Former Major League Baseball first baseman David Segui has been subpoenaed to testify in the Roger Clemens steroid-perjury trial. Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton to permit Segui to provide testimony about a conversation he had allegedly had with Brian McNamee regarding steroid use by Clemens.
McNamee is the government’s star witness in the trial and the only witness with direct knowledge of Clemens’ use of performance-enhancing drugs. McNamee saved a Miller Lite beer can containing steroid paraphernalia that included Clemens’ blood. The government has conducted DNA analysis to confirm the blood evidence matched Clemens.
Defense attorney Rusty Hardin has argued that McNamee fabricated the evidence after he was interrogated by federal prosecutors. According to the prosecutors, Segui told them he learned of McNamee’s stash of steroid evidence for various players in 2001. This was several years before McNamee became the target of a federal investigation.
Segui may have told the government one thing i.e. that he discussed steroids with McNamee in 2001. But he told sports writer Jim Baumbach something entirely different in 2008. In a January 8, 2008 article on Newsday.com, Segui told Baumbach that he never discussed steroids with his friend McNamee in 2001 or at any other time.
Segui only learned about McNamee’s involvement with anabolic steroids when he read a 2006 article in the Los Angeles Times.
Segui has been relatively open about his own use of performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids and human growth hormone (hGH). It was supposedly common knowledge among other MLB players that Segui used steroids.
“A lot of players asked me if I ever tried steroids. I never lied. I told guys, ‘Yeah, I tried them before,'” said Segui. “They would ask me questions about it. With Brian, it never came up.”
Segui has previously come to the defense of McNamee. He defended McNamee’s decision to save evidence of steroid use by his former clients.
“I never thought it would be an issue, and neither did Mac, but he kept the stuff just in case he needed it,” said Segui. “In retrospect, it was brilliant. When things go down like this, you see all of the lying, the cover-ups, guys blaming this guy or that guy and throwing people under a bus.”
While Segui has been subpoenaed to appear in court, Judge Walton has not yet ruled on whether he will allow Segui’s testimony. A decision is expected shortly.
Source:
Mihoces, G. (May 23, 2012). Clemens judge: David Segui ‘better be here’. Retrieved from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/05/roger-clemens-trial-david-segui-us-marshals/
Baumbach, J. (January 8, 2008). Segui defends Clemens’ former trainer McNamee. Retrieved from http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/segui-defends-clemens-former-trainer-mcnamee-1.877544
Nightengale, B. (August 19, 2010). Segui says his testimony of timeline may have implicated Clemens. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2010-08-19-david-segui-roger-clemens-testimony_N.htm
