Clemens denied request for mistrial legal fees Tue Jul 3, 2012 5:16pm EDT (Reuters) - Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens, whose first trial for perjury ended in a mistrial a year ago before he was ultimately acquitted last month, was denied a request on Tuesday for legal fees in the mistrial. Clemens' first trial - on federal charges of lying in 2008 when he told a congressional committee investigating drug use in baseball that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs - ended in a mistrial after just two days of arguments. In that case, prosecutors showed jurors a video clip that included material the judge had banned from the trial unless the information was raised by Clemens' defense team. Clemens' attorneys, in seeking the payment, had argued their client should be awarded fees and costs "to sanction conduct that abuses the judicial process," according to a two-page document denying Clemens' request. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said the court found the government's misconduct was not severe enough to warrant financial sanctions in the document, citing a 2005 case, where the court said "a mistake, not intentional disregard, caused the introduction and publication of the inadmissible evidence" leading to a mistrial. Clemens, was found innocent last month of six charges stemming from his denial of taking steroids and human growth hormone in front of Congress in 2008. There was no immediate word on how much he spent on his defense. Reporting By Joseph O'Leary; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh