The 7-time CY Young Awardee Roger Clemens was indicted last August 19 for several charges including obstruction of justice, 2 counts of making false statements and 2 counts of perjury. The maximum penalty for these charges is 30 years in prison and a fine of $1.5 million. However, the sentencing guidelines would only allow 15 to 21 months in prison said the prosecutors. And now that the indictment was served, Clemens will be facing the real battle in his life. The reputation that he’s trying to protect since the Mitchell investigation is now in limbo. According to legal experts, Clemens will be facing a hard time proving that he did not lie in Congress when he said that he never took steroids or human growth hormone.

According to Rusty Hardin, Clemens’ lawyer, the pitcher is not worried on the development of his perjury case. “Roger is looking forward to his day in court. He is happy this has finally happened. We have known for some time this was going to happen. We’ll let everything get taken care of in court,” said Hardin. He also revealed that they were offered a plea agreement provided Clemens will admit his steroids use. But they rejected the offer because they want to prove in court that Clemens was telling the truth and did not commit any wrongdoing. “I will tell you the recommendation they made was a very good one if he was guilty. And if he was guilty, we would have jumped on it,” Hardin told the ESPN.

Clemens still insists that he never took any performance enhancing drug. He reiterated this on his twitter account after the indictment. “I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress. I look forward to challenging the Governments accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court.”

His former personal trainer and now his nemesis is also eager to testify in court to pin him down. It all started when Brian McNamee testified in a federal inquiry that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone several times. He said that he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000, and 2001, and with HGH in 2000. McNamee also presented evidences like syringes that he allegedly used to inject Clemens with performance enhancing substances. The two camps filed libel suit against each other but just recently Clemens lost his case.

In a statement given to the media by McNamee’s lawyer Earl Ward, they are expecting that McNamee will be considered as one of the main witnesses in the case. “He is prepared to testify. He has been cooperative with the federal government. I expect that Clemens’ lawyers will go on the attack, but in the end, it’s clear that Brian is being honest and truthful,” said Ward. He also explained why McNamee kept the syringes and gauze pads allegedly used on the baseball legend. “Part of it was he just didn’t trust Roger, and he thought Roger would throw him under the bus, which is exactly what happened,” Ward explained. It is now on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine if the syringes would link Clemens through a DNA test.

A former federal prosecutor Colleen Conry told Bloomberg News that the case of Roger Clemens will be based on motive and integrity. It will also depend on the ability of the government to present corroborating evidences. “The jury would expect and demand, ‘Where is the forensic evidence, where is the DNA? Where is the needle?’” he said.

This was also echoed by another former federal prosecutor. Steve Bunnell said that the whole case will depend whether the jury will believe Clemens. An option that Clemens could use as a defense might be he didn’t ask or he didn’t care what his former trainer injected him. “In any trial, when the defendant takes the stand, his credibility becomes the focus. In a perjury trial, that’s even more true,” said Bunnell.

Clemens’ case will be handled by a federal court in Washington under US District Judge Reggie Walton.

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