The federal bribery trial of former V.I. senator John Tutein got off to a slow start Monday as lawyers picked through more than 100 potential jury members.
After about eight hours of questioning 112 potential jurists — a process from which the media was barred — Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Gomez and defense lawyer Treston Moore agreed to 13 woman and three men to decide the fate of Tutein, a vice president of Innovative Communication Corp. Told later that the media wasn't offered access into the crowed courtroom, District Court Judge Thomas K. Moore said he wasn't made aware of the situation.
Earlier in the day, Moore denied a motion made by the defense to move the trial to St. Croix, saying that the St. Thomas court had jurisdiction in the case.
Tutein is charged with attempting to bribe Sen. Allie-Allison Petrus to win his support for the so-called "Prosser deal." Under that proposed agreement — approved by the Legislature but vetoed by the governor –Prosser would have given the government 1,000 acres of land at Carambola on St. Croix and would have built several public projects in exchange for 30 years of tax breaks for 10 of his companies.
The defense's witness list for the trial includes former Gov. Roy Schneider, Sens. Vargrave Richards, Lorraine Berry, Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, St. Croix Realtor Carl Christopher, Carambola owner George Jacobus, Tutein's wife, attorney Douglas Canton Jr., Delroy Richards and Dierdre Carver.
The prosecution's list includes Petrus, Lorraine Harley Schuster, Paulette Rabsatt, Sam James, Ira Mills of the Office of Management and Budget, Leon Teske, Rachel Celestin, Cecilia Knoop, Orlando Felix, Rudolph Krigger Sr., Gwen Donovan and Michael Cumbermack, chief financial officer of ICC.
The trial is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday on St. Thomas.
