"Ladies and gentlemen, do you want to know what this case is about?" asked defense attorney Philip Friedman. "It's a witch hunt. Pure and simple. It's a witch hunt."

Led, he continued, by "a vicious, jilted woman."

That was his introduction to the six men and six women who will decide if former state Superior Court Judge Michael T. Joyce committed mail fraud and money laundering when he submitted claims totalling more than $400,000 to two insurance companies.

Mr. Friedman gave his opening statement this afternoon, following the statement made by the prosecution this morning in federal court in Pittsburgh.

The government painted Mr. Joyce as a man desperate for money when, a prosecutor said, he filed false insurance claims for a minor fender bender in August 2001.

At the time he submitted the claims in the summer of 2002, Mr. Joyce had just broken up with his fiancee and owed her approximately $40,000 related to property they owned together, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said in his opening statement.

After the breakup, he continued, Mr. Joyce lived for months in a room adjacent to his Superior Court chambers. When the building's landlord said he couldn't do that, they negotiated rent of $100 per month.

Mr. Trabold said the insurance claims were false and that the judge made up a "scheme created in greed, out of his desire and need for more money."

According to the prosecution, Mr. Joyce was rear-ended at less than 5 mph on Aug. 10, 2001. No police or paramedics were called, and Mr. Joyce did not tell the other driver he was injured, Mr. Trabold said.

But in September 2002, Mr. Joyce filed a $50,000 claim with the other driver's insurance company, and then a $390,000 claim with his own company.

In his claim with his company, Erie Insurance Group, Mr. Joyce said the accident had left him in great pain and unable to golf, scuba dive or perform his job well.

However, Mr. Trabold told the jury that he will present evidence showing that Mr. Joyce continued to golf in Florida and Jamaica, and applied for and received his scuba instructor's license.

During the same period, Mr. Joyce applied for his pilot's license with the Federal Aviation Administration and flew approximately 50 times, the prosecutor said.

But Mr. Friedman said whether his client went scuba diving, golfing or even flying isn't relevant to the case.

"We don't dispute any of that," the attorney said. "He's never taken a position that he was totally debilitated."

The two insurance companies negotiated settlements, and the claims were closed, he said. But then, Mr. Joyce's ex-fiance, Shelane Buehler, went to the government, Mr. Friedman said.

Mr. Friedman called Ms. Buehler, who is a well-known architect in Erie, "the architect from hell." She is expected to testify during the trial.

The case before Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill was moved to Pittsburgh from Erie because of extensive publicity. The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.