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Top Of The Ninth? Spider-Man & California Raisins

Four decisions from the Supreme Court today included an opinion, Kimble v. Marvel, that quoted Spider-Man creators Stan Lee & Steve Ditko (Amazing Fantasy, No.15, “Spider-Man”, 1962), and a takings case, Horne v. Department of Agriculture, brought by California raisin growers.

In announcing the California raisins case from the bench Chief Justice Roberts said,“The Constitution does not allow the government to take your car without just compensation if it promises to return the quarters it finds in the seats.”

The Court returns Thursday and Friday with more decisions, at which time it will truly be the bottom of the ninth with the possibility of extra innings next week.

 

McNamee Starting To Sweat

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After five days on the witness stand Brian McNamee was looking pretty bad, at one point loosening his tie and pulling his collar away from his neck. The picture of defeat.

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McNamee will return to face more questioning on Monday, but now the judge has imposed a time limit on witnesses so it should be his last day on the stand.

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AP story here.

Cross-Examination Of McNamee Continues

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Roger Clemens lawyer, Rusty Hardin, hammered and chipped away at Brian McNamee on the fourth day of his testimony, nineteen hours so far. His exhaustive scattershot examination does seem to be working. McNamee has admitted to minimizing the truth and outright lying to investigators.

Below are a couple more sketches from today’s testimony.

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Hardin put up a photo of Roger and Debbie Clemens that appeared in the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

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On the screen is the cover of McNamee’s unpublished book, “Death, Taxes and Mac”

AP story here.

Second Day of McNamee Testimony

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Yesterday I was at the ready, pencil in hand, to catch that dramatic moment when Brian McNamee would point out the defendant, Roger Clemens, to the jury, but it never happened. Today, though, just as I was telling my colleague, fellow sketch artist Bill Hennessy, that we weren’t going to get the money shot…it happened.

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We also got to see a photo of the Yankee Stadium jacuzzi. One of many locations were McNamee said he injected Clemens with HGH.

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Finally, with only a half hour left in the day, the defense began its cross-examination. Rusty Hardin questioned McNamee about a tie he wore when he testified before the grand jury. The tie had an advertisement on it promoting a friend’s business.

Not sure what the point was except McNamee had the bad taste to take advantage of a media event.

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McNamee of course said he chose that particular tie because his other tie was wrinkled.

AP story here.

 

The “Booty Shot”

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Roger Clemens’ chief accuser, trainer Brian McNamee, took the stand today and described the time he began injecting Clemens with anabolic steroids in 1998. Clemens120514_McNamee_1

He said Clemens first approached him with a bottle of pills and some glass ampoules. “I told him they were no good, that they were toxic. I said get rid of them”. Clemens120514_McNamee_2

A few days later, according to McNamee, Clemens had him come to his hotel suite. “When I got there Roger had the needle, gauze, and alcohol all set up in his bathroom on a towel”.

“He asked me if I could help him with a booty shot”, said McNamee.

AP story here.