United States District Judge Reggie Walton released the names of all eight women and four men (along with four alternates) who served on the Roger Clemens jury. The names were provided in response to a Washington Post application filed shortly after the jury acquitted the former Major League Baseball player of all six counts of obstruction of Congress, false statements and perjury.
The government had wanted the jury to believe that Clemens committed several felonies when he allegedly lied about his use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH). The government was soundly rebuked by the jury. Interviews with some of the jury members give additional insight as to why.
The jury included a political activist, an art historian, an official from the Treasury Department, a teacher of deaf children and an employee working for the Canadian Embassy.
Joyce Robinson-Paul, a political activist and former D.C. Statehood Green Party political candidate, spoke with the New York Daily News shortly after the verdict. She didn’t feel the government had a case worth pursuing.
“We knew we had to be fair to both parties, but we didn’t see anything to be prosecuted,” said Robinson-Paul. “We just didn’t.
When contacted by the Washington Post on Wednesday, Robinson-Paul reiterated that the government failed miserably at proving their case.
Bradford Weaver, an administrative assistant for the Canadian Embassy, felt the government’s case was overreaching and should have never occurred.
“The witnesses for the prosecution were, uh, how does one put it, kind of wanting, if you will. … It was quite lacking,” Weaver told the Associated Press. “If that’s what they were going to go with, then they should probably not have pursued the case in the first place if that’s all they had, you know.”
Weaver added that not a single juror thought Clemens was proven guilty of any of the charges at any point during the 10 hours of delibertions. All the jurors were unanimous in their decision to acquit from the very beginning.
The Associated Press also asked Weaver if he had a personal opinion about whether Clemens used anabolic steroids or whether the government’s pursuit of Clemens was a waste of money. Weaver declined to respond to those questions.
Another juror, who did not want to be named, told the Washington Post that the jury didn’t understand how the government could waste five years pursuing someone on what seemed to be trumped up charges.
“We were asking ourselves, ‘Why did they just continue to carry this on for so long? Why for five years?'” said the unnamed juror. “It just seemed out of proportion.”
Federal prosecutors, having already been sufficiently embarrassed, refused to respond to the new information disclosed by jurors.
The remaining jurors could not be located or did not respond to media inquiries.
Photo credit: Keith Allison / Flickr via Wikipedia
Source:
Marimow, A. & Wilber, D. (June 28, 2012). Roger Clemens jurors: Key witness in perjury trial, Brian McNamee, not credible. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/roger-clemens-jurors-key-witness-in-perjury-trial-brian-mcnamee-not-credible/2012/06/27/gJQA8LZd7V_story.html
Frommer, F. & Kerr, J. (June 28, 2012). Clemens Juror: Key Witness in Case Wasn’t Credible. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/clemens-juror-key-witness-case-credible-16666718#.T-zSurVo3dU
