A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the federal perjury trial of baseball great Roger Clemens after prosecutors let the jury see previously banned evidence.
That ruling raises a serious constitutional question, whether the 11-time All-Star pitcher can be re-tried for the same crime.
A hearing is scheduled for September to determine whether Clemens will face another trial. Clemens looked confident as he left the courthouse.
"Are you a fan," a reporter asked a bystander as Clemens signed a baseball for him. The man replied, "Yes I am. I'm from Boston. God bless you Roger, thank you."
Clemens is accused of lying to Congress back in 2008 during a hearing on performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
"Let me be clear," Clemens testified before Congress. "I have never taken steroids or HGH."
Former teammate Andy Pettitte was expected to be a critical prosecution witness. "It is what it is, and like I said, I can't say anything about that really."
Instead he was central to the mistrial. Prosecutors say they accidentally let jurors see banned testimony from Pettitte's wife that backed up Pettitte's story.
"It was basically an affidavit from Pettitte's wife on the screen," said Les Carpenter from Yahoo! Sports. "And basically what she said in this affidavit was, 'Andy told me Roger used HGH and steroids.'"
Judge Reggie Walton said he had no choice but to declare a mistrial.
TXT 24
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