Jury selection began today in the retrial of David Safavian, the Jack Abramoff crony who served as the top procurement official in the Bush White House.
Safavian was convicted in 2006 of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about his work with Abramoff, as well as concealing information about a golf junket he took to St. Andrews, Scotland with Abramoff and convicted former GOP congressman Bob Ney, among others. But that conviction was thrown out on appeal. He was then re-indicted in October, on charges of obstructing justice, lying on a financial disclosure form and providing false statements to various investigators.
The Washington Post reports that, in addition to the standard questions, the judge in the trial today asked potential jurors whether they played any golf. It’s unclear whether that would increase or decrease their chances of being picked.
Regular readers may remember that Safavian’s alleged love of golf was a major focus of the original trial.
