WASHINGTON (AP) — Roger Clemens' acquittal is the latest expensive failure in the government's pursuit of drugs in sports.
The 49-year-old former pitcher was acquitted Monday on all six counts that he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. The government had been pursuing Clemens since 2007.
A seven-year investigation into home run king Barry Bonds yielded a lone guilty verdict to an obstruction charge that reads more like a technicality and is under appeal. A two-year, multicontinent investigation into cyclist Lance Armstrong was recently brought to a close with no charges filed.
Long-time Washington defense lawyer Stanley Brand calls the cases "a tremendous waste of federal resources." One of the Clemens jurors used the word "excessive" during jury selection to describe the 2008 hearings at which Clemens testified.
