Needles and cotton balls, claimed to include DNA of Roger Clemens, were faked, according to prosecutors.

Brian McNamee, the former trainer of Clemens, claimed that he used to inject the star pitcher with anabolic steroids.

From Post-gazette.com:

Assistant U.S. attorney Steven Durham revealed the results during opening arguments in Clemens’ trial on charges of lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin responded that he won’t dispute the needles contain Clemens’ DNA and steroids, but accused the trainer Brian McNamee of “mixing” it up.

“He manufactured this stuff,” Hardin told jurors. “Roger Clemens‘ only crime was having the poor judgment to stay connected with Brian McNamee.”

Hardin said steroids would have been so “incredibly inconsistent with his career and beliefs that there’s no way he would have done it.”

Clemens has said that the only things McNamee ever injected him with were the common local anesthetic lidocaine for his joints and vitamin B-12 to ward off flu viruses and stay healthy. But Durham said neither substance was found on the needles or cotton swabbed with his blood stains.

“It’s a fact of life that sometimes when people reach the mountain, there is an unwillingness to give them equal consideration when people come down on them,” Hardin said. “And that’s what happened with Roger.”

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens, Steroids

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Baseball pitching star Roger Clemens, winner of a record seven Cy Young Awards, sat silently in federal court as his trial opened on charges of perjury and obstruction of Congress.

The baseball star is facing charges that carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

From NPR.org:

Clemens remained expressionless as the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Durham, told the jury that the government had physical proof that the 48-year-old onetime pitching ace had been repeatedly injected with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens, whose fastball was so powerful he earned the nickname “Rocket,” is not charged with using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. Rather, it is his denial of steroid and HGH use in testimony before a House committee in 2008 that could cost him his freedom. He is charged with six different counts of perjury, making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation into the use of banned substances in baseball.

Clemens said during his congressional testimony, “I’ve been accused of something I’m not guilty of. … I’ve never taken steroids or HGH.”

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, baseball, HGH, human growth hormone, Roger Clemens, steroid, Steroids

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Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) in a rage offered his opinion of the Governor after the recent budget battle: “I wanted to punch him in his head…He’s a rotten prick!”

The reason of Sweeney’s tirade is now visible — anabolic steroids.

From Politickernj.com:

After much speculation, Sweeney finally admitted that he had received steroids from Brian McNamee, the baseball trainer who has whipped a few pitching stars into shape with steroids, including Roger Clemens and Andy Petite.

“Sweeney got in touch with me through a player on the Trenton Thunder, who played for the Yankees in years past. He told me that he needed something to boost his strength and endurance in dealing with ‘the governor of a small northeastern state. I don’t follow politics, so I did not know who he was referring to,” said McNamee.

On June 29, Christie signed a bill that forced state employees to pay more per year for their pensions and health benefits. According to the news reports, “Christie handed the first pen he used to sign the bill to Senate President Sweeney, whom he praised for his bipartisanship and ‘political courage’ for joining with the GOP to pass legislation that his own Democratic Party members in the legislature opposed.”

Sweeney told Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger in an interview, “I wanted to punch him in his head.” McNamee is no longer administering steroids, as he was “only engaged through the budget season.”

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Andy Petite, Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens, Steroids

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A federal grand injury has indicated ex-US baseball star Roger Clemens as he allegedly lied on the use of performance enhancing drugs before the Congress.

If he is convicted of all charges, Clemens could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5m (£960,000) fine.

From BBC.co.uk:

Mr Clemens said under oath in 2008 that Brian McNamee, his former trainer, had lied before the committee about having given the former baseball star performance-enhancing drugs.

“I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it [human growth hormone],” Mr Clemens testified in 2008. “I never used steroids. Never performance-enhancing steroids.”

But Mr McNamee said he had injected Mr Clemens more than a dozen times in three years.

Earl Ward, one of Mr McNamee’s attorneys, called the indictment “vindication”.

In a statement on the micro-blogging website Twitter, Mr Clemens recently wrote: “I never took HGH [human growth hormone] or steroids. And I did not lie to Congress.”

The indictment alleged that Clemens obstructed a congressional enquiry while denying making use of substances while under oath in the year 2008.

Tags:  baseball, HGH, human growth hormone, performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, Steroids

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Brian McNamee, the former trainer of Roger Clemens, may have proved to be the star witness in the perjury case but Andy Pettitte, the Yankees hero, is all set to lead the supporting cast.

Pettitte is expected to step off the mound and onto the witness stand for testifying against his pitching mentor.

From NYdailynews.com:

Pettitte has already both bolstered McNamee’s credibility and directly contradicted some of the allegedly misleading statements by Clemens that are listed in the six-count indictment issued Thursday against the Rocket. In 2008, Pettitte testified that he used human growth hormone provided by McNamee to expedite his recovery from a 2004 elbow injury, and that he discussed HGH with Clemens in 1999 and 2005.

“Mac told the truth about me,” Pettitte said upon arriving at spring training in 2008, having seemingly survived the congressional probe into baseball’s doping subculture.

Clemens is expected to plead not guilty and this will mean that Pettitte will be all set again to become a key witness in the perjury case against Clemens.

Tags:  Andy Pettitte, Brian McNamee, doping, HGH, human growth hormone, Roger Clemens, Yankees

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The federal grand jury that is holding investigations in case of Roger Clemens for perjury testified David Segui, who became the latest former major leaguer to testify in Clemens’ case.

When asked to comment about his testimony by the media, Segui declined to have a word while leaving the room of grand jury on the third floor of the federal courthouse in the shadow of the Capitol.

From NYdailynews.com:

Segui, whose 15-season Major League Baseball career included parts of two seasons with the Mets, is the latest former ballplayer dragged into the Clemens investigation. Self-proclaimed steroid guru Jose Canseco appeared before the grand jury on June 3 and told reporters afterward that he testified that he had no evidence that Clemens had used performance-enhancing drugs. Former Yankee pitcher Jason Grimsley met with Butler and other investigators in August of 2009, and former pitcher Pedro Borbon Jr. has also been interviewed by investigators involved in the case.

Brian McNamee, former trainer of Clemens, remarked before former Sen. George Mitchell that he injected steroids and HGH a minimum of 16 times to Roger Clemens, seven-time Cy Young Award winner, a fact that was vehemently denied by Clemens.

Tags:  Brian McNamee, David Segui, HGH, Jose Canseco, performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, steroid, Steroids

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In January 2008, Roger Clemens initially filed a case against his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee in Texas. The pitcher claimed that McNamee’s statements, which he made in the Mitchell report and in Sports Illustrated’s website, were untrue and defamatory.

Last August 28, 2009, US District Judge Keith P. Ellison dismissed the remainder of the case. Aside from this, Clemens cannot refile his case in the state of Texas. However, he plans to make an appeal in the US 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the judge’s decision.

Brian McNamee filed a defamation suit in July 31 in defense of Clemens’ allegations. According to McNamee, Clemens’ refusal of his statement was an intense and coordinated public relations offensive.

Clemens appeared on “60 minutes” to hold a nationally televised news conference against McNamee.

McNamee’s statement claimed that he injected Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

McNamee’s lawyer, Richard Emery, thinks that the move of their legal battle from Texas to New York would prove to be an advantage on their part.

Emery added that the most important battle is still in Washington, DC where the Justice Department was asked by the congressional committee to launch a probe as to whether Clemens lied.

From Google Hosted News:

NEW YORK — The remainder of Roger Clemens’ defamation suit against Brian McNamee in Texas has been dismissed, leaving the pair to fight their legal battle in New York.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Brian McNamee, human growth hormone, Mitchell report, MLB, Roger Clemens

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Baseball player Roger Clemens is being advised to address his grievances towards the prosecutors and not towards Brian McNamee who had been his long time trainer. According to McNamee’s lawyers, the trainer shouldn’t be blamed for being coerced to reveal that he had injected Clemens’ with steroids to the investigators of Sen. George Mitchell, who later published a report that named several baseball players to be linked to steroids. This motion was filed at the Texas federal court in response to the Rusty Hardin’s appeal that the court presided by US District Judge Keith Ellison should re evaluate their dismissal of the slander lawsuit filed by Clemens against McNamee.

From The Daily News:

“The thrust of our response is that Clemens is trying to blame Brian for what he is angry at the government prosecutors for doing - that is, compelling Brian to talk to them and tell the truth,” said Richard Emery, one of McNamee’s attorneys. “That’s no basis for taking away Brian’s immunity. The prosecutors compelled him to talk and it was not Brian’s fault that they then made it public through the Mitchell Report. They (Clemens and his lawyers) are pointing their fingers at the wrong person.”

Hardin has argued in court filings that McNamee should not be protected with absolute immunity. Hardin pointed out that Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella, who had led much of the BALCO prosecution, argued in the case of Tammy Thomas, the cyclist convicted of perjury last year, that the purpose of the government’s steroid probe was to nail distributors, not athletes or users. McNamee’s statements to Mitchell about Clemens’ alleged steroid use play no role in exposing and prosecuting drug distribution rings, Hardin argued.

In a counter argument, McNamee’s lawyers contend that it was not his intention to ruin the reputation of Clemens, but he was merely telling the truth that he had a hand at the baseball player’s steroid use.

Tags:  Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens, steroid lawsuits, Steroids

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