McCann on D&C: Expect retrial for Clemens

Sports Illustrated legal analyst Michael McCann joined the Dennis & Callahan show with guest hosts Steve Buckley and Bob Halloran Friday morning to talk about the Roger Clemens mistrial.

The case was declared a mistrial by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton after the prosecution showed a video that included references to comments from Andy Pettitte's wife supporting her husband's statements that Clemens admitted steroid use to him. This came despite earlier instructions not to mention Laura Pettitte's comments.

McCann was asked where the case goes from here.

"I think the government's going to try to get a retrial, and the government's going to argue that while it made a mistake, it didn't go to the heart of the case and therefore a retrial should be permitted," he said. "The judge, though, was really upset and completely disappointed in what the government did."

Added McCann: "My instinct is that the government will go for a retrial. They'll probably get it. … But I think the judge feels like the government really messed up, and they wasted a lot of time and money."

As for speculation that the government's move was intentional — either to sneak in the information or to get a mistrial to avoid spending any more time and money on the case — McCann doubted the possibility.

"Was it intentional? It probably was not," he said. "I suspect it was a lower-level person who put the slide together and forgot to redact certain comments, and a supervisor didn't catch it, and then disaster happens."

Added McCann: "I think it's a careless mistake. I think it's just not doing their due diligence."

McCann said that had the case continued, it would have hinged on former trainer Brian McNamee's testimony and the defense's attempts to discredit him.

Said McCann: "If McNamee's really good, and he got bolstered by Andy Pettitte, yeah, I think Clemens would have went down."

To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.