Clemens trial set to try again
Jury selection begins today; first attempt ended in July
WASHINGTON — For the second time in 10 months, federal prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin jury selection today in the perjury trial of baseball pitching great Roger Clemens, who is accused of lying to Congress about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs during a professional career that spanned more than two decades.
Clemens’ first trial was abruptly halted in July — two days into the case — when prosecutors introduced evidence previously banned by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.
Despite the government’s nearfatal blunder, prosecutors get a sec- ond chance to offer a case largely based on the testimony of Clemens’ former trainer, Brian Mcnamee, who told a House committee four years ago that he repeatedly injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner with steroids and human growth hormone.
Prosecutors also are expected to offer potentially damning physical evidence in the form of medical waste — including soiled gauze and used syringes allegedly tainted with anabolic steroids — that Mcnamee scavenged 10 years ago after the injections he says he gave the pitcher.
Clemens has asserted, both to Congress and in news media interviews, that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.
As central as Mcnamee is to the government’s case, he is equally crucial to the defense.
Defense attorney Rusty Hardin has vowed to challenge Mcnamee’s credibility, having already suggested during the aborted first trial that the trainer “created” the tainted needles and bloody swabs to use against the former pitcher.
During a pretrial hearing Friday, Hardin told Walton the government had provided the defense new information that could potentially block the tainted medical waste from being admitted during the trial.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not elaborate on the nature of the information.
But Hardin said in court that the developments call into serious question whether the government could establish that the materials were properly stored and not subject to possible tampering.
“We intend to cross-examine on this vigorously,” says attorney Mi- chael Attanasio, Hardin’s co-counsel.
Legal analysts say Mcnamee’s personal credibility and the reliability of the physical evidence are crucial.
“A lot of this does come down to credibility,” says Margaret Finerty, a former New York judge. “The physical evidence, especially when you get into a case of he-said, she-said, becomes even more important. The jury is going to want to know who was in control of that evidence.”
Even if the defense is successful in showing that Mcnamee “has it in for Clemens,” says Vermont Law School professor Michael Mccann, who specializes in sports law, it is still possible for the government to win a conviction based on the potential strength of the physical evidence.
“It makes it harder,” Mccann says, “but it is possible.”
Walton says jury selection is likely to take three to four days, with opening arguments coming as early as late next week.