WASHINGTON â€" New York Yankees senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman took the stand as a prosecution witness at the Roger Clemens perjury trial shortly before Judge Reggie Walton called for a break on Thursday.
Defense attorney Rusty Hardin was hoping to get more from Cashman than he did from the previous witness. Hardin lit into prosecutors, accusing them of procedural ineptitude and calling unqualified witnesses which would mean "adding two weeks" to the trial.
Hardin requested the right to call Don Catlin, an anti-doping scientist under subpoena, as a defense witness, complaining that the prosecution substituted U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chemist Terrence Boos, an expert in controlled substances and drug and chemical evaluation, in his place.
Earlier Thursday, David Lintner, medical director for the Houston Astros, testified that is was "out of the scope of responsibility" for trainers or strength coaches to administer injections to players.
Although Clemens has said he regularly has injections of liquid Vitamin B12, Lintner said he does not supply shots of Vitamin B12 to players because "it doesn't work." Lintner said B12 was only useful to those with nutritional deficiencies.
Lintner testified that he treated Clemens for what appeared to be acne on his back in 2005. Although Lintner said acne could be a side effect of steroid use, he said he did not suspect it to be the cause of Clemens' acne at the time. He prescribed antibiotics that cleared Clemens' condition.
Meanwhile, Hardin said in opening remarks that Catlin would testify that Brian McNamee could have manipulated evidence such as the contents of needles, a matter upon which Walton determined Boos was not qualified to address.
Hardin was also irritated that Walton also deemed Boos unqualified to answer questions about medical effects of performance enhancers on players.
"Are you here to tell us that steroids are illegal?" asked Hardin of Boos. "Don't you think everybody knows that?"
Cashman, who has been general manager since 1998 â€" a period during which Yankees Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jose Canseco and Chuck Knoblauch have been among players linked to performance-enhancing drugs, was to get into more meaty testimony Thursday afternoon.
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