San Diego

Jury selection in the felony retrial of San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock could be completed today as attorneys begin using their final challenges to eliminate prospective jurors.

Ten potential jurors were excused from the case Monday, raising the total eliminated over seven days of hearings before Superior Court Judge William L. Todd Jr. to nearly 100. Most of those were excused due to personal hardships or because they conceded that they would enter the case leaning toward either acquittal or conviction.

However, with both Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Wickersham and defense attorney Oscar Goodman having only a handful of their 10 peremptory challenges remaining, the often tedious jury selection process almost certainly will conclude by midweek, and perhaps as early as this afternoon. Goodman has exercised six peremptory challenges--which can be used without specifying the reason for wanting a juror removed--and Wickersham five.

Goodman’s and Wickersham’s actions on Monday illustrated how attorneys use peremptory challenges to eliminate jurors who, because of their background or answers to questions, are viewed as unsympathetic to their side of the case.

For example, one of the potential jurors removed by Goodman, Mary Cendejas, earlier had revealed her confusion about the legal principle of presumption of a defendant’s innocence when she said that she believed that Hedgecock “would have to prove he’s innocent” in the trial. Similarly, Wickersham removed another panelist, Vincent Pablo, who said he would not vote to convict Hedgecock unless the mayor’s guilt were proved “beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

Expressing concern that Pablo was confusing the legal standard of “reasonable doubt” with “any . . . possible doubt,” Wickersham asked Todd to excuse Pablo “for cause.” The judge, however, rejected the prosecutor’s request, forcing Wickersham to exercise a peremptory challenge.

Hedgecock faces 15 felony conspiracy and perjury charges and a single misdemeanor conflict-of-interest count, most of which stem from alleged illegal campaign and personal financial aid the mayor received from J. David (Jerry) Dominelli and Nancy Hoover, who were principals in the now-bankrupt La Jolla investment firm of J. David & Co.

The mayor’s first trial ended in February in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction. A conviction on any of the felony counts likely would force Hedgecock from office.