Roger Clemens' wife takes stand at perjury trial

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Debbie Clemens has taken the stand at the perjury trial of her husband, Roger Clemens.

Debbie Clemens entered the courtroom in the waning minutes of Thursday's session and answered questions about her personal background and early relationship with her husband before court adjourned for the day.

She is expected to testify Friday that she received a shot of human growth hormone from Clemens' former strength coach, Brian McNamee, about a decade ago — and that her husband was not present.

McNamee testified earlier in the trial that he gave Debbie Clemens a shot of HGH and that Roger Clemens was present.

One of the charges against Roger Clemens is that he lied when he told Congress that he didn't know that McNamee was injecting his wife.

Before court was recessed, Debbie Clemens testified that she met her future husband in high school but they didn't date then, CBS News producer Traci Caldwell reports. Debbie Clemens said she ran into him again right after he was drafted and went to the Red Sox.

Earlier on Thursday, jurors learned that Eileen McNamee's story differs with her husband's in several ways, and her own version appears to have changed somewhat over the years, but there's little doubt about one thing the estranged couple have in common: They both were furious when details of their oldest son's medical condition were revealed at a Roger Clemens news conference four years ago.

Eileen McNamee said she called Brian McNamee right away and left a voicemail.

"I told him," she said, "not to let him get away with it."

The next day, Brian McNamee retrieved the evidence that he said had been kept in and around a beer can inside a FedEx box for more than six years, the remnants of an alleged steroids injection of Clemens in 2001. The needle and cotton balls are among the key evidence in the perjury trial of the former star baseball pitcher, who is charged with lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performance-enhancing substances.

Brian McNamee testified last month that he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with human growth hormone in 2000.

With Eileen McNamee — subpoenaed by the defense — on the stand Thursday for a second day, the government's cross-examination highlighted discrepancies between her testimony at the trial and what she told the FBI three years ago.

McNamee's wife denies nagging over Clemens

She told the jury Wednesday that when she discovered the box in their home and asked her husband about it, he told her it was for his protection and wasn't any of her concern. She also said he didn't mention Clemens or any other players.

But on cross-examination, prosecutor Courtney Saleski asked about a 2009 FBI interview in which Eileen McNamee said her husband told her the contents of the box were from players.

"I don't recall," Eileen McNamee replied.

Explaining other discrepancies, the first-grade teacher said she was "very nervous" during the interview with the two FBI agents, which took place in the investigators' car as she was leaving school.

Major differences remain in the testimonies of the McNamees, who are undergoing contentious divorce proceedings in New York. Eileen McNamee says she didn't pester her husband into the saving the evidence and didn't help him place it in the box, as Brian McNamee claimed.

However, they do dovetail in one other respect: Brian McNamee's motive in storing the box of drug waste. Her testimony that he said years ago he was keeping it for his protection meshes with his testimony that he didn't want to be a fall guy if the alleged drug injections were ever investigated.

Eileen McNamee made it clear she isn't a fan of either side in this case and pointed out she was testifying because she "didn't have a choice." She bit her lip and asked the judge for a break to compose herself at the mention of the nationally televised 2008 Clemens news conference, when a 17-minute taped telephone conversation between Clemens and Brian McNamee was played.

The news conference was part of a media blitz during which Clemens repeatedly denied the doping allegations McNamee made about the pitcher in the then-just-released Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball. McNamee said on the phone call "My son is dying," having apparently misinterpreted or exaggerated information he received from his wife about the results of a blood test on the 10-year-old boy.

"He was not dying — like Brian said and Roger played on the TV. ... Now he hears it on TV. My son thinks he's dying," Eileen McNamee said.

The battle between Clemens and Brian McNamee "didn't concern my son. It had nothing to with him," Eileen McNamee added, using almost the same words her husband used on the same stand three weeks ago.

Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin took the blame for the playing of the tape, and Eileen McNamee said he had apologized for it.

"I'm still hurt and bothered by it. ... It was dumb," she said.

"But you're still as angry as can be at your husband?" Saleski asked during follow-up questioning.

Eileen McNamee acknowledged that was true.

Also Thursday, Drug Enforcement Administration chemist Terrence Boos, who earlier testified for the prosecution, returned as a defense witness to identify the brand names of the steroids found in the evidence from the FedEx box. The defense contends that the steroids were mixed — or "stacked" — in a way that contradicts McNamee's testimony.