Via Reuters:
A jury in downtown Washington on Monday acquitted Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens of all six criminal charges against him in a trial to decide whether he lied to Congressabout using performance-enhancing drugs.
Jurors deliberated for a total of about 10 hours before coming to a decision.
Via CNN:
Federal prosecutor Courtney Saleski, in closing arguments, told jurors Clemens “wanted to protect his brand, he wanted to protect his livelihood,” in denying the use of steroids during a 2008 investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives into the problem.
The Clemens defense team disputed whether the government had made its case, telling the jury all the evidence came through a former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, who had incentive to lie.
“You saw Brian McNamee, the only witness in the history of the world who says he gave or saw an injection of that man,” said defense attorney Michael Attanasio. “One person in the entire world.” During closing arguments, the defense cited the lack of corroborating witnesses.
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Comments
Clemons should have been tried and found guilty of welching on his Red Sox contract and general unfair dealing. He claims he “lost” his fast ball when he soured on staying with the Red Sox in the mid-90s, finally leaving in 1996 once he acquired free agency. Then miracle of miracles, Clemons “re-finds” his fast ball after signing with with Toronto.
Final 3 years with the Red Sox,
1994, 9 – 7
1995, 10 – 5
1996, 10 – 13
First 2 years in Toronto,
1997, 21 – 7
1998, 20 – 6
Frank… Silly, silly Frank.
You should know by now that welching on the contract is actually written into Red Sox contracts.
Roger Clemens…
Nomar Garciaparra…
Feel free to add your own. There are plenty.
🙂
Bein’ a good ol’ boy from Dayton, Texas – raised over in Spring – it’s no surprise that he lost his fastball in Boston. 😉
I haven’t really kept up with the case, but of all the big names implicated in the steroid case(s), I was most skeptical of his guilt. He’s a big guy, but he was a tank from day one. Unlike, say, a Barry Bonds or Mark McGire, who put on 40lbs of muscle in their mid-thirties. But primarily because he was a pitcher, and past a certain point (one considerably lower than for a position player), packing on additional muscle isn’t really getting you anything except a much higher risk of injury. There is a real delicate balance that goes on with a pitcher’s arm, and if you get one set of muscles too strong, it can ruin your career in a heartbeat. Its begging for a ripped tendon or a torn rotator cuff.
As for the non-pitchers, well, just look at highlight reels from 1990 and compare them to 2005. The contrast can’t be missed. My guess is that by 2000, two thirds or more of position players were using.
Not Guilty. The Feds don’t need to be nosing their business in professional sports. These are highly informed professionals with legions of the best doctors to guide their medical decisions. If they feel like they can handle the risks, its their call. Its not like the drugs are the meat of their issues. Professional athletes play so hard that injury themselves during normal play by exceeding safe limits, especially football players, pitchers, tennis etc.
I look at most of this stuff like the
WWFWWE, it’s all entertainment. If these folks want to screw themselves up, they have just as much right to do that as Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears or Kate (& Jon but not the 8).So, will we also see Holder and the boyz from the Just Us Department on trial for perjury?
Obama has used position to punish his enemies and reward his friends. The reward is pumping billions into the veins of his union comrades and bundler boyfriends. These enhanced union players reward the president with unbelievable donor statistics.
Will Congress get around to investigating such abuses? Or does the regular citizen player never get an at bat, since government is now run by steroid leveraged lobbyists? Didn’t Obama promise to get rid of the lobbyists in the White House?
The game in DC is rigged … but only all star pitchers get investigated.
Another waste of taxpayer money.
I’m all for getting doping out of sports, but this is a clear example of how not to do it.
They had zero evidence. None. They brought this case on the uncorroborated testimony of a single witness.
The man was one of the top talents of his era. A part of that era was steroids which will forever stain the accomplishments of its players. That makes a Cal Ripkin a special standout as player & person. l marveled at both a questionable Clemmons but moreso a Pitcher for the Age’s Nolan Ryan. Ripkin & Ryan are up there with Aaron , Grove , Berra. Clemmons rightly ranks with Rose , somewhat less with shoeless Joe whose sins are debatable. lt always made me shake my head given the many clay footed frauds in Congress summoning the audacity to pass judgement on other flawed humans. But then we all know why.
Yankee scum!
“Yankee Scum.” That’s redundant where I come from…
I had a friend from New Orleans once tell me that he was twelve years old before he realized that “Damn” and “Yankee” were two separate words.
My response was, “I grew up just south of Boston in a family of Red Sox fans, and I had the same experience.”
What a pathetic waste of the taxpayers money. I suppose people in NYC will soon be on trial for sneaking salt into a restaurant or hiding their 32-ouncers in their purses.
These government low-lives are sucking the treasury dry and they’re worried about a fucking baseball player????
Fuming.
l seem to remember a clip of Shiela Jackson Lee bloviating at one of the hearings. A total Circus with her featured as an entire car fiiied with Clowns. lf l remember she tripped over her own clown foot straight into a pile of her own recently released Jackass shat.
BRAVO!!
Will anyone ask McCain if his witch hunt on MLB was a total waste of money?b
Probably not, but I wish someone would.
I’m torn on this one. On one hand as a loyal Red Sox fan I wanted to see Fat Roger the jerk go to jail. Then again, if Holder looks bad, I’m happy.
Obama lies to Congress. Holder lies to Congress. Chu lies to Congress. Sebelius lies to Congress. Congress lies to Congress. They all lie to the American people.
Roger Clemens gets prosecuted?
Tom Davis was one of the idiot RINO Republicans that kept beating the drum for hearings on baseball several years back when there was actual work to do. I am so glad he is gone. The sad, sad truth is there is very little difference between Davis and Connolly, his Marxist replacement…
But, but, but wait, there’s always Lance Armstrong. Isn’t he good for another unprovable accusation, or two? After all, it’s not like Congress, and the Department of InJustice, have anything else to do.
When in France, I always like to run some Lance Armstrong smack. The French abandon all Gallic pretentiousness and go full-blown nuts over any mention of the Lancinator. Truly, Armstrong is the universal uniter to French of all classes and race.
strictly, MORE DISTRACTION taking away lime light of jobs, jobs, and jobs and especially the bs line the economy is fine. (HA_HA_HA)
down to 140 days to election,, This ov definatey eel as a romg for
romney
Due to a recent uptick in attention directed at DOJ, it appears that they will be going after any and all high-profile athletes, regardless of sport in order to fade some heat. If I were Tiger Woods, I would be getting really, really nervous! While I have never heard for sure, I would assume Barry Bonds was a Barack Kardashian supporter. Lance has been well documented to be one. They don’t care what it takes at this point. /sarc
Well, if Clemons was from Illinois or had played ball with the Sox or Cubs, the question would’ve never been raised, much less lead to a prosecution. I wonder how Roger and his boy Andy are doing after the latter testifying. Of course, when Andy said he was probably not even 50/50 on Roger using HGH, the fate of the case was likely sealed.
I think the other side of this that bothers me, is that its a well established rule that congressmen can lie to their constituents and there is no penalty for doing so. But lie to a congressmen, “that’s insidious!”. Its funny how all the messed up things end up being okay for one class of people who insulate themselves from the crappiness they dump on the rest of us, but god forbid they aren’t dealt with like its jesus himself.
Good. I don’t even care whether he lied. If I were on the jury I’d have nullified even if I thought the evidence against him was strong. Congress had no business asking him those questions in the first place, so as far as I’m concerned he had every right to lie (if in fact he did lie).
Now that the “important” issue of Roger Clemens is resolved, maybe Congress and/or the courts could address the “minor” infractions of one Eric Holder.
So the Holder Justice Department, that couldn’t convict Roger Clemens, despite his DNA being on a steroid filled syringe, is going to find the White House leaker of US Intelligence secrets? Why do I not have a warm fuzzy feeling about this?
Congress is now going after those who play Tiddlywinks. They have to look busy and maybe they’ll get more TV time this time?