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Roger Clemens' Lawyers Seek Fees After Mistrial

October 28, 2011 | Posted in : Defense Fees / Costs, Expenses / Costs, Fee Entitlement / Recoverability, Fees as Sanctions

A recent BLT Blog post, “Rogers Clemens’ Lawyers Seek Fees After Mistrial” reports that the government should be forced to pay fees and costs associated with the botched obstruction and perjury trial of Roger Clemens, the defense attorneys for the former baseball pitcher told a judge in Washington.  The attorneys, including Houston’s Russell Hardin Jr., said in an entitlement request (pdf) filed in Washington federal district court that trial judges have the inherent authority “to sanction conduct that abuses the judicial process.”

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial in July after prosecutors presented evidence to jurors the judge had previously restricted.  Hardin and co-counsel Michael Attanasio of Cooley did not specify the amount they are seeking.  The lawyers said they would submit a fee petition to the court documenting attorney fees and expenses incurred between June 25 and July 14.  At a hearing in September, Walton said jury selection and several days of the trial itself “obviously cost Mr. Clemens a lot of money.”

Walton said in court last month he was unsure whether he has the authority to order the government to reimburse Clemens.  “I think fundamental fairness obviously would require that he be reimbursed for those expenses, but sometimes fundamental fairness doesn’t bear out when it comes to legal issues that a court has to resolve,” Walton said.