Jury Selection Starts in Second Trial on Camarena’s Murder : Court: More than a hundred potential panelists face a series of questions about their knowledge of DEA agent’s torture. Judge says the trial may last two months.

The trial of four men accused of involvement in the 1985 torture-murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena “could be perhaps one of the most interesting cases on which you will ever have the opportunity to serve,” a federal judge told prospective jurors Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie made the statement as the second trial stemming from Camarena’s slaying in Guadalajara, Mexico, got under way in Los Angeles. Three men were convicted of the crime in Los Angeles in 1988.

Security in the downtown federal courthouse was tighter than usual. In addition to metal detectors normally at the building’s entrances, people entering Rafeedie’s courtroom were required to pass through another metal detector and show identification to a U.S. marshal. A contingent of marshals also stood watch inside the courtroom.

Although this is the second Camarena trial here, it is expected to shed new light on how his kidnaping and murder were planned.

Jurors will hear testimony about meetings where Camarena’s abduction and slaying were planned--meetings that were attended by major drug traffickers and high-ranking Mexican law enforcement officials, according to government documents.

The case also will have a high profile because of a controversy between the United States and Mexico over whether the Drug Enforcement Administration participated in the April 2 abduction of a Mexican doctor who is a defendant in the case. Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has condemned the Guadalajara kidnaping of the doctor as a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, while U.S. Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh has maintained that nothing improper was done.

Nonetheless, Judge Rafeedie severed the case of the physician, Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, from that of four other men who are in custody, and scheduled a May 25 hearing to ascertain the details of how Alvarez was brought to this country.

On Tuesday, Rafeedie impaneled 250 prospective jurors and told them the trial would last about two months--”not very long by today’s standards.”

Nonetheless, more than half of the jurors said it was impossible for them to serve that long. That left 118 potential jurors who were given a detailed, 37-page questionnaire to complete. Based on their answers, they will then face oral questions from Rafeedie starting today.

Many of the questions attempt to find out what the prospective jurors know about the case, how closely they follow the news, whether they know any of the defendants, witnesses or lawyers involved in the case, and a wide range of other matters that might give clues to their potential sympathies.

For example, the potential jurors are asked such questions as what newspapers and magazines they subscribe to; what are the last three books they have read and the last three movies they have attended; the names of their favorite television programs, and whether they watch the news show “60 Minutes.”

They were also asked whether they have heard or read anything about more than 100 people in the Camarena case, including Rafael Caro Quintero, an imprisoned Mexican drug baron; Elaine Shannon, a Time magazine correspondent who wrote a book about the Camarena killing, and former Mexican President Luis Echeverria, who is the brother-in-law of a defendant in the case, Ruben Zuno Arce.

Defendants in the case include Zuno, a prominent Mexican businessman, and Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, a convicted Honduran drug kingpin, both of whom are accused of being among the plotters of Camarena’s killing.

Also facing trial are Juan Jose Bernabe Ramirez, a former Mexican policeman, and Javier Vasquez Velasco, a Mexican who allegedly murdered two Americans mistakenly thought to be DEA agents when they walked into a Guadalajara restaurant where a group of drug barons were having lunch.

The primary language of all four defendants is Spanish and each has an interpreter sitting next to him during the proceedings.

There were so many potential jurors that Rafeedie had them brought into the courtroom in three groups. Claiming the courtroom was filled, marshals excluded the public and news media from watching the judge talk to the first group. But Rafeedie, after being informed by his staff that reporters were complaining about their exclusion, directed marshals to admit the press and spectators.

After the judge spoke to the prospective jurors Tuesday, Martin Stolar, the lawyer for Matta, asked the judge to allow an expert witness to examine two hairs that were found at the house where Camarena was tortured. A Federal Bureau of Investigation forensics expert has said the hairs belong to Matta.

But Stolar wants his expert to look at the hairs through an electron microscope that he contends is more sophisticated than the method the FBI used. Rafeedie said he will hold a hearing on the issue soon.

Additionally, Edward Medvene, one of Zuno’s lawyers, complained about the conditions under which his client is confined. In recent weeks, both Zuno and Matta were moved from the Metropolitan Detention Center a few blocks away to special cells at the courthouse because federal officials said it was too dangerous to transport them daily.

Prosecutors have said they plan to call 75 witnesses, including 18 confidential informants, several of whom are being housed in the United States at government expense. Some of these witnesses reputedly were present when Camarena’s kidnaping was planned.

The DEA agent was kidnaped on a Guadalajara street in February, 1985, while he was on his way to meet his wife for lunch. Testimony at the first trial revealed that he was interrogated and tortured. His body and that of his pilot, Alfredo Zavala Avelar, who was kidnaped the same day, were found a month later at a ranch 65 miles from Guadalajara.

So far, 22 people have been indicted in Los Angeles in connection with the murders. More than 20 people, including some who have been indicted in Los Angeles, have been convicted in Mexico. That country’s attorney general has announced that all those responsible for the killings have been brought to justice. The DEA disputes that contention and is continuing its investigation.

In the current trial, the defendants face possible life prison terms if convicted.