Professor William Gould spoke with Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle on how he is "mystified" on the decision by prosecutors to drop the perjury charges against Barry Bonds.

When federal prosecutors dismissed three perjury charges against Barry Bonds after a jury deadlocked, they said the dismissal would be "without prejudice," meaning that they reserved the right to refile the charges.

What they didn't mention is that federal law would make recharging Bonds in the current circumstances virtually impossible. And U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag's office has refused to discuss or explain the prosecutors' decision.

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"It's going out with a whimper rather than a bang," said William Gould, a Stanford labor law professor who helped to end the 1994-95 ballplayers' strike when he was chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.

Gould said this week he was "mystified" by the prosecution's decision to drop the perjury charges, announced in a one-sentence court filing Aug. 31 and accepted by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston a day later.