Clemens Mistrial: Government Extremely Incompetent OR Contempt for Judge

[Steroid News]

Craig Calcaterra, as usual, provides an analysis that holds federal prosecutors accountable for their actions in the steroid witch-hunt targeting celebrity athletes:

The judge was plain as day when he ordered a mistrial. He said “it was caused by the government.” How so: the government played a video in which the affidavit of Andy Pettitte’s wife was read by Congressman Elijah Cummings, in which she said she remembered Pettitte telling her that Clemens had admitted using steroids. The judge had specifically forbade them to play this video because the testimony was inadmissible as about 18 layers of hearsay. That was a serious transgression. Inexcusable, really, and could have been caused by only (a) extreme incompetence; or (b) contempt for the judges’ order.

Read more: UPDATE: Mistrial declared in Roger Clemens case | HardballTalk