King Case Judge Limits Access to Jury Data : Trial: Reporters will see only parts of questionnaires dealing with pretrial publicity. Three media organizations had sought the release of the complete documents.

The judge in the trial of four police officers accused in the beating of Rodney G. King ordered Tuesday that only portions of lengthy jury questionnaires be made available for public inspection.

Judge Stanley M. Weisberg, attempting to balance the officers’ rights to a fair trial with the public’s right to know how the highly controversial case proceeds, agreed to allow only limited media access to the 41-page questionnaires as formal jury examination begins today.

While prosecutors and defense attorneys argued that the jury questionnaires should be kept sealed, attorneys for three media organizations--the Associated Press, the Daily News and the Copley News Service--urged the judge to release copies of the questionnaires as each of the potential jurors are quizzed in open court.

But Weisberg, declaring that the right of the parties to a fair trial is paramount, decided to allow reporters to review only those portions of the questionnaires that deal with pretrial publicity.

Almost 500 jury pool members were summoned earlier this month to the Ventura County Courthouse. The judge, attorneys and prosecutors are scheduled to formally begin evaluating prospective jurors today.

The case evolves from the March 3 beating of King in Lake View Terrace. Two Los Angeles police officers, a sergeant and a fired officer are charged with felony assault in the incident, which raised a national furor over allegations of police abuse and has led to proposed reforms within the Los Angeles Police Department.

Since the jury selection process began, contentions have arisen that the NAACP, which plans to monitor the trial daily, has attempted to improperly influence the jury panel.

With that in mind, prosecutors and defense attorneys said Tuesday that full disclosure of the jury questionnaires could lead to more concerns about jury tampering if the media and the public were given access to all of the personal information contained in the questionnaires.

“There are very sensitive answers given on these questionnaires, which have to do with the most intimate secrets of these people’s lives,” argued John Barnett, the attorney for Officer Theodore J. Briseno.

Although the questionnaires ask the jury pool members to identify their attitudes toward the police, and state whether they have ever been contacted by police or victimized, the attorney for the Associated Press argued that two California state appellate court cases set precedent for the full release of the questionnaires.