PROVIDENCE — Former Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster’s trial on bribery and conspiracy charges will begin Monday, after lawyers for the state and the defendant agreed on the makeup of the jury yesterday afternoon.

Assistant Attorney General William Ferland and defense lawyer C. Leonard O’Brien culled 15 potential jurors, including at least three Lincoln residents, yesterday in Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia’s court.

The 12-woman, 4-man panel — 12 jurors and 4 alternates — was ordered to ignore news accounts and not discuss the case with anyone.

Lawyers for both sides had been questioning jurors since Thursday. Both sides pressed potential jurors for their ability to remain neutral. Ferland occasionally inquired if they were fans of police procedural television shows such as CSI and Law & Order and gently reminded them that this would be real life, not a colorful dramatization.

For his part, O’Brien often asked if the fact that a defendant didn’t testify in his own behalf would affect their opinion of the defense’s case.

Oster is facing two counts of bribery and two counts of conspiracy dating to his 2000-2002 tenure in office.

The case was delayed for several years while disputes over evidence, some of it gathered for the first time under the state’s wiretapping laws, were appealed to the state Supreme Court.

That appeal, and others on the procedures that would be used to manage the trial, resulted in many of the tapes being thrown out because they were not stored in accordance with state law and the judge’s orders.

jhill@projo.com