Defense lawyers made their opening statements in the Roger Clemens perjury retrial Tuesday with Rusty Hardin claiming that evidence against his client had been manipulated.
Hardin used his opening comments to tell jurors that evidence collected by Clemens' former strength coach Brian McNamee was a "mixed up hodgepodge of garbage."
"Is there any market for this book if he hadn't made these allegations about Roger Clemens?" asked Clemens' lawyer Hardin.
Hardin told jurors that McNamee injected Clemens with vitamin B12 then put steroids in the needle after the fact. Clemens has maintained for years that he received B12 shots and the local anesthetic lidocaine. He denies using performance-enhancing drugs.
Government witness McNamee said previously he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.
Clemens is charged with lying when he denied taking HGH and steroids in a 2008 US Congressional hearing.
Only two witnesses had been called last July when Walton declared a mistrial because prosecutors presented evidence that had already been ruled inadmissible.
Prosecutor Steven Dunham said in his opening statement that Clemens was a baseball star who became embroiled in a tale of dishonesty and deception after first denying an investigator's 2007 report that he had taken steroids and HGH.
If convicted, Clemens could face 30 years in prison and a fine of $1.5 million, though sentencing guidelines would suggest he receive somewhere between 15 and 21 months behind bars.
The jury set to render a verdict in the Clemens case is made up of 10 women and six men.
Walton ruled on Monday that Andy Pettitte, a former Clemens teammate, will not be allowed to testify to receiving HGH from McNamee.
Source: AFP American Edition
