Sports

POLL: Was Roger Clemens Guilty?

The Justice Dept. could not prove its case of whether the former Yankee pitcher took perfomance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball great Roger Clemens was acquitted this week of perjury charges in a lengthy trial, after he was accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens, the most decorated pitcher in baseball history, could have gone to jail for up to 30 years for taking steroids while a major leaguer and for lying about it.

The jury considering the case against him, however, took only 11 hours to acquit him after the nine-week trial, in which he was facing six felony charges of perjury, obstruction of Congress and making false statements.

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This is the second recent big loss for the U.S. Justice Dept., who was also unable to convict former Presidential candidate John Edwards. Last year, a jury convicted slugger Barry Bonds of one charge of obstruction of justice but failed to reach a verdict on whether Bonds lied to a jury. He was sentenced to house arrest and probation.

Some have criticized the decision to take Clemens to trial.

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Is Roger Clemens guilty of using steroids as a baseball pitcher? Or is it just too hard to prove the illegal use of performance drugs among professional athletes?


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