Defense wants to call Mexican cardinal as witness.

Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of Hardrick Crawford, former special agent in charge of the FBI's El Paso office, who is accused of lying to investigators looking into his friendship with Juarez racetrack owner Jose Maria Guardia, the El Paso Times reported on its Web site.

Crawford, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is alleged to have embarked on a dangerous friendship with Guardia, just days after Guardia became an FBI informant in February 2002, socializing with and accepting gifts and favors from a man Mexican authorities accuse of drug trafficking, the Times reported.

The federal indictment, which the judge said reads like a novel, alleges that Crawford got gifts from Guardia, including trips to Las Vegas and Mexico City, a country club membership, weekly lawn service at his El Paso home and a $5,000-a-month job for his wife in return for helping Guardia with visa difficulties and vouching for the businessman with U.S. investors and suppliers, the Times said.

In May 2003, Crawford stepped into a political minefield in Mexico when he appeared to support Guardia and Juan Cardinal Sandoval Iniguez, the archbishop of Guadalajara, after a former Mexican government official accused both Guardia and Cardinal Sandoval of ties to drug cartels, the Times reported.

Crawford gave a news conference at Guardia's Juarez racetrack on May 27, 2003, in which he said he knew of no negative information about Guardia's activities, but the U.S. Attorney's Office said Crawford already had been briefed several times about Guardia's possible involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering, the Times said.

Crawford's defense attorney Mary Stillinger said she wanted to call Cardinal Sandoval, who is a friend of Guardia, to tell jurors about the political context of the accusations against her client, according to the Times.

The Cardinal would explain to jurors how unfounded the accusations against him were, Stillinger said.

But Cardinal Sandoval has said he will be unavailable to testify during the month of August, but Stillinger -- who is unable to subpoena Mexican nationals to testify -- said she is still confident the Cardinal will appear as a witness, the Times reported.

Guardia, however, is not likely to testify at Crawford's trial, Stillinger told reporters.

The 73-year-old Cardinal Sandoval, one of two Mexican prelates to be mentioned as long-shot candidates to succeed the late Pope John Paul II, has had a long-running battle with Mexican authorities ever since he succeeded Juan Jesus Cardinal Posadas Ocampo as archbishop of Guadalajara when his predecessor was assassinated by gunmen in 1993.

Cardinal Posadas Ocampo was killed along with six other people in the parking lot of the Guadalajara International Airport on May 24, 1993, and his successor has been embroiled with the government over the killing, which the government has described as accidental.

The outspoken cardinal has hammered away at Mexican authorities, claiming Posadas Ocampo was killed because he knew about contacts between drug-traffickers and high-level politicians, and further criticizing political corruption and election fraud, according to a 2005 online article from the Catholic News Service.

There was a short-lived investigation of Cardinal Sandoval on money-laundering charges that was dismissed for lack of evidence, the CNS article said.