I like these potential jurors in the Roger Clemens trial:
One potential juror said he saw the documentary “Bigger, Stronger, Faster(asterisk)” that questioned whether steroids should be illegal and suggested the Clemens investigation was a waste of congressional resources. The man, who is chief financial officer at an accounting firm, called the film convincing and said he agreed Congress should have higher priorities than steroids.
“Given all the problems the country faces, it wouldn’t have been high on my list,” the CFO said.
A woman who works as a federal contracting officer had a similar opinion, although she expressed reluctance to question lawmakers’ decisions. Prosecutor Steven Durham pressed her on whether she believes the investigation was a waste of taxpayer money. She paused, smiled and acknowledged, “Honestly, yes.” But she said she could still fairly judge the case and was told to return as a possible juror.
I’m glad to see some people were not impressed by the witch hunt.
Bonds was clearly a witch hunt, and steroids is not something Congress should be bothering with. Although one could argue they bungle everything they touch so severely that the American people are better off when they dabble in such foolishness.
That said, but all appears Clemens swore an oath and lied to Congress on National TV. That is a jail-able offense, as it should be.
I’m not sure what the free pass argument is:
no perjury for jocks?
no perjury for rich bastards?
The law is the law; in the highest public profile Clemens appears to have broken it. If he did jail him.
dave » I think that the point is that Roger should never have been put in the position to lie to Congress. What’s been amazing to me from the beginning is that Clemens’s lawyers didn’t tell him to keep his mouth shut. Mark McGwire got that right.
Their defense so far in trying to defend a man accused perjury before Congress…is whether he should have been asked whether he was smuggling and using illegal drugs? Yeah, good luck with that.
Joseph J. Finn » No, their defense is that Roger didn’t use steroids.
It was a huge waste of Congress’ time, but all Clemens had to do was take the 5th. Frankly, his legal team look clueless for ever letting it get to this stage.
That said, it seems that the DOJ has bigger fish to fry than Clemens. It’s pretty obvious, for instance, that there was systematic fraud in the mortgage market, which basically destroyed our economy. With just a couple of years left before the statute of limitations applies, I’d prefer a focus on people whose crimes actually affected all of us. Then again, those people are probably better connected than Roger.
David,
That is an excellent point, one I cannot take issue with. But once that horse left the barn the legal course seems necessary, if not appropriate.