"Home run king Barry Bonds is being tried on charges he lied to a federal grand jury when he said he never knowingly took steroids. Follow Mercury News reporter Howard Mintz's account of the trial in this live blog from the San Francisco courtroom. During the trial's lunch break, check the Barry Bonds section for a special live chat with sports columnist Mark Purdy.

9:22 a.m.: Trial adjourned for the day, closing arguments set for Thursday

The trial is done for today, and the lawyers will return in the morning for closing arguments. They will submit proposed jury instructions at some point today.

Federal prosecutors plan to argue for about an hour and a half, and defense lawyers plan to argue for about three hours. As a result, the jury will likely begin to deliberate by the end of the day Thursday, or Friday morning at the latest.

9:15 a.m.: Defense rests without calling any witnesses

Allen Ruby, Bonds' lawyer, has rested the slugger's defense without putting on a single witness.

9:00 a.m. Prosecutors drop one perjury charge

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston started the day finalizing several rulings on issues that must be decided before the Bonds case reaches the jury. Federal prosecutors this morning decided to abandon one of the four perjury counts against Bonds, rather than contest the defense's argument that the government failed to present sufficient evidence to support the charge during the trial. As a result, Bonds now faces three counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice for lying to a federal grand jury in December 2003 about using steroids. The now-abandoned charge dealt with allegations Bonds lied about using the "cream" and "the clear" before the 2003 baseball season."