JURY SELECTION BEGINS IN CAPITAL CASE

Curious onlookers yesterday were banned from the sixth floor of the E.
Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, where 250 D.C. residents lined up and
jury selection began for the city's first death-penalty case to go to trial
in 30 years.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth had 60-page questionnaires prepared
for the prospective jurors, 12 of whom will decide if Tommy Edelin, 32, led
the One-Five Crew drug ring and ordered the murders of 15 persons
interfering or competing in his drug empire in Southeast.

Tight security is being imposed because of the One-Five Crew's notorious
reputation. The indictment, for instance, charges Mr. Edelin with trying to
arrange the murder of his father, Earl Edelin, 50, because the son
suspected him of cooperating with police.

Although he alone is facing the possibility of the death penalty, Mr.
Edelin, also known as Tommy McEachin, is on trial with his father and four
others, accused of 103 crimes ranging from conspiracy to murder.

Also on trial are Bryan Bostick, Henry Johnson, Shelton Marbury, and Marwin
Mosley.

The One-Five Crew was identified as one of the most pervasive drug
operations in the District in January 1999, when more than 250 city police
officers and FBI agents raided 20 residences in Oxon Hill and the Stanton
Dwellings housing complex near 15th Place SE - where the One-Five Crew got
its name.

Each prospective juror is to be questioned individually, and even the
prosecutors and defense attorneys will not learn their names. If 12 jurors
and six alternates are not selected from the 250, about 500 other residents
will be called.

The selection process is expected to take three or four weeks. The trial is
expected to last as long as 18 weeks, until the end of July.

If Mr. Edelin is found guilty, the jury then would begin a second phase to
decide if he should be executed.

Executions have been prohibited under D.C. law since 1992, but executions
are now allowed under federal law.

The city's last death-penalty trial was held in 1972, when Anthony "Tony"
Lee was convicted of murder. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the
death penalty saved Lee's life.

Robert E. Carter was executed in 1957 for killing a D.C. police officer.

Mr. Edelin has maintained that he is innocent, claiming he changed his life
style from crime to becoming a musician, operating a recording studio and
organizing neighborhood social gatherings.

But the indictments say he led an "enterprise" that began in 1985 to obtain
and distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana. The dealings,
killings and attempted killings occurred mainly in the District, but
evidence and witnesses will testify about illegalities in Suitland, Oxon
Hill, Forestville, Clinton and Waldorf, Md.

Even after he was jailed, Mr. Edelin is accused of trying to arrange the
murders of potential witnesses.

Judge Lamberth has ruled that the defendants will wear "stun belts" beneath
their clothing. U.S. marshals can press electronic buttons that would stun
the defendants if they disrupt the court.

The indictments state that the death penalty is appropriate because Mr.
Edelin has a "long-term pattern of violent criminal conduct," continually
tried to obstruct justice, threatened and had witnesses killed, was a
leader in planning and encouraging others to take up crime, "demonstrated
low rehabilitative potential" and has a "lack of remorse for his criminal
activities."