James ‘Whitey’ Bulger case returns to court

A prosecutor told the three-judge panel the trial judge correctly ruled that Bulger hadn’t presented hard evidence of an immunity agreement and shouldn’t be allowed to testify about it.

The judge who blocked former Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger from claiming a U.S. prosecutor had given him immunity for his crimes violated his rights by effectively preventing him from testifying during his 2013 racketeering trial, Bulger’s lawyer said on Monday. He was one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives until his capture in Santa Monica, California, in 2011. In this courtroom sketch, James “Whitey” Bulger sits at his sentencing hearing in federal court in Boston, Wednesday, November 13, 2013.

Bulger was convicted in 2014 in connection with 11 murders in the 1970s and 1980s.

“And my thing is, as far as I’m concerned, I didn’t get a fair trial, and this is a sham”, Bulger said.

A federal appeals court in Boston is set to hear arguments Monday, July 27, 2015 on Bulger?s bid to overturn his racketeering convictions. O’Sullivan, the former head of the New England Organized Crime Strike Force, died in 2009.

“He never had immunity”, Davis said.

The trial detailed Bulger’s corrupt relationship with federal agents and prosecutors in Boston who turned a blind eye to the Irish-American gangster’s crimes in return for information they could use against the Italian-American mafia.

Bulger cited Casper’s ruling when he decided not to testify in his own defense.

Evidence of Bulger’s guilt “can reasonably be described as overwhelming… a factor that weighs heavily against disturbing the verdict”, Assistant US Attorney Randall E. Kromm wrote in the appeals court brief filed in January.

In its appeal of Bulger’s conviction, the defense also accused prosecutors of withholding evidence regarding allegations that John Martorano, a former hitman who testified for the government at Bulger’s trial, was involved in ongoing criminal activity while cooperating with the government.