SAN DIEGO -- Attorneys for the San Diego Union-Tribune have asked the judge presiding over the Kristin Rossum trial for access to the jury questionnaire and witness list in the case.

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Prospective jurors -- about 150 of them -- last week filled out the questionnaires about the highly publicized case involving a former county toxicologist accused of fatally poisoning her husband.

On Friday, attorneys in the case told Superior Court Judge John Thompson that they oppose the release of a copy of the blank questionnaire.

A gag order prevents participants from commenting on the case.

The judge said he will bring back the potential jurors in groups of 25 beginning Wednesday, when they will be questioned by attorneys.

Opening statements in the trial -- which is expected to last up to four weeks -- are scheduled for next Tuesday.

Rossum, 25, is charged with murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder by poison in the Nov. 6, 2000, death of Gregory de Villers.

Prosecutors theorize that Rossum killed her 26-year-old spouse because he threatened to report her for methamphetamine use and an affair with her supervisor, Michael Robertson.

Rossum allegedly stole a powerful painkiller -- fentanyl -- from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office with the help of Robertson and administered the drug to her husband, prosecutors said.

Court papers filed by prosecutors describe Robertson -- who moved back to his native Australia after de Villers' death -- as "an unindicted co-conspirator."

Both Rossum and Robertson were fired from their jobs -- Rossum for methamphetamine use and Robertson for failing to tell his supervisors about his affair with the defendant.

Authorities first thought de Villers committed suicide, but Rossum -- his wife of 17 months -- was arrested in June 2001 and charged with murder.

Prosecutors said Rossum staged a suicide to resemble a scene in the film "American Beauty." Paramedics testified at a preliminary hearing last year that rose petals were found around the victim's body. De Villers also was clutching his wedding photo, witnesses testified.

The weekend he died, Rossum told de Villers that she was leaving him, according to court testimony.

Rossum's father, Ralph, said his son-in-law had been "spiraling down" for some time, spent weekends in bed and was depressed.

De Villers, who helped his wife kick her meth habit years earlier, detested drugs, prosecutors said.

In addition to fentanyl, the painkiller Oxycodone and the sedative Clonazepam were found in de Villers' system. No syringes or fentanyl patches were near his body.

Last January, Rossum was released on $1.25 million bail and returned to work as a part-time chemist for a former employer.

The television show "48 Hours" showed the defendant drinking champagne after her release from jail.

Thompson -- who routinely excludes cameras from his courtroom -- has also banned all still and video cameras from taking pictures of participants in the Rossum trial on the third floor of the county courthouse.