RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — For a man on trial for murder, Daniel Pelosi smiles a lot.

The Long Island handyman was smiling when he surrendered to authorities this spring after a grand jury indicted him for the brutal October 2001 killing of his then-girlfriend's husband, millionaire investment banker Ted Ammon.

Pelosi, 41, was still smiling when he was escorted in handcuffs into a Suffolk County courtroom Wednesday for what was supposed to be the start of his highly publicized trial.

But Pelosi's ever-present smile finally left him when Assistant District Attorney Janet Albertson stood from the bench Wednesday and dropped a bombshell that caused even courtroom sketch artists working on noon broadcast deadlines to look up.

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The prosecutor informed the court that investigators have evidence that Pelosi threatened to have her children harmed, tried to tamper with the jury, and was trying in jail to recruit people to injure witnesses who would testify against him.

The allegations came as a surprise to the judge, enraged the defense and raised the possibility of a mistrial even before the start of testimony.

"Apparently this activity by the defendant has been ongoing, as recently as the last 48 hours," Albertson told state Supreme Court Judge Robert Doyle. "Apparently it is very significant."

Pelosi's lead lawyer, Gerald Shargel, jumped to his feet to deny the charges. He complained that the prosecution was trying to "engineer" a mistrial in order to gain more time to shore up what he called a "weak, circumstantial" prosecution.

"Every day, every way, these prosecutors are scouring the jails, scouring for witnesses," Shargel complained bitterly to the court. "These prosecutors engineered what happened today. They staged it."

Noting that the parties to the case were in court Tuesday on pretrial matters and met again with the judge early Wednesday, Shargel said it was obvious that Albertson never mentioned new evidence because she wanted to make a splash.

"How can I get a fair trial now that she spread this in the record with the national press?" Shargel said. "This is ridiculous."

Albertson told the judge that she has not seen any of the evidence firsthand, but has been told by her staff that the prosecutor's office has "hours and hours" of recordings in which Pelosi implicated himself in a conspiracy to intimidate witnesses and influence the jury, which is comprised of mostly middle-aged women.

Jurors were told to return to court Oct. 4 for opening statements. They were not told why the trial start date was postponed.

"I have been doing this for 35 years and I thought I saw everything," Shargel told reporters later. "This is a bizarre situation."

The defense attorney, whose past clients have included mob boss John Gotti, said detectives have been spending a lot of time at the Suffolk County Jail trying to get other inmates to betray Pelosi, currently the jail's most famous prisoner.

"They have literally offered 'get out of jail free' tickets to anyone who can offer evidence against Daniel Pelosi," Shargel said. "Allegations are easy to make. I don't see any charges."

Albertson said that the investigation into Pelosi's alleged activities in jail is in its infancy and could lead to a new indictment or provide fodder for cross-examination if he testifies.

Pelosi, who often calls favored reporters collect from jail, claims he was either at his sister's home or on his way there when someone entered Ammon's mansion in East Hampton and killed him. Prosecutors claim Pelosi disabled a hidden security camera that he had installed without Ammon's knowledge and used a stun gun and blunt object of some kind to kill him. Pelosi married Ammon's widow, Generosa, three months later.

Acknowledging that there is the potential for a mistrial, Albertson said she has an obligation to bring the new evidence to the attention of the court and the defense. She added that she did not "engineer" alleged threats made against her children but is forced to respond to them.

Asked by a local TV reporter about the threats, Albertson said, "How would you feel? Obviously I'm not happy about [them]. It's part of the job."

The trial, which is expected to last a month to six weeks if it proceeds, drew a large media contingent Wednesday.

Ted Ammon, a philanthropist and chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, was reportedly worth $100 million. His widow gave Pelosi $2 million in a postnuptial agreement shortly before she died of cancer in 2002.