Is Roger Clemens Seeking a Pardon?

Way back in February, a lawyer for Brian McNamee made headlines when he said that he thought Roger Clemens would escape any criminal prosecution for perjury by receiving a presidential pardon. Clemens is friendly with the former President Bush, as he mentioned during Congressional hearings, and the feeling was that relationship could pay off with a reprieve.

Now that the current President Bush is nearing the end of his term, traditionally an occasion for numerous pardons, Clemens' name is again coming up in discussions of potential pardon recipients. An Associated Press article mentions him alongside people like former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, American Taliban member John Walker Lindh and imprisioned financier Conrad Black when discussing who might get pardoned.

Both Lindh and Black have applied for pardons, according to the article, while there's no evidence that Clemens has done so. He'd need to do so before the President could issue a pardon. It doesn't matter that he hasn't been convicted of any crime, see Ford's pardon of Nixon, but if he did apply for one and get it, there would be a major caveat.

Accepting a pardon, especially before conviction, could be read as an admission of guilt. For Clemens, that means avoiding prison, but it also means he'd be unable to ever convince anyone his success, at least partially, wasn't fueled by the help of performance enhancing drugs.

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