Jury selection starts for Olympic bid trial

Jury selection got under way Friday in the trial of Salt Lake Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson with a 1 1/2-hour orientation session at the federal courthouse.

The pool of 83 potential jurors from throughout Utah attending the session were given questionnaires by U.S. District Judge David Sam. Although its contents were not made public, Sam has said he wants to find out what would-be jurors have heard about the case.

The responses collected Friday are being shared with the prosecution and the defense. The entire jury pool is expected to appear in court when the trial starts at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday so the selection process can continue.

The lawyers are already battling over what further questions the jury should be asked on Tuesday. The defense filed a motion opposing eight of the 18 questions suggested by the prosecution earlier this week.

Among the questions from the government that lawyers for Welch and Johnson object to is whether potential jurors can "promise to put aside any feelings or sympathy during the trial."

Welch and Johnson are charged with fraud, conspiracy and racketeering in connection with the more than $1 million in cash and gifts lavished on the International Olympic Committee during the city's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

Although the bid scandal first surfaced in late 1998, the case is only now coming to trial after a lengthy legal fight. The charges were dropped in 2001 by Sam and then reinstated earlier this year by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Also this week, the defense filed notice with the court that it intends to raise the issue of whether IOC members should be considered agents or fiduciaries as defined by the Utah Commercial Bribery Statute.

The government is using that statute as the basis for a complex series of federal charges. The defense claims that because the IOC is based in Switzerland, Swiss laws defining the duties and responsibilities of IOC members should apply.

And according to an expert hired by the defense, under Swiss law IOC members don't have the level of financial responsibility for the organization that is required by the Utah statute for bribery to take place.

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