Pacific Gas and Electric Co. goes on trial Thursday, on criminal charges of violating pipeline-safety laws, because one of its gas pipes exploded and burned in San Bruno nearly six years ago, killing eight people, destroying 38 homes and devastating a neighborhood.

And while a federal judge has ruled that “this is not a trial about the San Bruno explosion,” prosecutors will do everything they can to implant the events of Sept. 9, 2010, in the jury’s hearts and minds over the next six weeks.

…

But judicial precautions may not be enough to dispel the events of September 2010 as the backdrop to everything the jury hears, said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor and co-director of the law school’s Criminal Justice Center.

“Even if the jury gets an admonition not to let evidence from one charge (obstruction) bleed over to another, the government hopes it will all blend in the jury’s mind,” he said.