'I never lied about the usage, just the amount', says Clemens' former trainer

The key witness in Roger Clemens' perjury trial stuck to his testimony that the former baseball ace used performance-enhancing drugs even as the defense hammered him on Thursday for saying he had lied to investigators.

Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, faced unrelenting cross-examination about his role in the star pitcher's alleged use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

But while admitting he had delayed handing over evidence of an alleged injection and lied about how many times he had given Clemens shots, McNamee repeatedly told jurors in US District Court that Clemens was a drug user.

"I never lied about the usage (of steroids), just the amount," said McNamee, who will return for more cross-examination on Friday. "I wanted to not make it look like he was a bigger steroid user than he was."

In about 20 hours of testimony, McNamee, 45, has sworn he injected Clemens with anabolic steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with human growth hormone in 2000.

McNamee, at the core of prosecutors' charges that Clemens lied to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs, repeatedly answered "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" under a grilling from defense attorney Rusty Hardin.

McNamee testified that he had kept mum on stashed medical waste from a 2001 injection even though federal agents and an independent commission headed by former Senator George Mitchell had asked him if he had evidence of Clemens' alleged drug use.

Asked if he lied about not having evidence, McNamee said: "Yes, sir."

'Fall guy'

He had held onto the waste, including used needles, to show his wife that he would not be a "fall guy" as he had been during incidents while a New York police officer, he said. McNamee, who is estranged from his wife, did not detail the incidents.

McNamee said he lied to Clemens' agent in a Jan 2007 email in which he said a federal drug investigator assured him he was not named in a sealed affidavit that was part of a probe into drug use in sports.

The Los Angeles Times reported in Oct 2006 that McNamee was among those named.

"It was basically to know that Roger knew I wasn't going to rat him out and had his back," McNamee said when asked why he had deceived the agent.

McNamee also was inconsistent on when he had given Clemens'swife, Debbie, an injection of human growth hormone. He testified on Thursday that it was in late 2003 or early 2004, but had previously said he remembered it in connection with a photo shoot for the Feb 2003 Sports Illustrated magazine.

Clemens, 49, was known as "The Rocket" during a career that ran from 1984 to 2007. He won the Cy Young Award seven times and is among the biggest names implicated in drug use in baseball.

Are you really serious?

Hardin questioned whether McNamee had told Clemens about his secret contacts with federal agents, leading to a rapid-fire exchange:

McNamee: "How could I answer if he didn't ask?"

Hardin: "How could he ask if he didn't know?"

McNamee: "How can I answer if he doesn't ask?"

Hardin: "Are you really serious?"

Clemens is being tried for a second time on federal charges of lying in 2008 to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which was investigating drug use in Major League Baseball. His first trial ended in a mistrial last year.

McNamee is the only person who claims first-hand knowledge about the former pitcher's alleged use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

He worked with Clemens when the right-hander pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and later with the New York Yankees. He also was employed as Clemens' personal trainer.

The trial is in its fourth week of slogging courtroom testimony. Judge Reggie Walton urged both sides to pick up the pace, saying the jury was becoming impatient. Two jurors of an original pool of 16 have been dismissed for sleeping.

Reuters in Washington

(China Daily 05/19/2012 page15)