LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26 – Jury selection began Wednesday in the perjury trial of Vincent T. Bugliosi, successful prosecutor in the 1970 Charles Manson murder trial and unsuccessful candidate for district Attorney and attorney general.

Los Angeles Superior Judge Earl C. Broady, during a closed session in his chambers, severed Bugliosi’s trial from that of Daye Shinn, a Manson trial defense lawyer. Shinn will be tried by a separate jury in Broady’s court immediately after a Bugliosi verdict.

Both lawyers were indicted June 28 for allegedly lying under oath twice before Superior Judge Charles H. Older and once before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury in denying they gave newsmen William Farr transcripts of a statement by Manson trial witness Virginia Graham.

All six trial lawyers were under a court gag order at the time, and Older originally sought the sources’ identity to bring possible misdemeanor contempt charges against them. (The statute of limitations has expired and that can no longer be done.)

“There was a lot of evidence in Bugliosi’s defense that would have been prejudicial to Shinn. They couldn’t have a fair trial if tried together,” said Bugliosi’s lawyer, Harland Braun, explaining why he and Shinn’s attorney, Robert Kirste, sought the severance.

Special prosecutor Theodore P. Shield said he had not opposed the move for separate trials.

Braun failed, however, in an in-chambers attempt to have Broady sequester the jury to prevent them from reading or hearing any publicity during the trial.

In his opening remarks to the first 50-member panel of prospective jurors, Broady warned them only that the Bugliosi trial will last about two weeks.

Braun and Shield said Broady also overruled an in-chambers maneuver by Braun to conduct a pretrial hearing concerning the testimony of Farr before the jury was drawn.

Braun said he asked for the unusual hearing to save taxpayers $5,000 a day in choosing a jury that might not have a case to hear.

Braun’s position is that Bugliosi is innocent because he never gave Farr a transcript.

But he also maintains that the case should be dismissed if Farr refuses to testify that he obtained transcripts from two of the six trial attorneys. That statement by Farr before Older touched off the perjury investigation after all six lawyers denied under oath that they gave him a transcript.
Farr did not make the two-of-six statement before the grand jury. Questioned by Shield, he did verify a transcript of his testimony in the Older hearing.

Farr has been subpoenaed to testify at the Bugliosi trial, but Shield said Wednesday he did not expect to call the reporter as his initial witness.

Farr checked in with Broady’s court Wednesday and was to be telephoned when Shield wanted him to appear.

The reporter has consistently refused to identify the two sources of the transcripts on which he based an Oct. 9, 1970, story for the Herald-Examiner about Manson “family” plans to murder Frank Sinatra and other celebrities. Farr covered the Manson case for that paper and is now a Times reporter.

He spent 46 days in jail and faces another five-day sentence by Older for contempt. Farr has based his silence on a newsman’s privilege to protect the identity of his sources.

If he refuses to answer questions in the Bugliosi trial, Farr could be headed for another round of contempt citations.

Jury selection in the Bugliosi trial was delayed for a three-hour lunch hour and two additional in-chambers conferences Wednesday while Shield proved he had a right to prosecute the case.

Braun refused to acknowledge that Shield had been named special prosecutor until Shield showed Broady his letter of appointment from Atty. Gen. Evelle J. Younger.

By MYRNA OLIVER