Can a former chief executive -- especially one who made $232 million running a home-building company in the three years before the industry melted down -- get a fair shake from jurors on charges of defrauding investors?

Attorneys for former KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz told a Los Angeles federal judge Monday that bias against corporate bosses runs deep, and took the extraordinary step of hiring a polling firm to prove its point. The Hart Research Associates poll showed that top executives are even more disliked than politicians.

Karatz, 64, was charged in March with 20 federal counts of fraud and making misleading statements. He is accused of manipulating stock option grants for himself and others at KB Home for a more favorable price and then hiding those changes from the company's board, shareholders and regulators. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

U.S. District Judge Otis Wright brushed aside the opinion survey, which he said was conducted in an "inherently biased" way. But he will grant defense requests for special screening of the jury pool, including lengthy questionnaires and having some prospective jurors answer questions out of the presence of other prospects.

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