Mostly female jury for Clemens trial
An overwhelmingly female jury with little interest in baseball will decide whether former pitching star Roger Clemens lied to Congress when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs.The jurors who took their seats Tuesday include a woman whose cousin, former outfielder Al Bumbry, was a coach for the Boston Red Sox when Clemens played for the team, although she didn’t know about the connection to the defendant. cocktail dresses Another woman on the jury said she believes Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was “done wrong” in his criminal conviction in connection with dogfighting.
The jury took shape after four days of questioning by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton and lawyers for both sides. Clemens’ defense team said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner will begin his defense by questioning the propriety of lawmakers’ investigation into whether Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs. bridal gown Opening arguments are scheduled for Wednesday.Both sides seemed to want to start with a blank slate and rejected jurors who had heard much about the case or Clemens himself. When the Eagles fan said during questioning that she didn’t know a thing about baseball, Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin responded, “That’s a plus.”The jury includes a 22-year-old aspiring fashion designer who works two part-time jobs and cares for her young daughter and an older woman who said her three-times-a-week dialysis treatments will not keep her from attending the trial.Another juror is a yoga teacher and lawyer who said she finds U.S. drug laws “a bit heavy-handed.”The two sides threw out the maximum number of 20 people before the jury of 10 women and two men along with four alternates were seated. The jurors themselves were not told who among them are alternates but they were told to avoid news and sports programs. To keep the panel from encountering the dozens of journalists at the courthouse, the judge told them they will meet off site each day, ride a bus to a back entrance and use nonpublic corridors. They will be served breakfast and lunch in what was once a judge’s chambers so they don’t have to use the cafeteria where reporters, attorneys and Clemens himself take their meals.
Clemens sat and watched final jury selection but didn’t weigh in and left it to his lawyers to pick who will decide his fate. His wife, Debbie, was back home in Houston with their sons after being in court last week, Hardin said. She will be a witness in her husband’s defense and will not be allowed to attend the trial until after she testifies, a fact Hardin explained to jurors who might otherwise wonder where she was.Clemens’ attorney Michael Attanasio revealed Tuesday that Clemens plans to begin his defense by questioning if lawmakers’ investigation into whether he used performance-enhancing drugs was proper.
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