The trial is expected to begin tomorrow and last between two and three weeks.

02:06 AM EST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006

BY RICHARD SALIT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- It was well into the day before Judge Ernest C. Torres came across a prospective juror that shared something in common with him.

When Torres asked whether the juror had ever watched Newport's Richard Hatch on the reality show Survivor, the Westerly man replied, "I've never seen the show."

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

Richard Hatch, right, arrives at U.S. District Court in Providence with one of his lawyers.

"I guess you and I are among the few with TV sets who didn't watch that show," Torres joked.

Jury selection for Hatch's tax evasion trial began yesterday in U.S. District Court and most potential jurors interviewed by Torres said they had watched episodes of the first season of CBS' Survivor in 2000. Even more said they had heard reports about the criminal charges lodged against him after he won the show.

Hatch claimed the show's $1-million prize, but prosecutors say he willfully avoided paying taxes on the winnings and other money he made when he returned home from the island of Borneo and began capitalizing on his newfound fame. Last September, Hatch was indicted on 10 counts of tax evasion, filing false income-tax returns, and mail, bank and wire fraud. The maximum sentence he could face is 30 years in prison and a $1-million fine.

Hatch arrived at the courthouse just moments before the proceedings were scheduled to begin. Waiting outside for him were reporters from a variety of Rhode Island media outlets and one from Inside Edition. He made no comment and hurried inside with his three lawyers and his sister, Kristen Hatch. He entered the courtroom wearing a dark jacket and pants and a white button-down shirt with no tie. (Later in the day, when the prospective jurors were not present, Torres admonished Hatch and his legal team for arriving late.)

"Hi everybody, I'm Richard Hatch," he said standing and waving when Torres asked him and each of the lawyers to introduce themselves to the pool of nearly 90 jurors.

Torres assured the jurors it was "a very interesting case" and summarized the charges from the indictments. The government, he explained, maintains that Hatch did not pay taxes on his Survivor winnings and other earnings, including a new car, and that he accepted donations for a charity he established but used the money for personal expenses.

"Mr. Hatch is accused of tax evasion and fraud. It [the trial] has been and will be subject to news reports because of Mr. Hatch's appearance in a TV series," he said, cautioning the jurors, who will not be sequestered, to ignore these reports.

Torres read the list of witnesses who might be called during the trial, which he said will begin tomorrow and probably conclude within two to three weeks. Among the names were Paul Crowley, apparently the longtime state legislator from Newport, and Christopher Behan, an assistant city solicitor and lawyer from Newport.

After a brief recess, Torres moved the proceedings to a smaller courtroom, where jurors were brought in individually to appear before the judge and the lawyers for both sides. Seated beside Hatch were Providence lawyer John E. MacDonald and Michael Minns, a nationally known criminal and tax lawyer from Houston, and one of his Texas associates. At another table sat Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lee Vilker and Andrew Reich.

Torres devoted much of his questioning of jurors to their impressions of Hatch from Survivor and their recollections of media reports about his legal problems. The judge also asked whether any had strong sentiments against the Internal Revenue Service and the federal income tax.

One juror said the show made her wonder about Hatch. About what kind of things? asked Torres.

"The way he dressed," replied a woman from Pawtucket.

Actually, it was the way Hatch, who is openly gay, did not dress. He competed in the nude in Survivor, requiring CBS to blur out parts of his body when he appeared on the show.

A self-employed Providence businessman who had watched the show figured that Hatch was quite intelligent, so intelligent that he was "perplexed" as to how Hatch could not have paid taxes on his earnings. Hatch "should know there is a tax consequence that needs to be addressed," he said. Torres excused him, concerned that he could not remain impartial.

Minns suggested during the questioning of jurors that Hatch would not be maintaining that the implicated tax returns were correct. He recommended at one point that Torres ask a woman juror, "Could she consider that someone can file an incorrect return?"

Minns also indicated that he planned to introduce evidence of Hatch's arrest, after returning from Borneo, on a charge that he abused his own 9-year-old son by pulling his ear and neck on an early morning jog. The Division of Children, Youth and Families placed the boy in foster care. The boy was later returned to Hatch and the criminal charge dropped.

When Torres sounded surprised that Minns wanted to introduce the arrest, Minns explained that the "events right before the filing of this return and after" will help defend Hatch's actions.

The selection of 12 jurors and 6 alternates was expected to conclude today.

rsalit@projo.com / (401) 277-7467