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Roger Clemens Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for Perjury

By Christopher M. Matthews

This post has been updated.

A federal grand jury in Washington D.C. indicted Roger Clemens Thursday on six charges, including perjury and making false statements to Congress about his use of performance enhancing drugs.

The indictment was returned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson nearly two and half years after Clemens testified under oath about his use of banned substances at a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Clemens faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million fine if convicted.

During the hearing in February 2008, Clemens offered testimony that directly conflicted with that of his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who also appeared before the committee. According to the Washington Post, McNamee said during the hearing that he injected Clemens nearly 40 times with steroids and human growth hormones from 1998 to 2001. Clemens denied the allegations.

Throughout the Congressional hearings, Clemens was represented by Lanny Breuer, who is now the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and white collar defense attorney Rusty Hardin, who still represents Clemens. Breuer has recused himself from any matters related to Clemens.

The hearings were held two months after McNamee linked Clemens to banned substances in George J. Mitchell’s report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. McNamee agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in 2008 in order to avoid steroid distribution charges.

According to McNamee’s attorneys, their client turned over syringes, gauze pads and other items that he claimed he used to inject Clemens to federal investigators. Clemens lawyers said McNamee lied about the pitcher’s alleged drug use and may have falsified the evidence. In August, a federal appeals court in Houston refused to reinstate a defamation lawsuit against McNamee filed by Clemens.

Other MLB players have also been charged with making false statements about their use of performance enhancing drugs. Miguel Tejada, who plays for the Baltimore Orioles, pleaded guilty last year to lying to congressional investigators about his knowledge of steroid use. He was sentenced to one year of probation.

In 2007, federal authorities in San Francisco indicted Barry Bonds, the career leader in home runs, alleging that he perjured himself before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. Bonds has retired from baseball is scheduled to go on trial next March.

The investigation of Clemens, who pitched his last game in 2007 after an illustrious career with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros, has jeopardized his chances of going to the Hall of Fame. Both Clemens and Bonds are scheduled to appear on the 2013 ballot.

The Justice Department’s investigation Clemens is being handled by D.C. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Butler and Steven J. Durham, the chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section in the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office.

In an e-mail to the Post, Hardin said “we have heard nothing from the government.”

Full post as published by Main Justice on August 19, 2010 (boomark / email).