Will Outcome of Pitcher's Perjury Trial Be 'Clemens-y'?

Rusty Hardin, attorney for Roger Clemens. Getty Images via @daylife"Let's play two!" Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks enthusiastically used to exclaim.

The notion must have come to the mind of United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Reggie Walton as he began presiding today over the government's second attempt to obtain a perjury conviction against Cy Young Award-winner "Rocket" Roger Clemens.

Jury selection is underway, the Associated Press reported, in the case against Clemens, who is accused of giving false testimony to a Congressional committee looking into steroid use in Major League Baseball. The list of potential witnesses is a Who's Who of prominent baseball figures, ranging from Commissioner Bud Selig and Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons, to tainted home run king Barry Bonds and many of Clemens' former Yankee teammates, including Jorge Posada and Paul O'Neill.

Judge Walton declared a mistrial in July 2011, on the second day of testimony after prosecutors presented evidence to the jury that the court already had ruled inadmissible. A four-week to six-week trial is expected, which is about as long as the average Yankees-Red Sox game.

Judge Tosses Clemens a Curve in Defamation Case

Image via WikipediaIn the same week that his former New York Yankees teammate, future Hall of Fame pitcher Andy Pettitte, retired after 16 years, Roger Clemens had a so-so outing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where Brian McNamee's libel suit against the former Cy Young award-winner was pared down, but allowed to proceed, according to a story in today's New York Post.

In McNamee v. Clemens (Case No. 1:09-cv-01647), Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. said McNamee may pursue his defamation claim based on Clemens' alleged statements that McNamee lied and manufactured evidence to inculpate Clemens as a user of steroids and human growth hormone during his pitching days. However, Judge Johnson dismissed McNamee's claims of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress based on alleged statements by Clemens that purported McNamee was extorting him and suffered from a mental disorder.

McNamee is seeking at least $75,000 in damages. (See "TUOL" post 11/13/09.)  The civil action is likely to take a back seat to the criminal prosecution of Clemens in federal court in Washington, D.C. based on charges that Clemens allegedly lied to Congress about using performance drugs.

UPDATE: Clemens Moves to Pickoff McNamee Libel Suit

Image via Wikipedia

Lawyers for seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens this week filed a motion to dismiss the defamation claim of his former trainer Brian McNamee in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (McNamee v. Clemens, Case No. 1:2009cv01647, filed 4/22/09).

Rocket Roger's attorneys claim the N.Y. federal district court presiding Senior Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. lacks personal jurisdiction over the former ace because he was neither living in, nor working in New York when the suit was brought, and describe the ongoing annual payments Clemens receives from the World Champion Yankees as emanating from an Ohio limited partnership headquartered in Tampa, Fla.

McNamee's suit alleges that he was defamed by purported statements from Clemens and his spokespeople of manufacturing evidence--used needles and bloody gauze pads--turned over to federal investigators after the Mitchell Report was released that allegedly corroborated steroid use by the power pitcher. The motion to dismiss argues the statements are not defamatory because of the use of the word "apparently" before "manufactured evidence" and because the underlying accusation that Clemens used steroids and human growth hormones isn't true. The complaint also cites alleged comments by Clemens' spokespeople suggesting McNamee was mentally unstable and attempting to shake down Clemens.  In the motion to dismiss, Clemens' attorneys counter that the statements were not made seriously. Moreover, the motion contends that McNamee gave permission for Clemens to attack his credibility just before the Mitchell Report went public.

Earlier this year, Clemens' defamation suit against McNamee was dismissed by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Judge Keith P. Ellison (William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee, Case No. 4:08cv00471) [see "TUOL" posts 9/7/09, 8/13/09, 7/2/09.]

UPDATE: Clemens Whiffs in Texas Libel Case

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Judge Keith P. Ellison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has sent 46-year-old former pitching ace Roger Clemens to the showers, throwing out the remainder of the seven-time Cy Young award-winner's defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee (William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee, Case No. 4:08-cv00471).

Judge Ellison previously had dismissed the lion's share of Clemens' libel case, finding that McNamee's alleged statements were not libelous per se and that McNamee's remarks to the Mitchell Commission investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball were beyond the court's jurisdiction (See "TUOL" 7/2/09, 8/13/09).

Clemens' and McNamee's titanic struggle is now confined to federal court in Brooklyn where McNamee sued Clemens for defamation.

Clemens Entering 'Hall Defame'?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The litigation swirling around seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens continues to mount (see "TUOL" post 7/2/09), and soon, you'll need a scorecard to sort out all the players.

The latest lawsuit hails from Texas, courtesy of a former Houston gym owner. In Kelly Blair v. Michael O'Keeffe, Christian Red, Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Robin Dobbins, & Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Harris County District Court Cause No. 09-50671), Blair sued the publisher of "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime," and four New York Daily News reporters who wrote the book for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to Blair, the book allegedly falsely portrays him as a drug dealer operating an underground steroids network. Among the allegations in the book that Blair disputes are that he sold steroids to New York Yankees southpaw Andy Pettitte and Clemens, the retired 46-year-old pitching great, and to Pettitte's father.

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas drove a stake into the heart of Clemens' defamation suit against Brian McNamee. Meanwhile, McNamee's attorneys vow to bring a defamation suit against Clemens in a New York court.

With apologies to umpires everywhere: "Plaintiff Up!"

No Relief for Clemens as Libel Pitch Loses

Image by E-Mans av8pix.com via Flickr

Roger Clemens may have garnered seven Cy Young Awards and racked up 354 wins in his 23-year career as one of Major League Baseball's premier pitchers, but the 46-year-old ex-hurler continues to serve up gopher balls in his efforts to resuscitate his defamation suit against former trainer Brian McNamee in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

In a 10-page decision this week, Judge Keith Ellison denied Clemens' motion to reconsider the judge's ruling in February 2009, that tossed most of Clemens' claims against McNamee. In the case of William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee (No. 4:08-cv00471), "Rocket" Roger alleged that McNamee falsely told Clemens' teammate on the NY Yankees and Houston Astros, pitcher Andy Pettitte, that Clemens used anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, and that McNamee made defamatory statements about Clemens' alleged use of these banned substances to S.I. com and in testimony before the Mitchell Commission.

In February, Judge Ellison held that the purported statements to Pettite did not constitute slander per se and that the Court lacked personal jurisdiction over McNamee as regards his alleged comments to S.I.com and before the Mitchell Commission, which were immune from suit because they were made in the course of a government investigation. Asked to reconsider his initial rulings, Judge Ellison this week shook off the sign from Clemens' attorneys and affirmed his dismissal of the heart of Clemens' defamation suit.

Attorneys for McNamee have indicated their intent to bring a defamation suit against Clemens in New York. With the way things have been going for the putative Hall of Famer these days, don't be surprised if Mike Piazza and Dan Duquette wind up on the jury.