By Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
On Tuesday, May 29, the prosecution in the perjury trial of
Roger Clemens rested after presenting its case-in-chief. Despite great efforts by the Clemens defense
team, it says here that the government scored plenty of points with the jury;
enough to get Roger Clemens convicted of one or more counts and enough, given
Judge Reggie Walton’s statements at the abbreviated first trial, to send Roger
Clemens to jail.
Of course, there still may be some room for some bombshells
as the defense started presenting its case on Tuesday afternoon. However, it is unlikely that Roger Clemens
will take the stand and, often times, despite the fact that the defendant has
every right not to take the stand, that is held against the defendant by jurors
(consciously or not).
If Clemens does take the stand, it will be a gigantic news
story, both in the legal world and the sports world.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROSECUTION
Well, by all means not complete, some of the highlights
included (all in-court references come from tweets from either Jim Baumbach of
Newsday or the Daily News I-Team):
1)
THE TESTIMONY OF BRIAN McNAMEE. Despite talk from the defense about the
withering cross-examination that was to come of McNamee, the trainer of Clemens
who graphically testified about injecting Clemens numerous times with HGH and
steroids, McNamee held up very well and, essentially, made for a very good
witness. In the crazy world of the
steroids era, it turns out that the people who most told the truth (with possibly
a lie here or a lie there) were people like Jose Canseco, Kirk Radomski and
Brian McNamee. Go figure.
2)
THE DNA
EVIDENCE. It was hard to believe that
syringes and needles and cotton balls, stuck in a beer can in a garage or
basement for a number of years, could lead to a conviction of anyone on perjury
charges, etc. But the government did a
good job with expert testimony tying Roger Clemens to the stuff that McNamee
had saved. When Rusty Hardin tried hard
to show that McNamee simply made this stuff up after the fact, the prosecution
was allowed to bring in two convincing witnesses (including former major
leaguer David Segui), who testified that McNamee had told them about keeping
the evidence many years before the whole Congressional investigation/Clemens
testimony. This final prosecution
evidence totally countered one false theory of the defense (that McNamee made
it up after the fact).
3)
THE TESTIMONY OF KIRK RADOMSKI. Radomski (who has written his own scary,
frank book on his involvement of selling steroids to professional athletes) testified
about sending HGH to Clemens house and providing steroids that were allegedly
used by Clemens. Although the defense
scored some points on cross, the connect-the-dots approach of the prosecution
may have very well positively influenced the jury from a prosecution
perspective.
4)
THE JOSE CANSECO PARTY. On a specific charge against Clemens (who
said he was not at a party at Canseco’s house in June of 1998), the government
produced witnesses and even pictures that clearly showed that Clemens was at
the party (where an alleged discussion on steroids and steroid use took place
among Clemens, Canseco and a third man).
While not a seemingly “big” lie, these pictures, and the accompanying
testimony of other witnesses (in addition to McNamee) could very well lead to a
felony conviction.
5)
THE TESTIMONY OF RESPECTED TRAINER GENE
MONAHAN. A large part of the Clemens
defense is that Clemens received numerous B12 shots as opposed to anything
illegal. Included in that is that
Clemens testified before Congress that he was injected with B12 in open areas
and that there were multiple needles “already lined up and ready to go” in the
trainer’s room for the New York Yankees.
Monahan totally contradicted that testimony, saying he never saw
anything like that. Other trainers for
other teams said the same thing. Thus,
even if the government fails on the bigger issues, they have Clemens pretty
good on things like B12 shots and the afore-mentioned Canseco party.
While not exhaustive, the above gives you a flavor for what
the prosecution has given the jury – a road map on a number of different
issues, which can lead to one or more felony convictions on one or more
counts. One final note: while briefly
killed by the media for what was viewed to be wishy-washy testimony against his
once-best friend, Andy Pettitte actually testified pretty much as he did in
that long 2008 deposition before Congressional aides (see Kallas Remarks,
7/5/11). Pettitte knows, if nothing
else, that if Clemens is convicted of anything, it won’t be because of his
(Pettitte’s) testimony.
IS ALL LOST
FOR ROGER CLEMENS?
Not necessarily, but, to this writer, the defense is trying
to crawl out of a big hole. Having said
that, you never know what a jury is going to do. Will one or more of the jurors be mesmerized
by Rusty Hardin and the rest of the defense?
Will one or more of the jurors be mesmerized by Roger Clemens, a Hall of
Fame pitcher long before he took anything that Brian McNamee might have
injected him with? Will one or more of
the jurors agree with many that this was an enormous waste of the government’s
time and the taxpayers’ money and, thus, vote not guiltyi?
Hey, you never know.
But we will all find out in the next two weeks or so.
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