Jury Chosen for Trial of Rapper : Courts: Simpson overtones fill a week of tedious questioning, but an ‘O.J.-neutral’ panel is selected in Snoop Doggy Dogg murder case.

Lawyers in the Snoop Doggy Dogg murder case agreed on a 12-member jury Monday after a week of tedious questioning that reflected how deeply the O.J. Simpson trial has resonated through the legal process.

Dozens of prospective jurors in the case were asked repeatedly--first on a lengthy questionnaire, then in court--about their feelings on the Simpson trial, the Los Angeles Police Department and the criminal justice system.

Anyone who displayed strong opinions on the case was promptly excused, from those who said that they believed that rich defendants could “buy justice” to those who questioned the integrity of the Los Angeles Police Department’s handling of the Simpson case.

Left standing was what prosecutors described as an “O.J.-neutral” jury of six blacks, four whites and two Latinos.

The Snoop Doggy Dogg case is filled with Simpson overtones because it involves a famous and wealthy African American defendant whose lawyers have already pledged to call into question the competency of the LAPD’s handling of evidence.

Both sides said the similarities gave them the opportunity to probe deeply into racial and social attitudes that are often hidden in criminal trials.

“Simpson gave us an opportunity to ask some questions that normally would not come up in a voir dire,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace, one of two co-prosecutors. “It really gets to the heart about how people feel about the criminal justice system.”

One prospective panelist was rejected by defense attorneys after announcing in court that in the wake of the Simpson verdict he thought all jurors should be given IQ tests.

Another was dismissed at the request of the prosecution after writing in his 141-item questionnaire that the police “play with words” and “don’t say what they mean.” He also said that after watching the Simpson trial, he believed the prosecutors and defense attorneys would try to “win at all costs.”

The lesson, said defense attorney Donald Re, who is defending Snoop Doggy Dogg’s former bodyguard in the murder case, is that “the Simpson case is part of our legal landscape now. It’s something we have to take into account. . . . People have bad feelings about prosecutors, defense attorneys, jury selection.”

After the extensive screening, eight men and four women were selected from a pool of 74 potential panelists. Four alternate panelists also were picked.

The jurors will decide the fate of the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and former bodyguard McKinley Lee. The two men are accused of murder in the Aug. 25, 1993, shooting death of Philip Woldemariam, 20, in a West Los Angeles park.

Prosecutors believe that Lee, 25, pulled the trigger in what authorities contend was a gang-related drive-by shooting, with Broadus, 24, at the wheel of his Jeep. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, say that the shooting was in self-defense. Both men are free on bail.

When the potential jurors first showed up for jury selection, Simpson attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. was part of the defense team, representing Sean Abrams, 25, who was riding with Broadus and Lee when Woldemariam was killed. But after the district attorney’s office decided to drop charges against Abrams, Cochran was off the case.

The trial is set to get under way with opening statements next week. It is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Members of the jury range from an airline ticketing agent to a college dormitory manager to a retired county health administrator. All indicated in court that they could be unbiased. However, they were not without opinions on the Simpson case.

One of them, when quizzed about observations she had written in her questionnaire, told the lawyers she didn’t understand why there was so much infighting among attorneys in the Simpson case. When asked about the prosecution’s performance, she said she thought “Marcia Clark was weak.”

Co-prosecutors Grace and Ed Nison said later that they chose to keep the woman on the panel because they took her comments to mean that she believed Simpson was guilty, but that prosecutors had failed to prove it.

The juror won approval from the defense team after she told the judge that she was a member of the National Rifle Assn. and owned two guns. Issues of self-defense and gun use were common themes in the defense’s questioning of potential panelists.

In addition to being asked about their views on Simpson, jurors also were quizzed about their opinions on rap music and their knowledge of Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose 1993 hit album “Doggystyle” sold about 4 million copies in the United States.

Many of the potential panelists had scant knowledge of rap music.

“I didn’t even know who Snoop was until someone pointed him out to me,” one woman said. Some potential jurors said they hated the rapper’s music, although a few admitted under questioning from defense attorney David Kenner that they had never really listened to it. Some were kept as jurors despite their distaste or ignorance.

One woman told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul G. Flynn that she had studied up on rap music after being called as a possible juror.

“I listened to it, read a book on it and read two magazine articles,” the woman announced in court.

“Well?” Flynn asked.

“I still hate it,” she said. In fact, she continued, “I don’t think I could be fair and objective in this case.”

She was excused.

As the attorneys and the judge gingerly prodded the potential jurors for their opinions, the tall, lanky Snoop looked away, showing little motion.

Like the Simpson trial, a large effort went into the jury selection process, with the defense bringing in a consultant to help it pick the panel. Before jury selection started last week, lawyers spent hours haggling over the wording of the 141 questions on the jury handout.