2,000 Jury Notices Sent for King Case : Courts: About 500 potential jurors are expected to show up for proceedings. It would be one of largest pools ever assembled in state.

Two thousand notices were mailed Friday to prospective jurors in the Ventura County trial of four Los Angeles police officers charged with the beating of motorist Rodney G. King.

About 500 potential jurors are expected to show up at the East County Courthouse on Feb. 5 and 6 for jury selection, said Betty Kane, manager of the county’s jury services. Officials said it would be one of the largest jury selection pools ever assembled in California.

“That sounds like a record to me,” said Terry L. White, the prosecutor in the King case, who said he has never heard of so many jury notices being sent out in his eight years as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said about 500 jury notices were sent out for the highly publicized McMartin and Night Stalker trials.

Los Angeles County court records also show that the 12-person jury in the Charles Manson murder trial was drawn from a panel of 141 people. The jury in the John DeLorean trial was selected from a panel of about 300, according to DeLorean’s attorney, Howard L. Weitzman.

Kane said the large number of jury notices--apparently a Ventura County record--was sent out for the King case because, unlike Los Angeles, the county does not screen juror candidates. In Los Angeles County, she said, potential jurors are sent questionnaires to determine if they are qualified to sit on a jury before they are sent an official summons.

Of the 2,000 summoned in Ventura County for the case, 1,500 are likely no-shows, but most will have a valid excuse, Kane said. She also pointed out that this is the first time county officials have summoned jurors for a particular case. She said the county usually issues about 4,000 jury notices a week to recruit qualified jurors for any trial taking place on a given day.

She said the names of potential jurors are selected from Department of Motor Vehicle records and voter registration records.

To qualify to sit on a jury, a person must be over 18 years of age and a resident of the county. The juror must also be proficient in English and have no criminal record.

Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Theodore J. Briseno, Laurence M. Powell and Timothy E. Wind are charged with felony assault in the beating of King last March.

White said the trial is expected to begin March 4.

Times staff writer Gary Gorman contributed to this story.