Openings in Roger Clemens perjury trial

WASHINGTON — Today, Roger Clemens finally gets his day in court..

Nearly four years after Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report accused him of cheating by using steroids and human growth hormone, Clemens finally is getting his day in court to clear his name, though as a defendant faces charges that he lied repeatedly when he denied those charges before Congress.

The trial began a day after the annual Baseball All-Star Game, foreshadowing the star-studded witness lists of baseball greats that both sides said they might call to testify.

The trial, expected to last as long as six weeks, promises to reopen the issue of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in baseball and at the same time to subject Major League Baseball and Congress to new scrutiny.

The case will come down to how the 10 women and two men chosen as jurors Monday answer a key question: Who is more believable, trainer Brian McNamee and his charges he injected Clemens with HGH and steroids, or Clemens and his denials?

The trial will be a replay in many respects of the Feb. 13, 2008, hearing at which McNamee and Clemens sat at the same table and told such starkly different stories that then Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) said, “Someone’s lying in spectacular fashion.”

But in a court of law, prosecutors must prove that Clemens knowingly lied or misled in making 15 statements to Congress or its investigators in connection with the hearing.

The case against Clemens will be outlined in D.C. District Court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Butler and Steven Durham as they set out to prove two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of Congress.

Clemens’ defense will be previewed this afternoon by Rusty Hardin, a flamboyant Texas lawyer, and former prosecutor Michael Attanasio, who seek to demolish the government’s case, which they say is largely based on circumstantial evidence.

Defense attorneys Tuesday made it clear they’ll fight every aspect of the case, starting with a challenge of the legitimacy of the 2008 congressional hearing that Clemens appeared at to try to clear his name but that resulted in his indictment.

They’ve said they also will attack the credibility of McNamee, a former New York police officer who admits he lied to police in a 2001 Florida sexual assault case; question the legitimacy of the used needles; and say Pettitte misheard Clemens talk about HGH a decade ago.

Clemens has adamantly battled the accusations and sought to erase the stain on his reputation as one of baseball’s best pitchers ever, denying he used performance-enhancing drugs on CBS "60 Minutes" and at the Capitol Hill hearing. Prosecutors now cite those denials as evidence against him.

Over 24 seasons, Clemens went to 10 All-Star games, won seven Cy Young Awards as best pitcher, appeared in six World Series and compiled a won-loss record of 354-184.

A Gallup Poll conducted after the hearing found that most baseball fans believed Clemens lied when he said he never took steroids, but they also said they have a favorable view of him and think he should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Newsday's Jim Baumbach and Tom Brune are in Washington covering the Roger Clemens trial. Follow Wednesday's opening statements here through their Twitter feed.