Why Clemens May Walk

UPDATE!!! Mistrial Declared. Prosecution incompetence, horrific waste of taxpayer dollars. Spending more money to refile may make Justice Dept. look worse. Either way, huge break for The Rocket. Article below still worth reading!

They have his DNA, so case closed, right? Wrong! Though I cannot pretend to get in the minds of the jurors in this matter, I see a clear path to acquittal in the Roger Clemens performance enhancing drugs case.

Legendary Baltimore criminal defense attorney Billy Murphy has a simple but brilliant way of defending cases where the prosecution's case largely rests on the testimony of a shady witness. It is the "Who is this m@therf%cker" theory of defense. That is to say, the defense lawyer's purpose is to have the jury ask themselves who the main witness is, and whether that person ought to be believed. In pursuit of this strategy, defense lawyers can use their subpoena power, without the prosecution's knowledge, to dig up information on the accuser witness. Though I haven't been following the Clemens case closely, it seems clear that his chief accuser, former trainer Brian McNamee, already has a trail of lies to be exploited by the defense. Who knows what else is out there?

So one might ask: Even if McNamee can be destroyed on cross-examination, DNA doesn't lie, right? The answer is yes, and no. It is true that when a DNA match is made, the results are pretty hard to dispute. However, someone's DNA can always be planted in an incriminating place. If you think about it, we leave our DNA around all the time. Whether it is saliva on a drinking glass, a pubic hair in a public toilet, or mucus in a discarded tissue, it is not hard to find someone's DNA if you wish to set him up. Whats more in this case, is the fact that McNamee was Clemens's trainer, and he had access to syringes that may have been used to inject legal substances. How hard would it be to sprinkle some HGH into one of those syringes and claim it as indisputable proof of steroid use?

I'm not saying that Clemens will definitely walk. After all he is accused of lying, not taking steroids. However, when you consider McNamee's access to Clemens's DNA, in conjunction with his serious credibility problems, this case is not quite the slam dunk that prosecutors claim. Stay tuned!