Prosecutors want redo in Clemens case

Prosecutors in the Roger Clemens perjury case say the banned testimony that led to a mistrial last month was not shown intentionally and that the former Yankees pitcher should face another trial.

The prosecutors filed a 36-page motion with federal court in D.C. on Friday. Though admitting that they made a mistake when they showed the jury a video that included testimony by Andy Pettitte's wife that the judge had already ruled to be inadmissible, they dispute Clemens' position that a second trial would violate his constitutional protection against double jeopardy by making him face the same charges twice.

"The government's error was a mistake, not misconduct, and certainly not misconduct intended to provoke a mistrial," assistant U.S. attorneys Daniel Butler and Steven Durham wrote.

Attorneys for Clemens argued double jeopardy in a court filing last month, saying the prosecutors baited them into asking for a mistrial.

Judge Reggie Walton is expected to decide during a hearing in federal court Sept. 2 whether the prosecutors can try Clemens a second time.

Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, did not return a message seeking comment.

Hardin argued in a July 29 filing that "it was no accident" that the prosecutors showed that video including banned testimony on the second day of the trial. He said the prosecutors wanted a mistrial to be afforded time to "reshape its case" in the wake of the judge's pretrial decisions to ban testimony from Laura Pettitte and some former Yankees.

Days before the trial, the judge said Laura Pettitte couldn't testify about what Andy Pettitte told her about a conversation he had with Clemens a decade ago about performance-enhancing drugs. The judge also banned Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton from testifying about their drug use.

But prosecutors noted in their response Friday that they "vigorously opposed a mistrial . . . because the government had no reason to want a mistrial. The government's case was -- and is -- strong."

Clemens is charged with perjury, false statements and obstruction of Congress related to his denials of performance-enhancing use under oath during a 2008 congressional hearing. He is facing 15 to 21 months in jail if convicted of all of the charges.