The trial of Coleman P. Harrison '74, one of the three Harvard students arrested last May in a demonstration sponsored by SDS and PLP to protest cutbacks in the Massachusetts Medicaid program, began yesterday in the Superior Court of Massachusetts.

The state brought charges of assault and armed robbery against Harrison who allegedly demanded that a policeman surrender his gun at knifepoint and then wounded him in the hand during the protest.

Harrison said that his main defense is a film made by WBZ T.V. that he said shows that he was nowhere near the injured policeman. If convicted, Harrison could receive a life sentence.

William P. Homans Jr., '41 attorney for the defense, requested yesterday that potential jurors be asked a series of approximately 17 questions to determine their objectivity in the case. Homans suggested that the jurors be asked whether they have any feelings of hostility against those who engage in peaceful protest, if they are more likely to believe a policeman purely because he is a policeman and if they have any feelings of hostility against the welfare system or its recipients.

Jury Only Hope

"The most important question at this time is how you tell if juries are impartial in a case with political overtones." Holmans said. "With the Nixon appointments, we've lost the Supreme Court in this kind of case. The only thing we have left is the juries."

William A. Doherty, the District Attorney prosecuting the case, denied that the trial had political overtones and stated that the judge should question potential jurors "at his own discretion".

Harrison said that the large number of people who attended the trial helped his case. "If people continue to show up to support me. I think it would be too exposing for them to convict me," he said.

Court officials searched the pockets and briefcases of each person entering the courtroom for concealed weapons.

William H. Pinson, associate professor of Earth and Planetary Science at MIT who attended the trial commented yesterday that "the search for weapons is significant because it indicates that they have a fear of people in a politically charged case." Pinson also said that he thought the police were trying to intimidate the spectators by searching them.

Harrison separated his case from the trial of the other eight defendants, including two Harvard students. Carroll S. Dorgan '71 and John M. Hosken '73, because of the more serious charges brought against him. The others were accused only of assault.

"All the charges are ridiculous," Hoskin, whose hearing was earlier yesterday, said. "We defended ourselves only after the police attacked us." The court postponed the trial of the eight defendants indefinitely