Federal prosecutors hope to get two verdicts for the price of one in a murder trial scheduled for this week in U.S. District Court.

For the first time in the six-state 10th Judicial District, two juries - one for each defendant - will be empaneled in the same courtroom to hear a case.The two 12-member panels will hear evidence against Curtis Benally and Dennis Hatatley, two Navajo men accused in the beating death of third tribal member, Kee Smith, last December on the Navajo Indian Reservation, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schwen-di-man.

Schwendiman said calling two juries is certainly economical but also practical from a prosecutor's standpoint. It prevents the government from having to subpoena witnesses, or put victims through the trauma of a trial twice.

It also lessens the chance of a witness changing a story, which sometimes happens when two trials have to be held.

Defense attorneys for Hatatley and Benally protested the move, saying it could violate their clients' Sixth Amendment rights to confront their accusers. U.S. District Court Judge David Sam overruled their opposition.

The practice has been used in at least four other U.S. judicial districts, according to court docu-ments.

The men were indicted after witnesses said they beat Smith and dragged him from a drinking party the night of Dec. 15. Smith's battered corpse was found in a wash near Desert Creek near the San Juan River the next day.

Both Benally and Hatatley gave extensive statements to investigators, each essentially blaming the other for Smith's death.

A problem facing prosecutors is how they use those statements. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it is a violation of the Sixth Amendment to introduce at a joint, single-jury trial the statement of one defendant that names the other as a participant in the crime.

The reason is that, if the first defendant doesn't take the witness stand, the second defendant is never given a chance to challenge or refute the condemning statement.

In the past, that problem was generally overcome by holding two trials or redacting all references of the co-defendant out of the statement.

But federal prosecutors and judges have come up with a third alternative: one trial, with a jury assigned to each defendant.

That's what will happen in Sam's courtroom Monday morning. The judge has outlined specific procedures aimed making sure evidence presented to one panel does not prejudice the other.

Sam said the juries will be selected from separate pools and will be prohibited from speaking to one another. They will be brought in at separate times to hear preliminary instructions and opening statements. Each will have its own U.S. Marshal to shepherd them.

When evidence pertaining to just one of the defendants is being presented, the other jury will be sent out of the courtroom. Otherwise, they will both hear, from boxes on either side of the room, testimony and cross-examination.

Schwendiman said the trial will be held in the downtown federal courthouse's largest courtroom, usually occupied Chief Judge Bruce Jenkins.

The juries will deliberate in separate rooms and each will receive its own copy of reports and photographs introduced at trial. Sam said any evidence that can't be duplicated will be placed in a common, private room or will be rotated between the two panels.