Projo Sports Blog

By Michael S. Schmidt
The New York Times

Federal authorities investigating Roger Clemens on perjury charges have found performance-enhancing substances on the drug paraphernalia that his former trainer said he used to inject Clemens, according to people briefed on the case.

The discovery of the substances could bolster the claims of the trainer, Brian McNamee, that he used the various items - including syringes, vials and gauze pads - to inject Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.

In February, it was disclosed that federal prosecutors had linked Clemens' DNA to blood residue in at least one of the syringes that McNamee handed over to authorities. Clemens has not denied that McNamee injected him, but he has maintained that the substances McNamee used were Vitamin B12 and the painkiller lidocaine.

The U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia convened a grand jury as part of its investigation into whether Clemens committed perjury when he told Congress last year that he had never used performance-enhancing substances. Those assertions directly contradicted statements that McNamee also made under oath.

If the federal prosecutors move to indict Clemens and seek to use the substances found on the drug paraphernalia as evidence, Clemens' lawyers are expected to question their authenticity and the chain of custody. Clemens' lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Monday night that he was not surprised to learn that performance-enhancing substances had been found.

"Duh," he said with exaggeration. "Do you really think McNamee was going to fabricate this stuff and not make sure there were substances on there? The fact is Roger never used steroids or HGH."

When McNamee handed over the materials to federal authorities in January 2008, he said that he had kept them in a Federal Express box in his basement since he had used them to inject Clemens in 2000 and 2001.

The tests on the materials are being conducted at the Los Angeles-area laboratory of Dr. Don Catlin. Since the government began aggressively looking into the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs in 2002, Catlin has been the lead drug-tester for federal prosecutors.

It is not known on which drug paraphernalia the performance-enhancing substances were found. The people briefed on the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to sensitive information.

In 2007, McNamee was compelled by federal authorities to cooperate with George J. Mitchell, who was heading an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. In exchange, McNamee was told by the authorities that he would not be charged with steroid distribution.

When Mitchell issued his report, in December 2007, he cited Clemens and two of his former Yankees teammates - Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch - as being among those players who had used performance-enhancing drugs. The basis for those conclusions was the information provided by McNamee.

After the Mitchell report was released, Clemens strongly denied McNamee's assertions. At a news conference less than a month later, Clemens played a 17-minute taped telephone conversation he had conducted with McNamee. Days later, McNamee turned over the items from his basement to authorities.

Jennifer L. Mnookin, a professor of law at UCLA, said that a judge would most likely deem the drug paraphernalia admissible and allow a jury to assess its credibility.

"The presence of Clemens' DNA alone makes these materials an important part of the case and makes it likely that the judge would let them in and let the jury weigh whether to believe that they are authentic," she said.

Clemens lawyers, she added, would most likely argue that the materials were fabricated or contaminated.

"And at that point," Mnookin said, "a jury will be back at square one, trying to decide whether they believe McNamee or Clemens."

 Tags  Brian McNamee Mitchell Report Roger Clemens steroids

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