LAWRENCE, Mass. — Jury selection in the murder trial of cross-dressing dermatologist Richard Sharpe was briefly halted Wednesday morning after the defendant alleged jail guards had assaulted him.

A jail official ridiculed Sharpe's account and an emergency room physician dismissed his claim of serious injury, but the charge forced Judge Christine McEvoy to delay selection for several hours while Sharpe was evaluated at a local hospital. When court resumed session, three more jurors were seated.

The final two panelists are to be chosen Thursday morning with the entire jury to visit key sites in the case in the afternoon. Opening statements will begin late Thursday or Friday.

Sharpe, 47, admits shooting his estranged wife in July 2000, but claims he was insane at the time. Prior to her death, Karen Sharpe, the 44-year-old mother of his three children, filed court papers alleging the millionaire doctor was abusive, drug-addicted and frequently dressed in drag.

As court was to begin Wednesday, an attorney for Sharpe told the judge guards at the Middleton jail had attacked him the previous night and Sharpe believed he had suffered a concussion and other injuries.

"He was grabbed by his cuffs, slammed against the wall. His head struck the wall," said Joseph Balliro, Sr. as his client, shackled at his hands and feet and dressed in a day-glow orange jump suit instead of his usual court attire of a shirt and tie, looked on. "He has had no sleep. He is in pain and his unable to concentrate."

He added, "I am not sure that he is competent to proceed."

The prosecution and a jail official hotly disputed Sharpe's account.

"Nothing happened last night and the defendant just refused to come to court this morning, refused to get dressed," said Weiner.

Paul Fleming, a spokesman for the Essex County Sheriff's Office, said it was Sharpe, angry about his foot shackles, who was the aggressor Tuesday night.

"Inmate Sharpe pushed an intake officer. The intake officer turned him around, put him against a wall, handcuffed him and walked him into our administrative segregation unit," said Fleming.

He said Sharpe never complained of injuries, nor requested medical attention.

McEvoy sent Sharpe in an ambulance to Lawrence General Hospital where Dr. Patrick Curran examined him. Curran later told the judge Sharpe had a contusion on his head and pain in his wrist, but described the injuries as minor.

"I did not find anything that would restrict his activity," Curran told McEvoy, adding that CAT scans showed no traumatic injuries.

After the doctor testified, Sharpe was lead from the courtroom to change into dress clothes. As he exited, he swore at a jail officer sitting near the door.

Several potential jurors were dismissed Wednesday afternoon after they said they might be biased against him because he was a cross-dresser.

"I just find it sort of uncomfortable, and awkward," one man in his 30s said, shifting in the witness chair.

In divorce documents, Karen Sharpe charged that he frequently took her birth control pills to grow breasts. The couple's grown daughter has alleged he stole and wore her underwear. Prosecutors say the successful businessman and one-time Harvard instructor was furious that his wife was leaving him, but the defense contends he is not criminally responsible because of mental problems.