The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Judge Decides Not to Force DOJ to Pay Clemens' Legal Fees

A federal judge in Washington today declined to force the government to pay legal fees Roger Clemens incurred before a mistrial was declared last summer in the perjury case against him.

Lawyers for Roger Clemens, represented by Rusty Hardin Jr. of Houston and Michael Attanasio of Cooley, last fall urged U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to sanction the U.S. Attorney's Office for conduct that led to a mistrial.

Clemens was acquitted last month on charges that he lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performance enhancing drugs during his long, highly celebrated baseball career. His lawyers have declined to say how much the defense cost.

Clemens Attorney: Jury 'Didn't Find the Case to Be Close'

Veteran defense lawyer Rusty Hardin was first up yesterday afternoon to address reporters outside Washington's federal trial court after the Roger Clemens verdict. But he quickly offered his thanks to his trial teammate: Cooley partner Michael Attanasio.

Attanasio runs Cooley's San Diego office and is vice-chair of the firmwide litigation department. A day after a jury acquitted Clemens on charges of lying to Congress, Attanasio answered a few questions about key moments in the trial, including testimony from Andy Pettitte and Brian McNamee, who said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. The verdict came after about 11 hours of deliberation.

The National Law Journal: You met with jurors after the verdict. Any insight on what stuck with the panel?

Attanasio: I'll speak to it globally since the jurors so far haven't spoken out. But what we understood to be the consensus: They did not believe Brian McNamee. They didn't find the case to be close. They felt there was no corroboration, that McNamee couldn’t be trusted, and that we put on a compelling case about what made Roger Clemens Roger Clemens.

NLJ: Andy Pettitte told you that his memory of a key conversation in 1999 or 2000 with Clemens about growth hormone was, at best, "50-50." Were you surprised when he said that?

Roger Clemens Not Guilty of Lying to Congress

Updated 6:13 p.m.

By Mike Scarcella and Zoe Tillman

A federal jury in Washington found former baseball star Roger Clemens not guilty of charges that he lied to Congress about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The jury returned its verdict this afternoon in U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton's courtroom after less than 12 hours of deliberation spread out over three days.

Prosecutors charged Clemens in 2010 with perjury, making false statements and obstruction of Congress. The case centers on Clemens’ testimony at a 2008 congressional hearing that he never used the drugs, a claim that the government contended was a lie.

Clemens was working out with his sons near the Washington monument when he received a call about the verdict at about 4 p.m. Clemens' top lawyer, Russell “Rusty” Hardin Jr., told Clemens not to expect a verdict until two to four days.

Outside the courthouse, where a throng of spectators gathered after the verdict, Clemens choked up when he described how he felt. "I put a lot of hard work into that career," Clemens said, his voice breaking up. Clemens said: "It's been a hard five years."

The Morning Wrap

Countdown: As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on the Obama administration's signature health care legislation, White House and congressional officials are "spinning in advance of their 'day of' statement," The Washington Post reports.

Uphill Battle: Robert Luskin of Patton Boggs, representing acclaimed cyclist Lance Armstrong, is "aggressively questioning" evidence that his client violated anti-doping rules, The New York Times reports. The United States Anti-Doping Agency is set to bring charges against Armstrong. Former Armstrong teammates cooperated in the investigation, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Monitoring: Law school students at University of California at Irvine will monitor five banks' compliance with a California foreclosure settlement. The National Law Journal said students in the law school's consumer protection clinic will, among other things, assist homeowners in modifying their loans.

Going Away: "I'm not a thief," R. Allen Stanford said yesterday in Houston federal district court before a judge sentenced him to 110 years in prison for executing one of the country's largest-ever fraud schemes. More coverage here and here.

Big East Conference Sues Texas Christian University for $5M

The Big East Conference filed a lawsuit (PDF) yesterday against Texas Christian University, accusing the school of refusing to pay an agreed-upon fee after deciding to join a different intercollegiate athletic conference.

The Big East, a District of Columbia-incorporated non-profit that is headquartered in Providence, R.I., filed the $5 million breach of contract complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The group is being represented by Covington & Burling partner Benjamin Block.

In a statement, the university said that "administrators were surprised by this lawsuit and believe it is premature. The University is hopeful for an amicable resolution of this matter."

The Morning Wrap

Disapproving: A New York Times / CBS News poll reveals 44 percent of Americans approve of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing. The rating is a "fresh indication that the court's standing with the public has slipped significantly in the past quarter-century."

Reducing: The Los Angeles Times reports a new law targeting California's budget shortfall has led to a more than sixfold increase in the number of state prison parolees freed from law enforcement supervision. A little-known law has sped up the release process.

Pleading: Former D.C. Council chairman Kwame Brown is expected to plead guilty today in Washington federal district court to a bank fraud charge. The Washington Post reports the jockeying is underway to take over leadership of the council.

Declining: From The National Law Journal: "Employment rates for the law school class of 2011 hit an 18-year low, according to new NALP data. Only two-thirds of recent graduates are in jobs that require bar membership."

Judge Refuses to Force Darrell Issa to Testify at Clemens Trial

Lawyers for Roger Clemens today argued unsuccessfully to convince a federal judge in Washington to force Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to testify at the former baseball pitcher's trial on perjury and obstruction charges.

The attorneys, including Joe Roden, said Clemens has a right to question Issa, now the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, over his remarks in February 2008 about the merits of a congressional hearing about drug use in baseball.

Issa expressed concern then in statements to reporters about the underlying legitimacy of the hearing at which Clemens testified. Clemens’s denial of using performance-enhancing drugs is the heart of the perjury case against him in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton this afternoon refused to force Issa to testify. Walton said he was not convinced that Issa’s testimony was “competent” to challenge the prosecution's position that the congressional hearing was a legitimate legislative purpose.

Dispute Over Issa Statements Flares Up At Clemens Trial

Statements that Rep. Darrell Issa made in 2008 to the press during the congressional inquiry into drug use in professional baseball should not be allowed at the Roger Clemens perjury trial, prosecutors and lawyers for the congressman said today.

Lawyers for Issa, the California Republican who is now the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the statements to reporters are irrelevant and inadmissible. In published reports in Feb. 2008, Issa questioned whether the oversight committee was acting outside the scope of its authority in serving as a prosecutorial body.

Clemens is charged in Washington’s federal trial court with lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone. Prosecutors are tasked with trying to convince jurors that the congressional inquiry was legitimate legislative activity. Issa was a member of the oversight committee at the time of Clemens's appearance in Congress.

William Pittard, a House General Counsel’s Office attorney representing Issa and the committee, said attorneys for Clemens at most would be able to elicit from Issa confirmation that his public statements are accurate. “Or, put another way, Mr. Clemens could not probe behind those statements without running afoul of the Speech or Debate clause,” Pittard said in court papers.

Prosecutors Seek Restrictions on Roger Clemens Defense

The prosecutors in the Roger Clemens perjury case are preparing to rest soon, seven weeks into the proceeding, giving the former baseball pitcher a chance to present his case to the jury in Washington.

Seeking to limit the scope of what Clemens’s lawyers can tell jurors, prosecutors late Monday filed court papers arguing that testimony about the pitcher’s athletic work ethic in his high school, college years and early professional baseball career should be off-limits.

The prosecutors, including assistant U.S. attorneys Steven Durham and Daniel Butler, said in the papers that “it appears” Clemens’s defense lawyers want to call former coaches and teammates to address training and work ethic.

“Testimony about the defendant’s training and work ethic, dating over 20 years prior to the steroids and HGH [human growth hormone] use alleged in this case, is far too remote in time to be relevant,” prosecutors said in the papers (PDF).

Roger Clemens Presses Constitutional Dispute with Congress

As the perjury trial of Roger Clemens moves forward, lawyers for the former professional baseball pitcher today renewed their effort to force a top House Republican to testify.

Lawyers for Clemens said they want Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to address comments he made during the 2008 congressional investigation of drug use in Major League Baseball.

A lead attorney for Clemens, Russell “Rusty” Hardin Jr., said today in a new court filing the defense intends to challenge the testimony of a congressional staffer, Phil Barnett, who earlier told jurors that the probe was legitimate congressional activity.

Issa, through House lawyers, has invoked the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which accords some protection from outside intrusion to the legislative process. One of the questions in the Clemens case: Did the congressional inquiry of drugs in baseball serve any legitimate legislative purpose?