Rusty Hardin: big rich and famous people just can’t catch a break in this country

Opening statements began in the Roger Clemens trial this morning.

The government led with those syringes that Brian McNamee kept and will apparently hang their case on them. This is not terribly surprising, though it is not without risk. The lab analysis will say what the lab analysis says on those things -- the prosecutors say it will show Clemens DNA + PEDs -- but the fact is that McNamee basically kept them in a shoebox under his bed next to stale pizza crusts for a few years, so they will be subject to attack on chain-of-custody and integrity grounds. Add that to jurors’ increasing (and annoying) skepticism of forensic evidence that doesn’t meet “CSI: Whereverthehell” standards, and it could be a hard case for the prosecution to make.

Meanwhile, Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, appears to have his own uphill climb in front of him:

Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin told the jury that the government is “horribly wrong” in charging his client with perjury, false statements and obstruction of Congress ... “There was rush to judgment on Roger that has made it impossible for him to be fairly heard until he got here ... It’s a fact of life that sometimes when people reach the mountain, there is an unwillingness to give them equal consideration when people come down on them,” Hardin said. “And that’s what happened with Roger.”

Can’t argue with that. Rich, powerful and famous people have been getting an unfair shake in this Republic since time immemorial. It’s a tragedy, really.