Holidays Off, Keating Judge Informs Prospective Jurors : * Trial: The jurist says his wife ordered him to take a vacation. Questioning of candidates continues.

Judge Lance A. Ito is used to giving orders in his Superior Court domain, but he was given one that he passed on Thursday to prospective jurors in the securities-fraud trial of former thrift owner Charles H. Keating Jr.

“You’ll be able to make plans for the (Christmas and New Year) holidays that don’t involve this jury trial,” Ito said. “That’s because my wife has ordered me to take a vacation.”

For the third straight day, a new panel of about 100 jury candidates were questioned about their ability to return to court every day through March 1 to hear the evidence against Keating in a case stemming from the $2.6-billion collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan.

A little more than a third of each panel has passed the test on whether the lengthy criminal trial would create a hardship on them. The 106 survivors filled out lengthy questionnaires and were ordered to return Aug. 26 for more rigorous individual questioning.

A new panel of 100 jury prospects will be brought to court today and, if necessary, another panel will go through the preliminary questioning on Monday. Ito said he is looking for about 120 possible jurors who can handle a six- to seven-month trial.

He said he hopes to have 12 jurors and eight alternates sworn in so that opening statements can begin by Aug. 28.

The trial is the first criminal case stemming from Lincoln’s collapse two years ago. Keating faces 20 counts of selling risky bonds to Lincoln depositors, who contend that they were duped into believing the bonds were safe and the company was sound. The bonds were issued by Lincoln’s parent company, American Continental Corp. in Phoenix, which Keating headed.

Keating has pleaded not guilty. He charges that the now-worthless bonds would still be good had regulators not hounded him into insolvency. In any case, his attorneys say, any misrepresentations about the bonds were committed by bond-sales people, not by the 67-year-old Keating.

Ito told the jury prospects that sorting it out during a long trial might take five days a week, with Friday afternoons off.

“That’s in the event you need to make doctors’ appointments or special shopping trips,” he said.

Security continued tight, with a metal detector outside the court and two bailiffs instead of the usual one inside.

The second bailiff was added in hopes of aborting any outburst like one that occurred on the first day of the trial last Friday when an elderly woman slugged a defense lawyer in the stomach and grabbed Keating by the lapels, accusing him of stealing her money.