07-13-2011, 01:09 PM
WASHINGTON -- Needles and cotton balls Roger Clemens' former trainer says he used to inject the star pitcher at the height of his career tested positive for Clemens' DNA and anabolic steroids, prosecutors said Wednesday.
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 has accused the pitcher's former trainer, Brian McNamee, of fabricating the evidence in case he needed to blackmail the baseball star into continuing to employ him.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/676514...NHeadlines
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. But Durham said neither substance was found on the needles or cotton swabbed with his blood stains.
Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin told the jury that the government is "horribly wrong" in charging his client with perjury, false statements and obstruction of Congress. Clad in a dark suit, Clemens watched silently from the defense table with a clenched jaw.
"There was rush to judgment on Roger that has made it impossible for him to be fairly heard until he got here," Hardin said in the federal courthouse just a couple blocks from the congressional hearing room where he testified three years ago.
"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."
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 has accused the pitcher's former trainer, Brian McNamee, of fabricating the evidence in case he needed to blackmail the baseball star into continuing to employ him.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/676514...NHeadlines
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. But Durham said neither substance was found on the needles or cotton swabbed with his blood stains.
Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin told the jury that the government is "horribly wrong" in charging his client with perjury, false statements and obstruction of Congress. Clad in a dark suit, Clemens watched silently from the defense table with a clenched jaw.
"There was rush to judgment on Roger that has made it impossible for him to be fairly heard until he got here," Hardin said in the federal courthouse just a couple blocks from the congressional hearing room where he testified three years ago.
"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."