Victor Conte says Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, who returns on Sunday after serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL steroid policy, deserves ?the benefit of the doubt.? Merriman insists his urine sample that showed excessive levels of a nandrolone metabolite was an innocent mistake, the result of a tainted nutritional supplement which, unbeknownst to him, contained traces of the anabolic steroid nandrolone, enough to trigger a positive test.