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 wedding
dress 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 wedding
dresses 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.