Anchorage Daily News

FAIRBANKS -- A jury has been selected in the federal trial of former Fairbanks Mayor Jim Hayes, who is accused of taking part in misusing federal funds.

Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks.

Federal Judge John Sedwick administered the oath to the 12-member jury on Friday after a screening process that lasted two days.

According to prosecutors, Hayes and his wife, Murilda "Chris" Hayes, illegally steered almost a half-million dollars away from LOVE Social Services -- a nonprofit the couple helped found -- and toward personal purchases and the couple's Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ in South Fairbanks.

The money stemmed from federal earmarks intended to serve disadvantaged children.

The former three-term mayor faces federal charges of money laundering and other alleged financial crimes. His wife pleaded guilty in December to two felony charges of theft and money laundering.

The jury screening touched on the political climate in Alaska, where a number of lawmakers are being investigated for, or have been found guilty of, corruption in cases unrelated to the Hayes' case.

At times, Sedwick and attorneys also tried to gauge whether attitudes toward Hayes' race -- he was the city's first and only black mayor -- could affect the trial.

The 28 charges against Hayes cover a period from 2001 the year after the couple founded LOVE Social Services -- through 2005. The nonprofit was started with a $1 million earmark from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It later received nearly $2 million more in grants.

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