geragos, "and if you wait a few more weeks, the grand jury will go away."

Geragos said Anderson won't testify and will be released once the grand jury's term expires.

While Geragos, the federal prosecutor and the judge all hearing the case said the grand jury's term will expire soon, all declined to comment exactly when that will be.

Geragos said outside of court that "there are things in your refrigerator" with a longer shelf life than the grand jury's term.

The Giants said Bonds would have no comment on the development.

Geragos argued that Anderson shouldn't have to testify because of the numerous leaks about grand jury testimony in the original BALCO case have made their way into print.