Judge tells lawyers to stop boring Clemens jury

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This article was published 09/05/2012 (5263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON — The judge in the Roger Clemens perjury trial said jurors were getting bored with the pace of the case and told both sides Tuesday to stop wasting time with unnecessary questions.

“Those folk are fed up they because see their time being wasted!” U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton scolded the defence and government lawyers, before the jury entered the room Tuesday morning. Walton said a juror asked his law clerk if the judge would advise what the charges are because some of jurors are “far afield” from what the actual charges are.

While expressing concern about jurors possibly discussing the case prematurely, Walton also said he had sympathy for the jury.

“When you create a boring environment which is being created in this case,” Walton said, that will cause jurors to talk about the case “cause they’re bored!”

Clemens, a seven-time winner of baseball’s Cy Young Award, is accused of lying to Congress when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone.

Meanwhile, Walton dealt the government a defeat when he ruled it could not admit Clemens’ baseball contract into evidence. Prosecutors wanted to use the contract to show the financial incentives Clemens had to take performance enhancing drugs to prolong his career, but the judge said that would invite jurors to speculate. He also said the contract could be prejudicial against Clemens, because some people think the salaries that pro athletes make is “obscene.”

— The Associated Press