Roger Clemens never wavered over the past several years in defending himself against steroid accusations. His attorney, Rusty Hardin, insisted no reasonable jury would have enough evidence to convict Clemens of perjury, and Hardin wound up being right when The Rocket was acquitted over the summer. However, it would seem that there was a time when Clemens wasn’t fully confident in what the future held.
According to the NY Daily News, Clemens sold real estate before his trial over the summer with the intention of liquidating some of his assets to provide for his wife and children in the event that he was sentenced to federal prison. Steven Kaufman, the president of the mortgage company that bought a building in which Clemens’ charity was housed, reportedly said that Clemens and his partners sold the property because the former MLB pitcher was preparing for the worst.
“They moved out in preparation of his pending verdict,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said his company, Zeus Mortgage in Houston, closed on the building on June 8 — just 10 days before Clemens was acquitted of six perjury-related counts.
Naturally, a spokeswoman for Clemens’ charity denied that the move had anything to do with the trial and said the organization moved to another site because it was “more convenient” to combine its warehouse and office spaces.
Liquidating assets to protect his family does not necessarily mean Clemens was admitting any sort of guilt. You never know what can happen in a trial. This was a trial in which two jurors were dismissed for falling asleep, so strange things were already happening. Then again, Jose Canseco even said Clemens never took steroids. What more did he need to prove his innocence?
