A federal judge delivered a major blow to James “Whitey” Bulger’s defense on Thursday, ruling that the gangster cannot ask jurors at his upcoming trial to consider his contention that the government granted him immunity for all of his crimes, including murder.
US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper, who took over the case in March, wrote in a 31-page opinion that Bulger’s “claimed immunity is not a defense to the charged crimes to be presented to the jury at trial.”
Casper said Bulger’s claim of immunity was a question of “contract law,” which he should have asked the court to resolve prior to trial as part of a motion to dismiss the sweeping federal racketeering indictment that alleges he participated in 19 murders in the 1970s and 1980s.
Bulger’s failure to ask the judge to rule on his immunity assertion does not give him the right to present it to a jury, she wrote.
Lawyers for Bulger did not immediately respond to questions about the impact Casper’s ruling would have on his defense, but several prominent defense attorneys described it as a major setback.
“It keeps the jury from hearing the defense,” said Boston lawyer Harvey Silverglate. “I think this decision is unfairly protective of the Department of Justice in that the public will never get to learn in more detail about the department’s relationship with Whitey Bulger. It would be very important for the credibility of the court and the Department of Justice if a jury were able to hear what actually happened.”
Anthony Cardinale, a Boston lawyer, said, “It guts his defense and now he’s left to deal with his comeuppance. . . . Unfortunately, this is giving this rat the opportunity to try to maintain a bitter dignity and say, ‘I could have won the case, but the government conspired against me.’ ”
Casper’s ruling essentially left intact a decision made in March by her predecessor, Judge Richard G. Stearns, who was ordered by a federal appeals court to recuse himself from Bulger’s case because of public perception that he may not be impartial. Stearns was a high-ranking prosecutor in the US attorney’s office during the time that Bulger says he was promised immunity.
Bulger, 83, says that former federal prosecutor Jeremiah T. O’Sullivan, who died in 2009, verbally promised him immunity, which would never expire, for all of his crimes, including murder. He has provided few details about the alleged immunity, including when it was granted.
The gangster also says he was never an FBI informant, despite documentary evidence and witness testimony in prior court proceedings that indicated he was an informant from 1975 to 1990. After being warned by his former FBI handler, John J. Connolly Jr., to flee shortly before his 1995 racketeering indictment in Boston, Bulger evaded capture for more than 16 years. He was finally arrested in June 2011 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Federal prosecutors have ridiculed Bulger’s immunity assertion as “fantastical” and absurd and urged the court not to let him present it at trial. In his ruling in March, Stearns concluded that no one in the federal government was authorized to give Bulger a “license to kill.”
Casper adopted Stearns’ findings and wrote that Bulger has not offered any evidence that he detrimentally relied on any immunity promise, even if it was made....
That implies that it was.
Casper said Bulger could still present two immunity-related defenses to the jury at his trial, slated to begin June 10....
One argument would require Bulger to prove that he committed crimes at the request of an authorized government official. The other would require him to show government entrapment.
“Entrapment is a narrow and very difficult defense to prove,” Silverglate said. “The defendant has to prove that the germ of the idea for the crime was planted in his brain by the government agent and that is very difficult when the defendant has a history of engaging in violent crime.”
Boston defense lawyer Bernard Grossberg said Casper’s ruling is clearly a setback for Bulger’s defense plans, but does not mean Bulger and his lawyers are without any tools to use once the trial begins. He noted that there apparently is no forensic evidence tying Bulger to any of the murders he is accused of participating in.
Moreover, said Grossberg, the key witnesses against him — Bulger’s former underworld cohorts Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, Kevin Weeks, and John Martorano — have benefited by cutting lenient deals with federal prosecutors while Bulger was on the run.
Martorano served just 12 years for killing 20 people; Weeks served five years for being an accessory to five murders; and Flemmi was spared the death penalty and is serving a life sentence for 10 murders.
“An eyewitness who confesses to murder and then is walking around, someone in that situation would say anything. Think about it,’’ Grossberg said.
He also said Bulger could actually benefit by facing off against immunized former gangsters because under federal law, jurors are told before they begin deliberations that they should judge the words of an immunized witness with some skepticism. “Their testimony has to be closely scrutinized,’’ jurors will be told, Grossberg said.
Grossberg wondered why federal prosecutors are so determined to keep Bulger from telling jurors his account of his relationship with federal law enforcement figures.
“He could say he got immunity from the president. The jury might say, ‘You’re crazy,’ ’’ said Grossberg. “It might not be believable. But they should let them.’’
--more--"
How did she get the job?
"Judge removed from Bulger case; ruling may delay trial" by Shelley Murphy and Sarah Schweitzer | Globe Staff, March 14, 2013
A federal appeals court ordered the judge presiding over James “Whitey” Bulger’s murder and racketeering case to step aside Thursday because of his ties to the US Justice Department, raising concerns that the gangster’s long anticipated June trial will be delayed.
In a ruling that marked a major victory for Bulger, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that Judge Richard G. Stearns should not preside over the trial because he was a top prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in the 1980s, when Bulger claims that another prosecutor promised him immunity for his alleged crimes, including murder.
Yeah, some victory.
“It is clear that a reasonable person might question the judge’s ability to preserve impartiality through the course of this prosecution and the likely rulings made necessary by the immunity claim,” wrote retired Supreme Court justice David Souter, who frequently sits on the Appeals Court and was a member of the three-judge panel that unanimously granted Bulger’s petition for a new judge....
--more--"
"US taps new judge for ‘Whitey’ Bulger case" by Shelley Murphy and John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, March 15, 2013
One of the newest members of the federal judiciary in Massachusetts was randomly selected Friday to preside over the complex case of James “Whitey” Bulger, who is slated to stand trial in June in a sweeping federal racketeering case alleging he participated in 19 murders.
US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper, appointed to the bench in December 2010 by President Obama, replaces a judge who was ordered to step aside by a federal appeals court Thursday because he was a high-ranking federal prosecutor in the 1980s.
Casper, 45, the first black woman to become a federal judge in Massachusetts, is also a former federal prosecutor. She served in the US attorney’s office from 1999 to 2005 and spent her last year there as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Bulger’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., declined to comment Friday about the selection of Casper. He had successfully petitioned the Appeals Court to remove Judge Richard G. Stearns from the case because Bulger says another prosecutor, now deceased, granted him immunity for all his crimes, including murder, decades ago, around the same time Stearns was working in the US attorney’s office.
Casper is stepping into a case that involves allegations that Bulger, 83, killed 19 people in the 1970s and 1980s while he was an FBI informant, protected by corrupt agents who took payoffs and leaked information to him that led to some of the slayings.
Boston lawyer Harvey Silverglate, who is not involved in the case, said Casper appears to be “a perfectly good choice,’’ since her tenure as a prosecutor began well after Bulger’s initial indictment in January 1995....
Six weeks later he was singing a different tune.
--more--"
"Prosecutors slam ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s immunity claim" by Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, April 26, 2013
Federal prosecutors lashed out Thursday at the defense team for James “Whitey” Bulger, arguing that Bulger’s lawyers continue to make erroneous claims that the notorious gangster was granted immunity from prosecution for his crimes, without showing any evidence....
Prosecutors also complained that the defense team’s investigators were unprofessional to the family of Kevin Weeks, a witness in the case who has admitted to carrying out crimes with Bulger.
A private investigator for the defense allegedly told Weeks’s son that his father was “a liar.”
But lawyers for Bulger in a filing later Thursday lashed back, saying, “this never happened.” The lawyers argued that the investigator spoke with Weeks’s former wife and that she was emotional about private matters and said she did not have any information about Weeks.
But the investigator said he had no conversation with either of Weeks’s sons.
“The defendant’s investigator made clear that the claim is completely fabricated,” the defense said in a filing, adding that the lawyers queried the investigator, who has been doing such work since 1985, after the claim was made.
“The defense investigator has always been completely professional, diligent, and highly regarded,” the defense maintained.
--more--"
"‘Whitey’ Bulger’s lawyer says mobster was never informant" by Shelley Murphy and Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, February 13, 2013
James “Whitey” Bulger’s lawyer insisted Wednesday that the gangster was never an FBI informant, yet remains determined to prove his assertion that a former federal prosecutor promised him immunity for all of his crimes, including murder.
“James Bulger was never an informant for the FBI or anyone else at any time, and it was not the reason why he received immunity,” Boston lawyer J. W. Carney Jr. told reporters following a hearing on Bulger’s immunity claim.
Bulger’s assertion that he was not an informant is contradicted by FBI files and court testimony indicating he was an informant from 1975 to 1990 and provided information about his rivals in the Mafia and members of his own gang.
When pressed about why the government would grant immunity to Bulger if he was not providing information, Carney said only, “We’re going to present that answer when the trial starts on June 10. If you want to know what the answer is, be there.”
--more--"
Also see:
Bulger denied being an informant
US says ‘Whitey’ Bulger immunity unfounded
Judge upends Bulger’s defense plan
Bulger lawyers want court to reveal identity of informant
Newly named judge says no delay in Bulger trial
No Bulger ‘license to kill’ claim, lawyers say
Bulger lawyers’ request is fought
Bulger attorneys seek US documents on immunity deals
‘Whitey’ Bulger wants immunity ruling vacated
Judge rejects Bulger request
‘Whitey’ Bulger’s lawyers ask for more evidence
Prayers weren't answered:
"Federal agents raid Beacon Hill church" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff, May 02, 2013
Just as they do every Thursday morning, nearly a dozen members from the Oasis Women’s group for homeless and recently housed women met for fellowship inside a Beacon Hill church.
But this Thursday was different. About 10:30 a.m., federal agents armed with search warrants swooped into the Swedenborgian Church on the Hill. “They started saying, ‘Nobody move. Nobody leave,’ ” said Brenda Poliskey, who has attended the meetings for a year. “I had to take a Valium to calm down.”
The investigators, from the FBI and IRS, disrupted the women’s bingo game, Poliskey said. Investigators wrote down the names of all the women in the group and ordered them out. Church staff members were told to stay put, she said.
Allison Mahan, a spokeswoman for the FBI, said Thursday morning that federal investigators were executing a search warrant at the Bowdoin Street church and at an adjacent apartment building owned by the church.
Mahan and IRS spokeswoman Jessica Crocker said the investigation was not related to the Boston Marathon bombings.
“There was a search today at the church and its apartment building directed at one employee,” said Nick Carter, a lawyer for the church. “It was not directed at the church.”
Carter, who declined to name the employee, said the church is cooperating with the investigation.
Investigators remained at the Swedenborgian Church on the Hill through the afternoon. On Thursday afternoon, people were not allowed into the church, which sits across from the State House.
Residents, however, could enter the 18-story Bostonview Apartment building. For a time, however, they were barred from the 18th floor, where the apartment office was located.
Jesus Rodriguez showed up Thursday afternoon to help church staff set up for a rooftop party held annually at the apartment complex. Agents wouldn’t let him in the church. So, he stood outside, calling church staff in vain.
“I never heard of this,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very weird. I have never seen this go on before.”
Rodriquez credits the church with helping get his life back on track. He was homeless when he began attending more than four years ago.
By 4:25 p.m. Thursday, investigators began lugging evidence from the church and loading it into a van. Red evidence tape sealed brown paper bags and cardboard boxes, some marked “old vendor files” and “Bostonview Board.”
The church has been embroiled in controversy in the past, with allegations that Edward J. MacKenzie Jr., a self-proclaimed henchman for mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, and other church leaders tried to loot one of the city’s more obscure congregations. A federal judge threw out a 2004 lawsuit filed against church leadership.
The Boston Society of the New Jerusalem runs the Swedenborgian Church on Bowdoin Street. The small Protestant sect follows the teachings of the 18th-century Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg.
According to the church’s website, MacKenzie is the director of operations and sits on Bostonview’s board of directors. Attempts to reach MacKenzie on Thursday were unsuccessful.
--more--"
Do you know about the Bulger-Chomsky connection (from the guy who wrote the book on Bulger)?
Also see: Whitey Bulger’s trial draws high interest
Not here.
Also see: Catherine Greig seeks cut in 8-year sentence
Court rules Catherine Greig’s sentence justified
UPDATE:
"A federal judge in Boston denied James “Whitey” Bulger’s request Tuesday to have prosecutors reveal the identities of several confidential informants tied to the pending case against him. Judge Denise J. Casper issued the denial in a 12-page ruling, on the grounds that Bulger failed to show how the information would be relevant to his defense. Casper did, however, order prosecutors to turn over any documents that “support or reflect” Bulger’s contention that he was not an FBI informant, “to the extent any such documents exist.” Bulger, 83, is slated to stand trial in June on a sweeping federal indictment charging him with 19 murders, among other crimes."
He's being railroaded.
Related: Prosecutors request checks of jurors in Bulger trial
They used to call it jury rigging.
How did she get the job?
"Judge removed from Bulger case; ruling may delay trial" by Shelley Murphy and Sarah Schweitzer | Globe Staff, March 14, 2013
A federal appeals court ordered the judge presiding over James “Whitey” Bulger’s murder and racketeering case to step aside Thursday because of his ties to the US Justice Department, raising concerns that the gangster’s long anticipated June trial will be delayed.
In a ruling that marked a major victory for Bulger, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that Judge Richard G. Stearns should not preside over the trial because he was a top prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in the 1980s, when Bulger claims that another prosecutor promised him immunity for his alleged crimes, including murder.
Yeah, some victory.
“It is clear that a reasonable person might question the judge’s ability to preserve impartiality through the course of this prosecution and the likely rulings made necessary by the immunity claim,” wrote retired Supreme Court justice David Souter, who frequently sits on the Appeals Court and was a member of the three-judge panel that unanimously granted Bulger’s petition for a new judge....
--more--"
"US taps new judge for ‘Whitey’ Bulger case" by Shelley Murphy and John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, March 15, 2013
One of the newest members of the federal judiciary in Massachusetts was randomly selected Friday to preside over the complex case of James “Whitey” Bulger, who is slated to stand trial in June in a sweeping federal racketeering case alleging he participated in 19 murders.
US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper, appointed to the bench in December 2010 by President Obama, replaces a judge who was ordered to step aside by a federal appeals court Thursday because he was a high-ranking federal prosecutor in the 1980s.
Casper, 45, the first black woman to become a federal judge in Massachusetts, is also a former federal prosecutor. She served in the US attorney’s office from 1999 to 2005 and spent her last year there as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Bulger’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., declined to comment Friday about the selection of Casper. He had successfully petitioned the Appeals Court to remove Judge Richard G. Stearns from the case because Bulger says another prosecutor, now deceased, granted him immunity for all his crimes, including murder, decades ago, around the same time Stearns was working in the US attorney’s office.
Casper is stepping into a case that involves allegations that Bulger, 83, killed 19 people in the 1970s and 1980s while he was an FBI informant, protected by corrupt agents who took payoffs and leaked information to him that led to some of the slayings.
Boston lawyer Harvey Silverglate, who is not involved in the case, said Casper appears to be “a perfectly good choice,’’ since her tenure as a prosecutor began well after Bulger’s initial indictment in January 1995....
Six weeks later he was singing a different tune.
--more--"
"Prosecutors slam ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s immunity claim" by Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, April 26, 2013
Federal prosecutors lashed out Thursday at the defense team for James “Whitey” Bulger, arguing that Bulger’s lawyers continue to make erroneous claims that the notorious gangster was granted immunity from prosecution for his crimes, without showing any evidence....
Prosecutors also complained that the defense team’s investigators were unprofessional to the family of Kevin Weeks, a witness in the case who has admitted to carrying out crimes with Bulger.
A private investigator for the defense allegedly told Weeks’s son that his father was “a liar.”
But lawyers for Bulger in a filing later Thursday lashed back, saying, “this never happened.” The lawyers argued that the investigator spoke with Weeks’s former wife and that she was emotional about private matters and said she did not have any information about Weeks.
But the investigator said he had no conversation with either of Weeks’s sons.
“The defendant’s investigator made clear that the claim is completely fabricated,” the defense said in a filing, adding that the lawyers queried the investigator, who has been doing such work since 1985, after the claim was made.
“The defense investigator has always been completely professional, diligent, and highly regarded,” the defense maintained.
--more--"
"‘Whitey’ Bulger’s lawyer says mobster was never informant" by Shelley Murphy and Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, February 13, 2013
James “Whitey” Bulger’s lawyer insisted Wednesday that the gangster was never an FBI informant, yet remains determined to prove his assertion that a former federal prosecutor promised him immunity for all of his crimes, including murder.
“James Bulger was never an informant for the FBI or anyone else at any time, and it was not the reason why he received immunity,” Boston lawyer J. W. Carney Jr. told reporters following a hearing on Bulger’s immunity claim.
Bulger’s assertion that he was not an informant is contradicted by FBI files and court testimony indicating he was an informant from 1975 to 1990 and provided information about his rivals in the Mafia and members of his own gang.
When pressed about why the government would grant immunity to Bulger if he was not providing information, Carney said only, “We’re going to present that answer when the trial starts on June 10. If you want to know what the answer is, be there.”
--more--"
Also see:
Bulger denied being an informant
US says ‘Whitey’ Bulger immunity unfounded
Judge upends Bulger’s defense plan
Bulger lawyers want court to reveal identity of informant
Newly named judge says no delay in Bulger trial
No Bulger ‘license to kill’ claim, lawyers say
Bulger lawyers’ request is fought
Bulger attorneys seek US documents on immunity deals
‘Whitey’ Bulger wants immunity ruling vacated
Judge rejects Bulger request
‘Whitey’ Bulger’s lawyers ask for more evidence
Prayers weren't answered:
"Federal agents raid Beacon Hill church" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff, May 02, 2013
Just as they do every Thursday morning, nearly a dozen members from the Oasis Women’s group for homeless and recently housed women met for fellowship inside a Beacon Hill church.
But this Thursday was different. About 10:30 a.m., federal agents armed with search warrants swooped into the Swedenborgian Church on the Hill. “They started saying, ‘Nobody move. Nobody leave,’ ” said Brenda Poliskey, who has attended the meetings for a year. “I had to take a Valium to calm down.”
The investigators, from the FBI and IRS, disrupted the women’s bingo game, Poliskey said. Investigators wrote down the names of all the women in the group and ordered them out. Church staff members were told to stay put, she said.
Allison Mahan, a spokeswoman for the FBI, said Thursday morning that federal investigators were executing a search warrant at the Bowdoin Street church and at an adjacent apartment building owned by the church.
Mahan and IRS spokeswoman Jessica Crocker said the investigation was not related to the Boston Marathon bombings.
“There was a search today at the church and its apartment building directed at one employee,” said Nick Carter, a lawyer for the church. “It was not directed at the church.”
Carter, who declined to name the employee, said the church is cooperating with the investigation.
Investigators remained at the Swedenborgian Church on the Hill through the afternoon. On Thursday afternoon, people were not allowed into the church, which sits across from the State House.
Residents, however, could enter the 18-story Bostonview Apartment building. For a time, however, they were barred from the 18th floor, where the apartment office was located.
Jesus Rodriguez showed up Thursday afternoon to help church staff set up for a rooftop party held annually at the apartment complex. Agents wouldn’t let him in the church. So, he stood outside, calling church staff in vain.
“I never heard of this,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very weird. I have never seen this go on before.”
Rodriquez credits the church with helping get his life back on track. He was homeless when he began attending more than four years ago.
By 4:25 p.m. Thursday, investigators began lugging evidence from the church and loading it into a van. Red evidence tape sealed brown paper bags and cardboard boxes, some marked “old vendor files” and “Bostonview Board.”
The church has been embroiled in controversy in the past, with allegations that Edward J. MacKenzie Jr., a self-proclaimed henchman for mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, and other church leaders tried to loot one of the city’s more obscure congregations. A federal judge threw out a 2004 lawsuit filed against church leadership.
The Boston Society of the New Jerusalem runs the Swedenborgian Church on Bowdoin Street. The small Protestant sect follows the teachings of the 18th-century Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg.
According to the church’s website, MacKenzie is the director of operations and sits on Bostonview’s board of directors. Attempts to reach MacKenzie on Thursday were unsuccessful.
--more--"
Do you know about the Bulger-Chomsky connection (from the guy who wrote the book on Bulger)?
Also see: Whitey Bulger’s trial draws high interest
Not here.
Also see: Catherine Greig seeks cut in 8-year sentence
Court rules Catherine Greig’s sentence justified
UPDATE:
"A federal judge in Boston denied James “Whitey” Bulger’s request Tuesday to have prosecutors reveal the identities of several confidential informants tied to the pending case against him. Judge Denise J. Casper issued the denial in a 12-page ruling, on the grounds that Bulger failed to show how the information would be relevant to his defense. Casper did, however, order prosecutors to turn over any documents that “support or reflect” Bulger’s contention that he was not an FBI informant, “to the extent any such documents exist.” Bulger, 83, is slated to stand trial in June on a sweeping federal indictment charging him with 19 murders, among other crimes."
He's being railroaded.
Related: Prosecutors request checks of jurors in Bulger trial
They used to call it jury rigging.
