Thursday, May 17, 2012

Key witness in Clemens' trial faces more questioning - Yahoo! News


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former trainer to Roger Clemens will undergo more key cross-examination in the baseball star's perjury trial on Thursday, with the defense expected to attack inconsistencies in the trainer's story. Clemens' former trainer Brian McNamee underwent sharp questioning from the pitching great's defense lawyer on Wednesday as he probed for holes in McNamee's testimony about Clemens' alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. McNamee's cross-examination is perhaps the core part of the trial in U.S. District Court. He is the only person with first-hand knowledge about the former pitcher's alleged use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Under cross-examination from defense attorney Rusty Hardin on Wednesday, McNamee, 45, said he had made mistakes, been forgetful or lied about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. McNamee will be in his third day of cross-examination after being questioned about 10 hours by prosecutors. Clemens' lawyers also are expected to explore McNamee's alleged problems with alcohol and scrapes with law enforcement. Clemens, 49, is being tried for a second time on federal charges of lying in 2008 to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which was investigating drug use in Major League Baseball. His first trial ended in a mistrial last year. McNamee worked with Clemens when the right-hander pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and later with the New York Yankees. He also was employed as Clemens' personal trainer. McNamee has testified he injected Clemens with anabolic steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with human growth hormone in 2000. Clemens was known as "The Rocket" during a career that ran from 1984 to 2007. He won the Cy Young Award seven times and is among the biggest names implicated in drug use in baseball. (Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Vicki Allen)

 

 

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