A jury today acquitted Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens of all six criminal charges against him in a trial to decide whether he lied to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs.
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours before coming to a decision.
Clemens - one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball history - is among the biggest names to be implicated in drug use in the professional baseball industry. He didn't take the stand in his own defence during the two-month trial.
Clemens (49) faces one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making a false statement and two counts of perjury, but he has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he faces a maximum prison term of 30 years, although under federal sentencing guidelines, he most likely would get 15-21 months.
It's Clemens' second trial on charges of lying in 2008 to a congressional committee that was investigating drug use in baseball, when he said he didn't use performance-enhancing drugs. The first trial ended in a mistrial.
The current trial has featured 46 witnesses over 26 days of testimony, including Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, who said he injected Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) between 1998-2001. McNamee worked with Clemens when the pitcher played for the Toronto Blue Jays and later the New York Yankees.
He testified that he kept needles, cotton balls, a broken steroid ampoule and other medical waste from injections for Clemens. Prosecutors have said some of the items contained Clemens' DNA and traces of steroids.
Defence lawyers painted McNamee as a liar, and argued that Clemens' success was due to hard work.
Known as "The Rocket", Clemens played for four teams over a 24-year career and won 354 regular season games. He's a seven-time winner of the Cy Young Award for best pitcher.
Reuters