Doping-Bonds' lawyers ridicule government in court papers

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Barry Bonds ridiculed the federal government for sloppy work in a filing on Thursday in which the defense argued steroid perjury charges against the U.S. baseball home run king should be dropped.

"The government's opposition to defendant Bonds' motion to dismiss is so riven with contradiction that it appears written by two authors at war with one another," the slugger's legal team wrote in a filing with U.S. federal court in San Francisco.

Bonds, 43, who broke Hank Aaron's Major League Baseball career home run record last season, is charged with lying to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he denied using performance enhancing drugs.

He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers are asking a federal judge to dismiss the case at a Feb. 29 hearing. A week ago, U.S. prosecutors responded in a legal filing by saying they had proof Bonds had tested positive for steroids.

"An evil twin seemingly played a role as well in drafting the opposition, ignoring, misstating or violating the very legal standards proposed elsewhere in the government's pleading in an apparent effort to gain a tactical advantage at trial," Bonds' lawyers wrote on Thursday.

"As a result, the government filed an initial brief that it later was forced to withdraw because it contained a patently false assertion of fact."

Prosecutors initially wrote they had proof Bonds had tested positive for steroids in November 2001, months after his record breaking 73-home run season, and referred as well as to a failed test in November 2000.

After breaking the news of the accusation, Reuters contacted Victor Conte, whose BALCO lab conducted tests on Bonds' blood some years ago.

A leading figure in the global sports doping scandal of recent years, Conte said he strongly doubted prosecutors had a November 2001 positive test.

When questioned about the date, federal prosecutors said they had made two typographical errors and meant to refer to November 2000 throughout. The government filed a corrected document a day later.

"As is always the case, many more prospective jurors will have read the original story than the retraction," lawyers Dennis Riordan and Donald Horgan wrote on behalf of Bonds. "The gaffe never should have happened."

Defense lawyers often move to dismiss a case before it goes to trial. The team of prominent lawyers for Bonds allege the government is making overly broad allegations against the seven-time National League Most Valuable Player.

Prosecutors have not made public much of their evidence in the case against Bonds, who is not signed to play with any team in 2008 after his long-time employers, the San Francisco Giants, chose not to re-sign him following last season.

In its filing last week, prosecutors also said they had evidence Bonds discussed or received human growth hormone from his trainer.