Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Clemens seeks to limit teammates' testimony

Clemens seeks to limit teammates' testimony
WASHINGTON — Roger Clemens and the prosecutors who have accused him of lying about using performance-enhancing drugs submitted a flurry of motions Tuesday ahead of next month's criminal trial, with the baseball star trying to limit his former teammates' testimony about drug use and the government trying to block revelations about his chief accuser's investigation for sexual assault.
The filings revolved around the prosecution's leading witness — former Clemens trainer Brian McNamee, who says he injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens has steadfastly disavowed using drugs and is scheduled to go on trial July 6 on charges that he lied when he made those denials during congressional testimony.
Prosecutors expect to call about 45 witnesses, including officials from Congress, Major League Baseball and expert witnesses who will testify about scientific evidence.
Clemens said his former New York Yankee teammates Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton and a former McNamee client named Anthony Corsco are on a list of potential witnesses that prosecutors provided to the defense team. Clemens' attorneys wrote that although the witnesses are expected to testify they got drugs from McNamee, none of them have any direct evidence regarding their client and never spoke to Clemens about drugs. They said McNamee's "third-party drug dealing" with those men would be "irrelevant and unduly prejudicial."
Meanwhile, prosecutors want to limit what Clemens' attorneys can ask McNamee about a sexual assault investigation that the government lawyers said could "inflame the jury." McNamee was questioned by Florida police as a suspect in a 2001 sexual assault. Clemens' attorneys have consistently raised the Florida investigation as evidence that McNamee is a troubled man who cannot be trusted. McNamee was never charged, but he admitted lying to police.
Elsewhere ...
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to postpone Barry Bonds' next court date by two months, until Aug. 26. Bonds' attorneys oppose the request. The government was expected to announce at a Friday hearing whether it intended to retry Bonds on three perjury charges a jury deadlocked on after a month-long trial in April.
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hasn't acted in good faith by rejecting a proposed television deal involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and appeared determined to run Frank McCourt out of the sport, an attorney representing the embattled owner said. Lawyer Robert Sacks warned that any potential takeover of the team by Major League Baseball would be met with resistance.
The Arizona Diamondbacks promoted Pacific Coast League home run leader Wily Mo Peña from Triple-A. Peña topped the PCL with 21 homers and a .726 slugging percentage at Reno. He was hitting .363.

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