United States District Judge Susan Illston has honored the request of U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello to unseal court documents from the BALCO grand jury investigation. The documents included transcripts, athlete medical records and lab reports that could have relevance in the Barry Bonds perjury trial next spring (”Judge unseals documents regarding Bonds’ alleged steroid use,” November 26).

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston signed an order that allows prosecutors to share grand jury transcripts, medical lab reports and search warrant affidavits with Bonds’ lawyers. It came in response to a request from the U.S. Attorney’s office last week that the protective order on the documents be lifted to avoid possibly delaying Bonds’ trial, scheduled to begin March 2.

There are allegedly thousands of pages of transcripts that many people were hoping to see released to the public. Unfortunately, even though the documents will be unsealed, they will not be made available to the public.

The documents, however, will not be made public, according to Jack Gillund, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello. He said testimony from the secret grand jury proceedings will remain closely guarded.

Of course, removing restrictions on grand jury testimony increases the likelihood that the public could ultimately see the primary documents from the proceedings.