Lawyers for the Chronicle claim in court papers filed Friday (July 8) that federal prosecutors attempted to mislead U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White into thinking that Balco lab founder Victor Conte was the paper’s source of grand jury testimony leaked to the paper’s reporters about Barry Bonds’ use of steroids. “The problem is that the theory is untrue and the government knows it,” Hearst lawyers wrote. In fact, Hearst said the Justice Department, before it filed a brief about Conte possibly being the source, had admitted that it had no evidence about the source of the transcripts. “… [F]or the government to continue to press this matter, knowing what it knows now, is nothing short of harassment,” Hearsts lawyers wrote. The briefs filed Friday were in advance of a hearing scheduled for Aug. 4 where Judge White will decide whether Lance Williams (left) and Mark Fainaru-Wada should go to jail for refusing to testify about who gave them grand jury transcripts in the Balco case.