Prosecutors say judge can't make them pay Clemens

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors in the steroid trial against baseball great Roger Clemens are telling a judge he has no authority to make them pay his attorney fees from a mistrial.

The prosecutors said in a motion filed Tuesday that they regret mistakenly showing jurors inadmissible evidence and causing a mistrial this summer in their case. The government has alleged that Clemens lied about using performance-enhancing drugs.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered another trial for next spring and invited Clemens to request the government to pay his legal expenses in connection with the aborted trial.

Clemens made the request two weeks ago, without a dollar figure. But prosecutors argue that the law says Walton cannot order them to pay attorney's fees without a congressional waiver.