 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. "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. "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." "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 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. 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. 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. Pettitte was talking to his wife and you used the conversation anyway after the judge specifically told you not to? "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. "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. "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 ." 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 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.