Hedgecock Jury Choice Narrows

Jury selection in the felony retrial of San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock entered its fifth day Wednesday as defense attorney Oscar Goodman questioned 10 prospective jurors on topics ranging from personal hobbies to their knowledge about courtroom procedures.

The people questioned Wednesday were chosen at random from a pool of 61 remaining after two preliminary screening stages in which 84 potential jurors were excused because of personal hardships or bias toward either acquittal or conviction.

After Goodman questions two potential jurors today, Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Wickersham will query all 12 people, after which the two competing attorneys will begin to challenge the seating of individual jurors. As jurors are eliminated, new prospects from the list of 61 will be brought into the jurors’ box to be questioned, a process that will be repeated until both attorneys agree on 12 jurors and four alternates.

Hedgecock faces 15 felony conspiracy and perjury charges and a single misdemeanor count, most of which stem from alleged illegal personal and campaign aid that the mayor received from J. David (Jerry) Dominelli and Nancy Hoover, former principals in the bankrupt La Jolla investment firm of J. David & Co.