Jury seated in trial of Olympic officials

On the eve of opening statements in the Olympic bribery case, Tom Welch said it's still hard to hear the word "criminal" used to describe the government's case against him.

"Sure. I've spent now almost 20 years involved in this Olympic process, trying to do something for our community," Welch said Thursday. "Even the allegations, as remote as they are, that's hard."

The term "criminal case" was read aloud in court earlier in the day by U.S. District Judge David Sam as he gave instructions to the newly seated jury of nine men and five women who'll decide the fate of Welch and his co-defendant, Dave Johnson.

The leaders of Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games are charged with fraud, conspiracy and racketeering in connection with the more than $1 million in cash and gifts given to members of the International Olympic Committee.

Today each defendant's attorney will be given an hour to answer the government's charges. The prosecution is expected to use charts and other visual aids to show the jury what they allege was a scheme to secretly secure IOC votes.

Neither side was giving away any details of their presentations Thursday, but Welch said the defense needs "to talk about what the process was of bidding. I think you need to talk about what the law was. I think you talk about, certainly, what we were trying to do."

Johnson, too, said jurors should be told "everything" about the bid process. His attorney, Max Wheeler, said the message for jurors to take from the defense's opening statements is "that there's no crime here. No crime was committed."

Their comments came after the third day of jury selection concluded with a panel of 12 jurors and two alternates being seated. Each is identified only by number and none know whether they are an alternate or a voting member of the jury.

Much of the selection process occurred behind closed doors in the judge's chambers. An unknown number of prospective jurors were eliminated from the pool for cause after individually being interviewed about their responses to a 10-page questionnaire.

Thursday, the selection process moved into open court as attorneys for the prosecution and the defense spent nearly an hour silently exchanging lists of would-be jurors they wanted excused without giving a reason.