Roger Clemens acquitted on all charges in perjury trial

[wbcoleman]

Roger Clemens acquitted on all charges in perjury trial
June 18, 2012 4:51 PM

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57455533/roger-clemens-acquitted-on-all-charges-in-perjury-trial/



(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Roger Clemens has been acquitted on all charges by a jury that decided he didn't lie to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

Jurors returned their verdict Monday after close to 10 hours of deliberation. The outcome brings an end to a 10-week trial that capped an expensive, five-year investigation into one of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball.

The 49-year-old Clemens was accused of perjury, making false statements and obstructing Congress when he testified at a deposition and at a nationally-televised hearing in February 2008. The charges centered on his repeated denials that he used steroids and human growth hormone during his 24-year career.

"It's a day of celebration for us," Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin said following the reading of the verdicts. "Justice won out."
The verdict is the latest blow to the government's pursuit of athletes accused of drug use.

Last week, Clemens' lawyers tore into the prosecutors' case against the former pitching great during closing arguments, attacking the government for bringing the matter to court in the first place and mounting one last assault against Clemens' chief accuser.

Federal prosecutors painted Clemens as a liar who did not want to tarnish his name.

"He chose to lie, he chose to mislead, he chose to provide false statements, to impede Congress' legitimate investigation," prosecutor Gil Guerrero said last week.

Clemens was charged with perjury, making false statements and obstructing Congress. The heart of the charges centered on his repeated denials that he used steroids or human growth hormone. Jurors heard 26 days of testimony over more than eight weeks.

"When you take that oath, you've got to tell the truth," Guerrero said last week in a packed courtroom that included Clemens' wife and four sons.

Guerrero accused Clemens of coming up with a "cover story" about the injections received from his former strength coach, Brian McNamee. Clemens told Congress the injections were for vitamin B12 and the local anesthetic lidocaine, but McNamee testified that he injected the pitcher with steroids and HGH.

Guerrero said Clemens, one of the most successful pitchers of his generation and a winner of an unprecedented seven Cy Young Awards, told the lies "so as not to tarnish his name."

Clemens' lawyers spent much of the trial attacking McNamee's credibility, and even McNamee acknowledged that details of his story evolved over time. During closing, Hardin produced a chart titled: "Brian McNamee's testimony is admittedly not credible." The chart included more than two dozen times in which Hardin said McNamee either lied outright or said something that resulted from a "mistake" or "bad memory."

[Ted S]

I haven't paid much attention to this story because it doesn't really affect public policy in a significant way but what puzzles me is why he was called to testify before congress anyway.  It seems to me that he should have been called before a baseball commission if the commission was interested in it.  Congress? Why?  I suspect it was for show.  Clemens taking steroids didn't affect me personally at all.  The game of baseball was sullied to some degree by his actions but I don't think it is the job of congress to ensure that private businesses and institutions remain stain free.

[wbcoleman]

I haven't paid much attention to this story because it doesn't really affect public policy in a significant way but what puzzles me is why he was called to testify before congress anyway.  It seems to me that he should have been called before a baseball commission if the commission was interested in it.  Congress? Why?  I suspect it was for show.  Clemens taking steroids didn't affect me personally at all.  The game of baseball was sullied to some degree by his actions but I don't think it is the job of congress to ensure that private businesses and institutions remain stain free.

Why was Jamie Dimon testifying before Congress today?  [NOT under oath.]  It is TOTALLY all for show.  But what else is The War on Drugs?

[Ted S]

Why was Jamie Dimon testifying before Congress today?

You're exactly right. Jamie Dimon ran a private company that made some bad business decisions and lost a bunch of their own money, and for doing that he gets summoned to Washington and becomes a reluctant participant in the political "look at me!" show that congress puts on all-too-often.  Sadly, the left is completely oblivious to this fact and just laps it all up.

[RWE]

Yeah, doesn't Congress have more important stuff to do like government oversight? Heck, they even have an Oversight Committee. Wasn't there some recent perjury from the Attorney General during a Committee meeting? Isn't the Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department that put Clemens on trial for perjury?
I'm inclined to think that Clemens was guilty, but who cares? For the Obama Administration the Department of Justice is right out of an Orwell novel along with the Ministry of Truth.

[Ted S]

Yeah, doesn't Congress have more important stuff to do like government oversight? Heck, they even have an Oversight Committee.

This is the kind of phrase that the left and the right see in completely different light.

The word "vacation" is similar.  When a husband hears the word "vacation" he conjures up in his mind an image of sitting in a boat in the early morning hours trying to land a record setting walleye. His wife imagines reading a good book while sitting on the white sandy of a fancy resort the the Caribbean.  Both vacations, but very different things.

To the left, "Government oversight" almost always means government keeping a watchful eye on big business.  To the right, "Government oversight" almost always means congress keeping a watchful eye over the branches of government.  Both oversight, but very different things.

It's funny how much confusion arises in life over a lack of clear understanding or definition.  I constantly see this happening in meetings at work.  Somebody utters an ambiguous but great sounding phrase and ten different thought bubbles pop up over ten different heads.

It takes real talent and leadership to get everyone in an organization on the same page and paddling in the same direction.