Marion Cunningham 
Ex-San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds echoed his earlier plea of innocence Thursday in the seemingly never-ending saga over whether he lied to a jury and interfered with the government’s investigation into his alleged use of steroids. Bonds, who has been battling the charges for the past two years, is looking to have much of the 223 pages of evidence thrown out of court. The documents detail the government’s case against the 44-year-old homerun king and include such ditties as steroid test results and damaging correspondence between Bonds and his former personal trainer. He is scheduled to go on trial in March. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declined to rule on Thursday about what evidence would be allowed in court, but she hinted that she might not allow test records from the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, the company at the crux of the Bonds steroids scandal. She said that the evidence amounts to little more than hearsay without direct testimony from Greg Anderson, Bonds’ ex-trainer. “Our defense is that Barry Bonds is innocent,” said Bonds’ lawyer Allen Ruby. “That’s our defense, and we think that’s the central fact of the case.”
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