* Defense denounces Clemens’ former trainer
* Lawyer says Clemens had no positive steroid tests
(Removes extraneous paragraph)
By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) – Roger Clemens’ lawyer
rejected federal charges of perjury against the former pitching
star, saying on Tuesday Clemens is opposed to steroid use and
simply told the truth in denying he had used them.
“You are sitting in judgment to decide whether it is a crime
to deny a crime,” attorney Rusty Hardin told jurors in his
opening statement at the trial of Clemens, who is charged with
lying to Congress in testimony concerning performance-enhancing
drugs.
Use of steroids and human growth hormone “was total
anathema, totally against everything he stood for,” Hardin said.
Hardin said Clemens’ former trainer, who is expected to
testify that the baseball star used performance-enhancing drugs,
is a liar. He said Clemens became one of the best pitchers of
his era by following a rigorous conditioning program – not by
taking steroids.
“The only thing he wanted to do was be a baseball player and
be the best he could,” Hardin said.
Clemens, 49, who won the Cy Young Award a record seven times
as his league’s best pitcher, is being tried for a second time
on charges of lying to the House of Representatives Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform in 2008 about whether he used
performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens first went on trial last July. U.S. District Judge
Reggie Walton declared a mistrial because prosecutors showed
jurors a video clip that included material the judge had banned
from the case unless it was raised by Clemens’ defense team.
Hardin’s opening statement on Tuesday was meant to counter
charges by prosecutors that Clemens had covered up his steroid
use.
In his opening statement on Monday, U.S. Attorney Steven
Durham said proof that Clemens took steroids includes needles
and bloody swabs that independent tests have shown contain the
former elite pitcher’s DNA and performance-enhancing drugs.
Hardin struck back by telling jurors that Clemens has never
tested positive for steroids or showed any sign of their use,
such as increased bulk. “This case all along has been only about
one man’s persistence in trying to clear his name against all
odds,” he said.
Clemens faces one count of obstruction of Congress, three
counts of making a false statement and two counts of perjury in
a trial that may run as long as six weeks. If convicted, he
faces a maximum prison term of 30 years, although under federal
sentencing guidelines he would most likely get 15 to 21 months.
Hardin took aim on Tuesday at Brian McNamee, who had been
Clemens’ trainer and is now expected to be a key prosecution
witness. He likely will testify that he injected Clemens with
anabolic steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with human growth
hormone in 2000.
Calling McNamee a liar, Hardin said federal authorities
would be unable to show any corroboration for McNamee’s claims
despite an investigation that included 268 interview reports and
the use of 103 federal agents and eight assistant U.S.
attorneys.
Clemens career “never changed” during the years of alleged
steroid use, Hardin told the jury. “It was what it was before
Brian McNamee, it was what it was during Brian McNamee, it was
what it was after Brian McNamee.”
Clemens played for Boston, Toronto, Houston and the New York
Yankees in a career that ran from 1984 to 2007.
(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Bill Trott)
