A US grand jury charged former Major League Baseball superstar pitcher Roger Clemens with perjury on Thursday, saying he lied to Congress when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The federal indictment on charges of false statements to Congress, perjury and obstruction of Congress was assigned to US District Judge Reggie Walton but no date was set for Clemens first court appearance.
Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner as top pitcher, contradicted his former trainer, Brian McNamee, at a February 2008 hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone more than 30 times between 1998 and 2001.
Clemens said that McNamee lied and might have doctored syringes to support his claims, noting McNamee made a deal with federal authorities to avoid being charged with steroid distribution.
"It's vindication," McNamee lawyer Earl Ward said of the indictment.
The indictment says Clemens obstructed a Congressional inquiry, lied to Congress and committed perjury with 15 statements made under oath, including his denials of ever taking human growth hormone or steroids.
"I've been accused of something I'm not guilty of," Clemens told lawmakers in 2008. "I've never taken steroids or HGH."
New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettite told federal investigators that Clemens had told him that Clemens had used HGH, a revelation that prompted Clemens to tell Congress that "I believe Andy has misheard".
The hearing before US lawmakers came two months after McNamee linked Clemens to HGH and steroids in a report by former US Senator George Mitchell examining doping in Major League Baseball.
Clemens pushed for the hearing, saying he wanted it to help clear his name, but the charges that stemmed from it prompted former US Representative Tom Davis, who was on the panel, to call the indictment "a self-inflicted wound".
Clemens won 354 games and struck out 4,672 batters while compiling a 3.12 career earned-run average over 23 major league seasons with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
