抖阴ap

DENVER-

Joe Nacchio’s attorneys argued Monday that the way a jury pool was selected for his multimillion dollar insider trading trial could have violated the former Qwest Communications CEO’s constitutional rights.

Defense attorney Herbert Stern also said his team has a right to complete questionnaires filled out by 1,000 juror prospects, not a version where personal information is omitted or replaced as was suggested by prosecutors.

The defense brief was filed as part of its motion seeking information on how U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham pared the jury pool from the 1,000 prospects who answered written questionnaires to 78 people who were called to court.

Defense attorneys want to see the questionnaire responses to determine whether Nacchio’s constitutional rights were violated, saying they need the information to prepare a motion seeking a new trial.

Nacchio was convicted April 19 of illegally selling $52 million in stock amid an accounting scandal at Qwest Communications International Inc., the primary telephone service provider in 14 mostly Western states.

His sentencing is scheduled July 27. Each count carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, but legal analysts have speculated he will get a prison term of eight to 10 years.

Nottingham ordered the questionnaire to be sent to potential jurors so those with a known bias—such as Qwest employees or shareholders—could be excluded. He did not share the jurors’ responses with attorneys and decided on his own whether to excuse any of the 1,000 prospects.

Prosecutors countered in a response filed last week that the law governing juries allows the inspection of lists, materials used by the court’s commission or clerk, but not juror questionnaires used by the trial judge.

They also asked Nottingham to remove personal juror information from the questionnaires if he decided to provide them to the defense.

Nacchio also is one of several former Qwest executives named in a pending lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing them of orchestrating a financial fraud at Qwest.