PROVIDENCE — After more than four years, a federal court case, and a flawed pretrial disclosure process, jury selection began yesterday in the trial of the seven Narragansett Indians accused of resisting and fighting with state police raiding a tribal smoke shop.

A total of 114 people were called to Providence County Superior Court yesterday as prospective jurors in the high-profile case. About half worried the expected month-long trial would demand too much time away from jobs and family.

Judge Susan E. McGuirl questioned each person as she tried to winnow the jury pool with prosecutors and defense lawyers. She released 34 people after concluding that the trial would pose a financial hardship for them.

Employers are not required to pay workers serving jury duty. The state gives jurors $15 a day, said Craig N. Berke, court spokesman.

Another nine potential jurors will be interviewed today about other possible concerns, namely knowing any of the 60 witnesses expected to testify. The state’s list includes many of the 50 or so state troopers who executed the search warrant on the roadside smoke shop July 14, 2003, to stop the tribe from selling cigarettes without charging Rhode Island taxes.

Defense lawyers intend to call Narragansetts and customers who were at the shop the day of the raid, as well as TV news reporters Sean Daley of Channel 12 (WPRI), Jim Hummel of Channel 6 (WLNE), and Bill Rappleye of Channel 10 (WJAR). Retired state police Supt. Steven M. Pare, Charlestown Police Chief Thomas Sharkey, David Thomas, of the state Division of Taxation, and Claire Richards, Governor Carcieri’s former deputy legal counsel, are also named as defense witnesses.

A moment of levity came yesterday when McGuirl asked if any of the prospective jurors had seen or read anything about the case. Almost everybody raised their hands.

The raid, ordered by Governor Carcieri, turned into a violent confrontation. Seven Narragansetts, including Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, face misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest, assault, disorderly conduct and obstruction. Six of the defendants attended yesterday’s jury selection. Tribal Councilman John Brown was not there because he was being treated at Westerly Hospital for an unspecified condition.

The criminal cases were on hold for more than three years as federal courts decided what jurisdiction the state has over the tribe’s 1,800 acres in Charlestown. The attorney general’s office resumed prosecution in fall 2006 after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that the state can enforce its laws on the Narragansetts’ settlement lands.

The trial date has been postponed several times since, and attempts to reach plea agreements have failed. The state Supreme Court last fall even took the unprecedented step of trying to mediate a resolution.

Most recently the trial was delayed last month to hear defense lawyers’ concerns that the state violated pretrial discovery rules by releasing hundreds of pages of documents only after being subpoenaed. McGuirl denied defense lawyers’ request that a forensic investigator be appointed to try to retrieve potentially deleted e-mails from state police computers and that the charges be dismissed.

Tribal members sought another stay Friday in asking the state Supreme Court to review McGuirl’s decision. Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, acting as the duty justice hearing emergency matters before the court, denied the request shortly after it was filed.

The full court will consider in conference Thursday the tribal members’ arguments that they cannot get a fair trial in light of the potentially missing evidence.

kmulvane@projo.com