WASHINGTON — In baseball terms, the first Roger Clemens trial was a rainout in the top of the first inning. WASHINGTON — In baseball terms, the first Roger Clemens trial was a rainout in the top of the first inning.
WASHINGTON — In baseball terms, the first Roger Clemens trial was a rainout in the top of the first inning.
Not because it actually rained, but because one of the teams turned on the sprinkler and left it running.
Only two witnesses had been called last July when U.S. Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial, famously declaring that prosecutors had made a gaffe that even a “first-year law student” wouldn’t make.
It was a courtroom humiliation even a baseball fan would understand.
It’s been a nine-month wait for the makeup date.
The case of United States vs. William R. Clemens was set to return to court today with the start of jury selection in the second attempt by the government to prove that the seven-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher lied when he denied, in an appearance before Congress in 2008, using steroids and human growth hormone.
To help make sure there’s not another misstep, the Justice Department now has five lawyers on the prosecution team, up from two at the first trial.
“They bulked up their team,” said Washington lawyer Stan Brand, who represented Major League Baseball in connection with a 2005 congressional investigation into the sport’s steroids policies. “They’re going belt-to-suspenders so they don’t make any mistakes.”
The trial is expected to last four weeks to six weeks, and the basics remain the same.
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