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The judge declared a mistrial Thursday in baseball star Roger Clemens's perjury trial after prosecutors showed to jurors evidence that he had ruled would be out of bounds in the case.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Clemens could not be assured a fair trial after prosecutors showed jurors evidence against his orders in the second day of testimony in Washington, D.C.

Walton scheduled a Sept. 2 hearing to determine whether to hold a new trial. He told jurors he was sorry to have wasted their time and spent so much taxpayer money, only to call off the case.

"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.

"If this man got convicted, he would go to jail," Walton said.

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."

Prosecutors suggested the problem could be fixed with an instruction to the jury to disregard the evidence, but Walton seemed skeptical. He said he could never know what impact the evidence would have during the jury's deliberations "when we've got a man's liberty at interest."

"I don't see how I un-ring the bell," he said.

Defence attorney Rusty Hardin patted an unsmiling Clemens on the back as the judge announced his decision. Clemens did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom and made a telephone call in a private corner of the hallway.

Clemens and his lawyers remain under a court gag order and they declined to comment as they left the courthouse. Clemens hugged a couple of court workers, shook hands with the security guards and signed autographs and a couple of baseballs for fans.

"I'm not going to say anything," Clemens said, sounding frustrated at the mass of reporters and camera crews. He and his legal team ducked into a nearby restaurant to escape the horde of news people.

Alfred wrote:I guess the whole "DENY EVERYTHING EVER" defense worked yet again!

Homer Jay wrote:MLB and the government likely want this done and done. This is probably the last outstanding issue from the Steroid era. The HOF is closed to these people, and the government likely sees that as justice done.

Randle McMurphy wrote:

Homer Jay wrote:MLB and the government likely want this done and done. This is probably the last outstanding issue from the Steroid era. The HOF is closed to these people, and the government likely sees that as justice done.

If the HOF is closed to arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, the greatest OF, and the greatest SS/3B, it's not much of a HOF.