I thought the whole thing was bogus from the gitgo.
WASHINGTON – Roger Clemens was acquitted Monday on all charges that he obstructed and lied to Congress in denying he used performance-enhancing drugs to build his long and brilliant career as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.
“I’m very thankful,” Clemens said, choking up as he spoke after the verdict. “It’s been a hard five years,” said the pitcher, who was retried after an earlier prosecution ended in a mistrial.
This trial was lengthy, but the deliberations were relatively brief. Jurors returned their verdict after close to 10 hours over several days. The outcome ended a 10-week trial that capped the government’s investigation of the pitcher who holds seven Cy Young Awards, emblematic of the league’s best pitcher each year.
Emotional hugs among Clemens and family members followed the verdict, including one large group hug in the courtroom. At one point, wife Debbie Clemens dabbed his eyes with a tissue.
Outside, at one point, Clemens stopped to compose himself.
Accused of cheating to achieve and extend his success — and then facing felony charges that he lied about it — he declared, “I put a lot of hard work into that career.”
He said he appreciated “my teammates who came in and the emails and phone calls” of support. With his four sons standing behind him, Clemens thanked his attorneys, his family, his sisters and his wife.
His chief lawyer, Rusty Hardin, walked up to a bank of microphones and exclaimed: “Wow!”
Hardin said Clemens had to hustle to get to court in time to hear the verdict. “All of us had told Roger there wouldn’t be a verdict for two, three or four days, so he was actually working out with his sons almost at the Washington Monument when he got the call that there was a verdict.”
Prosecutors declined to comment as they left the courthouse. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a written statement, “The jury has spoken in this matter, and we thank them for their service. We respect the judicial process and the jury’s verdict.”
Take a look at photos of Clemens his last couple of seasons in Boston (1995 and 1996) with his double chin (“Another slice,Roger? was the joke) and what he looked like with the Blue Jays and then the Yankees. When he threw the bat at Piazza duriing the 2000 World series that was pure ‘roid rage.
Leave it to the Gummint to fuck it up again. Now he can NEVER AGAIN be tried for those allegations.
I’m ok with this until ALL congress critters are checked for illegal drugs and their legal ones disclosed
My opinion is he lied to congress about something that was none of their fucking business.
So major league ball(less) players use drugs? So what? they are teh only ones who suffer for it. Its a dirty little secret that needs to be kept secret so impressionable kids don’t find out, and when it comes to light, the offender should be fired without fanfare.
the job of congress, which tehy neglect, is to pass needed laws, repeal useless ones, and manage a budget. how many years has it been since they did that? They are worse then Clemens.
It was noting to me. A waste of taxdollars. Let baseball police this. Why entrap him by setting him up before congress?
BAd to do it? sure. But congress critters do worse.