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Defense Rests In Roger Clemens Perjury Trial

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, accompanied by his attorney Rusty Hardin, left, arrives at federal court in Washington on Monday.
Haraz N. Ghanbari
/
AP
Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, accompanied by his attorney Rusty Hardin, left, arrives at federal court in Washington on Monday.

The defense has rested in the Roger Clemens perjury trial, without Clemens testifying. The last defense witness was the former Yankees security director, Gerald Laveroni, who told the jury the prosecution's star witness cannot be believed.

Laveroni worked for the Yankees from 2000 to 2010 overlapping with the time when Clemens pitched for the Yankees and his chief accuser, Brian Mcnamee, served as a trainer.

Asked how much credibility McNamee had, Laveroni replied, "Zero."

Also at the close of the defense case, the defense read a stipulation agreed to by the government. The statement stipules that Clemens was tested by Major League Baseball for performance enhancing drugs during the years 2003 to 2007 and never tested positive. The league, however, did not test for human growth hormone at the time. Prior to that, Major League Baseball did not conduct tests for performance enhancing drugs.

Clemens is accused of lying to Congress when he denied using these drugs in the years 1998 to 2001. The prosecution contends that he needed them to help his aging body keep up. But the defense counters by noting that Clemens won three Cy Young awards in the years after his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs ended.

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Nina Totenberg is NPR's award-winning legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.