The judge declared a mistrial Thursday in baseball star Roger Clemens' perjury trial after prosecutors showed to jurors evidence that he had ruled would be out of bounds in the case. 
 
 Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens leaves federal court Wednesday, July 13, 2011, in Washington after a day of his trial on charges of lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied ever using... (Associated Press) 
 
 U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Clemens could not be assured a fair trial after prosecutors showed jurors evidence against his orders in the second day of testimony. 
 
 Walton scheduled a Sept. 2 hearing to determine whether to hold a new trial. He told jurors he was sorry to have wasted their time and spent so much taxpayer money, only to call off the case. 
 
 "There are rules that we play by and those rules are designed to make sure both sides receive a fair trial," Walton told the jury, saying such ground rules are critically important when a person's liberty is at stake. 
 
 He said that because prosecutors broke his rules, "the ability with Mr. Clemens with this jury to get a fair trial with this jury would be very difficult if not impossible." 
 
 Prosecutors suggested the problem could be fixed with an instruction to the jury to disregard the evidence, but Walton seemed skeptical. He said he could never know what impact the evidence would have during the jury's deliberations "when we've got a man's liberty at interest." 
 
 "I don't see how I un-ring the bell," he said. 
 
 Walton interrupted the prosecution's playing of a video from Clemens' 2008 testimony before Congress and had the jury removed from the courtroom. Clemens is accused of lying during that testimony when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs during his 24-season career in the Major Leagues. 
 
 One of the chief pieces of evidence against Clemens is testimony from his former teammate and close friend, Andy Pettitte, who says Clemens told him in 1999 or 2000 that he used human growth hormone. Clemens has said that Pettitte misheard him. Pettitte also also says he told his wife, Laura, about the conversation the same day it happened. 
 
 Prosecutors had wanted to call Laura Pettitte as a witness to back up her husband's account, but Walton had said he wasn't inclined to have her testify since she didn't speak directly to Clemens. 
 
 Walton was angered that in the video prosecutors showed the jury, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., referred to Pettitte's conversation with his wife. 
 
 "I think that a first-year law student would know that you can't bolster the credibility of one witness with clearly inadmissible evidence," Walton said. 
 
 He said it was the second time that prosecutors had gone against his orders _ the other being an incident that happened during opening arguments Wednesday when assistant U.S. attorney Steven Durham said that Pettite and two other of Clemens' New York teammates, Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton, had used human growth hormone. 
 
 Walton said in pre-trial hearings that such testimony could lead jurors to consider Clemens guilty by association. Clemens' defense attorney objected when Durham made the statement and Walton told jurors to disregard Durham's comments about other players. 
 
 There was no objection from Clemens' team during the Laura Pettitte reference, but the judge stopped the proceedings, called attorneys up to the bench and spoke to them privately for several minutes. Hardin pointed out during that time, the video remained frozen on the screen in front of jurors with a transcript of what was being said on the bottom. 
 
 Cummings had been quoting from Laura Pettitte's affidavit to the committee. "I, Laura Pettitte, do depose and state, in 1999 or 2000, Andy told me had a conversation wth Roger Clemens in which Roger admitted to him using human growth hormones," the text on the screen read. 
 
 The judge eventually told the jurors to leave while he discussed the issue with attorneys in open court. 
 
 "Government counsel should have been more cautious," Walton said, raising his voice and noting that the case has already cost a lot of taxpayer money. He then left the courtroom and said he would go consult with a colleague on what to do. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Nedra Pickler's coverage of the Clemens trial at http://twitter.com/nedrapickler ||||| Is it me, or do government lawyers kind of suck? First Casey Anthony gets off, now there’s been a mistrial declared in the Roger Clemens Congressional perjury case just days after the trial started. Why? Because the government violated a pretrial order. 
 
 Updates after the jump…. 
 
 ABC News has the report: 
 
 Judge Reggie Walton halted proceedings this morning over complaints from the defense about prosecutors’ use of information the judge had banned, quickly accepted their concerns and then declared a mistrial. The defense had complained that prosecutors had not followed a pretrial ruling to limit information about conversations fellow ballplayer Andy Pettitte had with his wife about the use of human growth hormone. 
 
 Seriously guys? Pettitte was talking to his wife and you used the conversation anyway after the judge specifically told you not to? Does the government need a first year law student to come in and tell them about hearsay or something? 
 
 The Boston Globe reports that Judge Walton was really angry at the government lawyers: 
 
 In angry comments directed toward the prosecution, Walton said, “Government counsel doesn’t do just what government counsel can get away with doing …I’m very troubled by this. A lot of government money has been used to reach this point. The government should have been more cautious. I don’t see how I can un-ring the bell.” 
 
 We’ll have a lot of non-lawyers reading this post trying to figure out just how boneheaded a move this was from the government lawyers. On a bonehead scale of one to ten, with a one being signing Pedro Feliciano when you just saw his arm get pitched off on the other side of town, and a ten being the Barry Zito contract, I’d rate this mistake at a level 9. 
 
 It’s the legal equivalent of throwing a broken bat at a player in the middle of a World Series game and then being surprised when people accuse you of having ‘roid rage. The government has spent how many dollars trying to bring Clemens to justice? I guess they’re about to waste more money trying to catch the Rocket. 
 
 Judge in Roger Clemens Case Declares a Mistrial [ABC News] 
 
 Judge declares mistrial in Clemens case [Boston Globe] ||||| The judge in the Roger Clemens federal perjury trial abruptly declared a mistrial on the second day of testimony after the government inadvertently allowed the jury to hear statements from a U.S. congressman discussing the credibility of one of the key witnesses against the former All-Star baseball pitcher.U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton was livid Thursday that a video screen was left on in the courtroom while he and the lawyers privately discussed an issue away from the jury, and yet the jurors could clearly see written comments by U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) during a 2008 House hearing in which Clemens testified he never used steroids or other enhancement drugs."Sadly, I have reached this conclusion," Walton said.At issue was an earlier ruling in which the judge said he would not allow outside testimony or evidence from others about the credibility of certain key witnesses, including Andy Pettitte, a former teammate of Clemens.Yet appearing on the screen was a transcript of comments by Cummings discussing Pettitte's wife and Pettitte's credibility as one of the lead government witnesses against the seven-time Cy Young award winner.The government was supposed to have redacted such comments, and was instructed to keep them away from the jury of 10 women and two men so as not to prejudice their deliberations."We'll never know what impact that will have on how this jury decides this case, when we have a man's liberty's at stake," said Walton, visibly angry. "I am troubled by this. The government should have been more cautious."He added, "I don't see how I unring the bell" and keep the jury from considering what Pettitte's wife said and what Cummings thought of it."In my view, Mr. Pettitte's testimony is going to be critical as to whether this man goes to prison, and I can't in good faith leave this case where a man's liberty is at risk when the government should have assured we are not in this situation."Prosecutors said the error was inadvertent. But Rusty Hardin of Houston, Clemens' chief defense attorney, seized on the problem and immediately asked for a mistrial."I like this jury," he said. "But…"On the screen were written comments from Cummings discussing how Laura Pettitte has said her husband "told me he had a conversation with Roger Clemens and Roger admitted to him using human growth hormones ." Clemens has insisted he never told Pettitte that he used HGH or steroids, even though his friend and former New York Yankees teammate has said otherwise.Yet Cummings, from his comments, seemed to believe Pettitte over Clemens.Cummings' comments were then addressed to Clemens, and his sworn statements that he never told Pettitte he used the drugs."If that were true," Cummings' comments continued on the video, "why would Laura Pettitte remember her husband telling her about that?"Clemens had been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements in the latest criminal trial dealing with Major League Baseball players and steroids and other enhancement drugs.Before ending the trial, the judge left the bench to confer about what to do. But he severely admonished the prosecutors."Government counsel doesn't do just what government counsel can get away with doing," he said. "And a first-year law student knows you can't alter the credibility of one witness with clearly inadmissible evidence."A chagrined judge then dismissed the jury."Ladies and gentlemen," he told jurors, "we have taken about a week out of your life. We expended a lot of your taxpayers money to reach this point. Unfortunately there are rules we play by and those rules are designed to insure that both parties receive a fair trial."The judge continued a gag order precluding Clemens and attorneys and prosecutors discussing the case -- at least until a hearing on Sept. 2 to decide how or whether to jump start the case.As he left the courtroom, Hardin said, "I would have liked to have gone forward. But we just didn't have a choice."Richard.serrano@latimes.com
– A big swing and a miss for prosecutors: The judge in the Roger Clemens perjury trial declared a mistrial today—on only the second day. Prosecutors showed evidence to the jury that the judge had earlier deemed inadmissible, reports the Los Angeles Times. "I don't see how I unring the bell," declared US District Judge Reggie Walton. He scheduled a hearing in September to determine whether a new trial will take place, notes the AP. The judge called a halt to proceedings during a video of Clemens' testimony before Congress in 2008 in which he denied using steroids. The video included comments from Rep. Elijah Cummings discussing the credibility of Andy Pettitte and his wife, the LA Times explains. Cummings seemed to side with Pettitte's view that Clemens doped. Earlier, Walton said he wouldn't allow testimony about the credibility of certain witnesses, including Pettitte, and prosecutors had been ordered to redact such statements. "Is it me, or do government lawyers kind of suck?" asks Elie Mystal at the Above the Law blog. Click the link to read his take on what happened.