Pitching legend Clemens faces Monday arraignment

Former Major League Baseball star pitcher Roger Clemens will be arraigned Monday on charges of perjury, lying to US lawmakers and obstruction of Congress, a federal judge announced Thursday.

Clemens will have a 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) hearing before US District Judge Reggie Walton on six counts of lying to Congress when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs in a 2008 hearing before US lawmakers.

Walton, who has said he hopes to schedule a trial for next spring, handled a similar case against I. Lewis Libby, the former chief of staff of former US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Clemens faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a 1.5 million-dollar fine if convicted on all charges, but sentencing guidelines would typically mean he would face between 15 or 21 months in prison.

Clemens is expected to plead not guilty based upon his denial of the charges last week in a Twitter message.

"I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress," Clemens said in a posting on the internet social network. "I look forward to challenging the Governments accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial."

Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner as top pitcher, contradicted his former trainer, Brian McNamee, at a February 2008 hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone more than 30 times between 1998 and 2001.

The indictment says Clemens obstructed a Congressional inquiry, lied to Congress and committed perjury with 15 statements made under oath, including his denials of ever taking human growth hormone or steroids.

"Roger is looking forward to his day in court," Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin said. "He is happy this has finally happened. We have known for some time this was going to happen. We'll let everything get taken care of in court."

Clemens, 48, won 354 games and struck out 4,672 batters while compiling a 3.12 career earned-run average over 23 major league seasons with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.