Judge declares mistrial in Clemens case (BLOG)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Almost as soon as it began, former baseball star Roger Clemens' perjury trial ended Thursday — in a mistrial the judge blamed on prosecutors and said a "first-year law student" would have known to avoid.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton left the question of a new trial up in the air. But he called a halt to the trial under way after prosecutors showed jurors evidence that he had ruled out — videotaped revelations that a teammate had said he'd told his wife Clemens confessed to using a drug.

Walton scolded prosecutors and said he couldn't let the former All-Star pitcher face prison if convicted on such "extremely prejudicial" evidence.

"Mr. Clemens has to get a fair trial," Walton said. "In my view, he can't get it now."

Defense attorney Rusty Hardin, who had asked for the mistrial declaration, patted an unsmiling Clemens on the back as the judge announced his decision. As he left the courthouse, Clemens did not comment but accepted hugs from a couple of court workers, shook hands with the security guards and autographed baseballs for fans waiting outside.

The quick end on only the second day of testimony was the second mistrial involving a superstar player accused in baseball's steroids scandal. Home run king Barry Bonds was convicted three months ago of obstruction of justice, but a mistrial was called on three more serious false-statements charges after jurors couldn't agree on a verdict.

Walton said he would hold a hearing Sept. 2 to decide whether Clemens should face another trial. Hardin told reporters, "I wouldn't even hazard a guess" about what Walton will decide.

Walton could end the prosecution by declaring that a new trial would run afoul of double jeopardy — the right not to be brought to trial twice on the same charges for the same offense. But experts said it was unlikely that he would go that far, especially since the trial was just under way.

"Generally speaking, mistrial does not bar a trial of the defendant when the defendant requested the mistrial," said Harry Sandick, a former prosecutor who now defends white-collar cases. He said a judge may make an exception for misconduct on the part of prosecutors, but this appears to have been a simple yet devastating mistake.

"How could the government not have reviewed each piece of evidence after the court's pretrial rulings?" he said. "This is crucially important, and prosecutors have to do this all the time."

New York Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter, once a teammate of Clemens', said after the mistrial was declared: "I'm no legal expert, but you want it to be behind him. Obviously, the more attention that's paid to that, it's just negative for the game in general."

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington, which tried the case, said it would have no comment because of Walton's gag order. Clemens also stayed mum.

"I'm not going to say anything," Clemens said as he left the courthouse. He and his legal team ducked into a nearby restaurant to escape the media horde following him.

The Clemens mistrial was the biggest embarrassment for the Justice Department in a high-profile case since the prosecution of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, in which the government failed to turn over evidence favorable to the defense. That failure, two years ago, was so serious that Attorney General Eric Holder stepped in and asked a federal judge to throw out Stevens' convictions. The judge did so.

The unraveling of the current case began as prosecutors were showing jurors a video of Clemens' 2008 testimony before Congress. He is accused of lying under oath during that testimony when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs during his 24-season career.

Clemens' former teammate and close friend, Andy Pettitte, had told committee investigators that Clemens confessed in 1999 or 2000 that he used human growth hormone. Clemens has said Pettitte "misremembers" or "misheard" their conversation.

Prosecutors had wanted to call Laura Pettitte as a witness to back up her husband's account because she says her husband told her about the conversation the day it happened. But Walton had said Laura Pettitte's statement wasn't admissible since it didn't involve direct knowledge of what Clemens said.

In the video prosecutors showed the jury, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., referred to Pettitte's conversation with his wife during the questioning of Clemens. Walton quickly cut off the tape and called attorneys to the bench for a private conversation for several minutes. The video remained frozen on the screen in front of jurors with a transcript of what was being said on the bottom.

Cummings had been quoting from Laura Pettitte's affidavit to the committee. "I, Laura Pettitte, do depose and state, in 1999 or 2000, Andy told me he had a conversation with Roger Clemens in which Roger admitted to him using human growth hormones," the text on the screen read.

The judge eventually told the jurors to leave while he discussed the issue with attorneys in open court. Hardin asked for a mistrial, while prosecutors suggested the problem could be fixed with an instruction to the jury to disregard the evidence. Walton responded that they could never know what impact the evidence would have during the jury's deliberations.

"I don't see how I un-ring the bell," he said.

"Government counsel should have been more cautious," Walton said, raising his voice and noting that the case had already cost a lot of taxpayer money.

"I think that a first-year law student would know that you can't bolster the credibility of one witness with clearly inadmissible evidence," Walton said.

He said it was the second time that prosecutors had gone against his orders. The other occurred during opening arguments Wednesday when assistant U.S. attorney Steven Durham said Pettitte and two other of Clemens' New York teammates, Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton, had used human growth hormone.

Walton said in pre-trial hearings that such testimony could lead jurors to consider Clemens guilty by association. Clemens' defense attorney objected when Durham made the statement Wednesday and Walton told jurors to disregard Durham's comments about other players.

Joshua Berman, a white collar defense lawyer who used to work with Durham and Butler when he was at the Justice Department, said both men have excellent reputations as ethical and responsible attorneys.

"I think that mistakes get made, frankly, and they get made in every trial on both sides," Berman said. "Unfortunately here you are on Day One of a very high-profile trial."

Fan almost falls from Chase Field stands at Home Run Derby (BLOG)

After what happened at the Home Run Derby on Monday night, we as a baseball-loving nation need to run a check on our priorities.

Wherever "catching a baseball" ranks — and it's high, apparently — it ought to be made less important.

Keith Carmickle — the man pictured above hanging on by his right arm, with his baseball glove dangling from his left hand — almost fell about 20 feet to a pool deck below at Chase Field after he chased a home run hit to center by Prince Fielder(notes).

Thankfully, he didn't catch the ball. Or fall. But he almost went over completely. As the Associated Press reports, he was saved by his brother and a friend.


"I thought: I've lived a good life," Carmickle said about dangling.


Seated in a small section of seats above the right-field fence, Carmickle, of Kingman [Ariz.], and his group had already grabbed home-run balls by Robinson Cano(notes) and Adrian Gonzalez(notes) and were looking to add another to their collection when Fielder came up in the second round of the derby.

Trying to snare a towering shot by Fielder, Carmickle stepped up onto a metal table about 18 inches wide and reached down to catch the ball. It hit a wall several feet below Carmickle. His momentum carried him forward, headfirst over a short railing at the back of the table.

Carmickle was headed for a hard landing when his friend, Aaron Nelson, grabbed his legs and his brother, Kraig, grabbed him around the arms. Carmickle dangled briefly over a deck where a couple of cameras were positioned behind Chase Field's pool before being pulled back up to his seat as the crowd above and below gasped.

Carmickle's good fortune came on the same day as a memorial service for Shannon Stone, the man who fell at Rangers Ballpark on Thursday and died that day as a result of his injuries after trying to catch a ball. Stone's story must have slipped Carmickle's mind.

Cardinals activate slugger Albert Pujols off DL (BLOG)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Albert Pujols is more than just one of the best players in baseball. He's also an incredibly rapid healer.

The St. Louis Cardinals activated their three-time NL MVP off the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, a month ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken left wrist.

Pujols was not in the lineup Tuesday night against Cincinnati. But manager Tony La Russa planned to use him off the bench in some capacity and said he expected Pujols would be in the lineup on Wednesday.

"Thrilled," La Russa said. "We all are. It's about as good a break as we could catch."

The NL Central leaders initially believed Pujols would be out six weeks after getting hurt June 19 in a collision at first base with the Royals' Wilson Betemit. The Cardinals thought Pujols would be back in early August.

Tuesday was the first day Pujols was eligible to return from the DL. He said he'd predicted 15 days would be enough.

"Does it surprise you?" the star first baseman asked. "It doesn't surprise me. A lot of people praying for me and I believe all the prayers are being answered.

"That's a good way to describe it."

Reds manager Dusty Baker said he thought Pujols might be back early.

"I didn't think it was going to take as long as they said originally, knowing Albert," Baker said. "With modern medicine, and he's probably working on it around the clock, no it doesn't really surprise me.

"Somebody else, maybe. But not him."

The team's medical staff cleared Pujols to return earlier in the day. For a final test, Pujols had an active pregame. Clad in shorts, Pujols took his first round of live batting practice from first base coach Dave McKay, and also fielded dozens of grounders at first base, then he had more hitting work indoors.

"He's not in the starting lineup because he hasn't had a rigorous workout and I feel like it would be good for him to get one of those, and then play tomorrow," La Russa said. "I just try to use common sense."

The Cardinals placed left-handed reliever Brian Tallet on the 15-day disabled list with a right ribcage injury that the pitcher said had been hindering him for about a week. Tallet said the source of his injury was a violent sneeze.

"It wasn't anything weird," Tallet said. "I was just kind of laying down with my boy and coughed a couple times and then a big sneeze."

La Russa said there was no chance that Pujols could talk his way into the lineup Tuesday. Lance Berkman was playing first base and Matt Holliday was in Pujols' No. 3 spot.

"We talked and that's private, that's between me and Tony and the trainers, so I don't have to tell you the discussion we had," Pujols said. "When he posted the lineup, if I was there it was fine.

"I'm just happy to be available for the ballclub, it's better than being on the DL, so I'm pretty excited."

After taking indoor batting practice and fielding grounders outside Monday, Pujols said there was no pain and he felt great.

The Cardinals went 6-7 without Pujols but entered the day leading the division by one game over Milwaukee.

"That's what our club has been doing, they've been doing a good job of compensating," La Russa said.

Tallet missed 34 games earlier with a broken hand sustained making a tumbling putout at first base on April 12. He has allowed at least a run in seven of his 13 appearances since returning. He's 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA in 18 games overall.

Tallet said he tried to pitch with the injury for five or six days before telling the team his delivery had been compromised.

"It just progressively didn't get any better, got a little worse, got a little worse," Tallet said. "I'm the kind of guy who's going to keep going out there battling through it until it gets to the point that you've got to make the move."

Pujols out 6 weeks with wrist fracture (BLOG)

ST. LOUIS – Concluding a news briefing about Albert Pujols' injury that killed the mood at Tony La Russa's charity golf event, the St. Louis Cardinals manager let down his guard.

"I'm going to go find a place to cry," La Russa said.

Pujols will be out an estimated six weeks with a fractured left wrist from a first-base collision over the weekend. Baseball will be without a three-time NL MVP and the Cardinals, tied for first in the NL Central, are left to absorb another devastating blow in a season marred by injuries.

"You can't replace a player of his magnitude," general manager John Mozeliak said. "It just seems like we've had to deal with one injury after another.

"We still have to find ways to win games, and that's what we'll do."

The team announced the results of an MRI and CT scan Monday, one day after Pujols was injured during a home game against Kansas City. The injury is a non-displaced fracture of the left radius bone and his arm is in a splint.

Mozeliak said he hoped to have Pujols back by the beginning of August and the team anticipated no lingering effects from what the general manager described as a small fracture. Mozeliak said Pujols' left shoulder was sore but no structural damage was found.

Though his .279 average is 50 points below his career numbers, Pujols was starting to heat up after a slow start and went 3 for 3 with a homer in his last at-bat on Sunday. He's among the league leaders with 17 homers and 45 RBIs.

Pujols was hurt trying to make a tag after taking an off-line throw from second baseman Pete Kozma and the Royals' Wilson Betemit collided with the glove hand.

"He hit me on my wrist and my shoulder," Pujols said afterward. "He kind of jammed me back. It's the toughest play to make as a first baseman. It's a bang-bang play. I saw the replay a couple of times, but I didn't really want to look at it."

Betemit said there was no way to avoid the collision.

"I was running hard and the ball arrived at the same time I got to the base," Betemit said. "That's part of the game. I couldn't do anything about it."

Mozeliak said he hadn't spoken with Pujols, who had been optimistic after the game that the injury wasn't serious.

"I was optimistic we were going to get better news," Mozeliak said. "I really was."

The 31-year-old Pujols is due to enter free agency this fall after rejecting a multiyear contract extension at the start of spring training. He will be placed on the 15-day disabled list for only the third time in his career and the Cardinals said they would announce a roster move before Tuesday night's game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Among the top options are first baseman-outfielder Mark Hamilton and infielder Tyler Greene, both of whom were optioned to Triple-A Memphis last week.

St. Louis was tied with the Brewers atop the NL Central despite the latest in a string of injuries. Pujols was hurt three days after cleanup hitter Matt Holliday returned from a quadriceps injury that landed him on the 15-day disabled list, and Holliday also missed time following an appendectomy.

Third baseman David Freese, second baseman Skip Schumaker and pitcher Kyle McClellan also have missed significant time for a franchise that early in spring training lost 20-game winner Adam Wainwright for the season.

"It's tough," pitcher Kyle Lohse said. "It's kind of been the story to the season, it just seems like every month something's happening."

Freese and utilityman Nick Punto have begun rehab stints and Mozeliak said they wouldn't be rushed back. Mozeliak didn't anticipate Allen Craig, on the DL with a knee injury, back for 3-4 weeks.

Lance Berkman took over at first base after the injury and could serve as the long-term fill-in at the position, although both Mozeliak and La Russa hedged on that. Berkman began the year as a full-time outfielder for the first time since 2004 and said earlier in the year that he anticipated outfield play to be easier on his legs because there would be fewer stops and starts.

"Getting Lance in a place where he's physically feeling the best is a really good answer for us," La Russa said.