The perjury trial of seven-time Cy Young award winner and former University of Texas pitcher Roger Clemens began Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court.
Clemens arrived shortly before 8:20am EST with his wife Debbie and his attorney Rusty Hardin.
An early morning hearing took place before Judge Reggie Walton in which he was extremely critical of Congress for withholding an audio recording of Clemens deposition to a committee staff. Walton expressed confusion as to why the House has not turned over the audio recordings of Clemens. A transcript of Clemens deposition is available.
Clemens defense requested that the audio tapes be made available in addition to the transcript. They subpoena in order to acquire the audio tapes but that request was denied.
Judge Walton cited the fact that if Clemens’ team felt the audio tapes were critical a request should have been made to the court long before the opening day of trial.
The start of Clemens trial will not be delayed due to the audio recordings.
Judge Walton also debated whether he will allow the testimony of other baseball players who knowingly received performance-enhancing drugs from Clemens’ former trainer Brian McNamee.
Clemens’ defense team plans to accuse McNamee of making up that he injected the former Houston Astros pitcher with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
If the defense uses that strategy Judge Walton stated he felt it would be unfair for Congress not to be able to submit the testimonies of former baseball players linked to McNamee.
The decision on allowing the testimony of former players such as Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblach, and Mike Staton has not been finalized at this time.
Following the early morning hearing the selection of jurors for the case of U.S. vs. William R. Clemens began. Judge Walton is overseeing the selection.
A group of 125 Washington D.C. area residents will be narrowed down to 12 jurors and four alternatives.
Each potential juror is asked to answer 82 questions regarding their knowledge of the Clemens case, as well as questions regarding their background.
Clemens’ defense team informed potential jurors of their list of defense witnesses including former players Wade Boggs, David Cone, Brad Ausmus, Phil Garner, Charlie O’Brien, Darrin Fletcher, Mike Boddicker, and Woody Williams.
Announcers Joe Angel and Tommy Hutton, as well as New York Yankees security chief Jerry Lameron, will be called to testify by the defense team as well.
Judge Walton expects jury selection to take approximately three days. He plans on finalizing the jury selection process Monday morning at 9am EST.
The trial is set to begin shortly after the jurors are finalized. It is expected to last four to six weeks.
In February of 2008 Clemens testified under oath before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he never used performance enhancing drugs.
He is charged with six felony counts including one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making a false statement, and two counts of perjury. The charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.
Clemens has pled not guilty to all six charges.
Mike Lederer will be covering the Roger Clemens perjury trial for The [Five] and can be found on twitter @MikeLederer
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