Saturday, November 20, 2010

Roger Clemens' Downward Spiral to Federal Indictment 'Self-Inflicted'

A.J. Perezby A.J. Perez

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Roger ClemensRoger Clemens' precipitous descent from one of the game's top power pitchers to landing under a multi-count federal indictment "was completely self-inflicted," former Congressman Tom Davis told FanHouse on Thursday.

"He got caught in a speed trap like a lot of other ballplayers found in the Mitchell Report," said Davis, former ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform where Clemens testified in February 2008. "Most of the others offered up an apology and many of them did just fine. He didn't want to do that. He wanted to clear his name and we offered him a forum."

This forum, however, came with a caveat: the seven-time Cy Young Award winner had to go under oath with no promise of immunity. That public relations move fully backfired Thursday as United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Shawn Henry, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, announced that Clemens would face one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making false statements and two counts of perjury.

Clemens, whose appearance in front of the committee was completely voluntary since he was not subpoenaed, faces a combined maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine, although he would likely only serve 15-21 months if convicted on all six counts under current sentencing guidelines.

 

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