Bulger Day 6: Martorano Finishes Up
The witnesses: This being former hitman Johnny Martorano’s third day on the stand, your faithful courtroom tweeters got a little bored at points during his cross-examination. Martorano took questions from Bulger’s defense attorneys who attempted to poke holes in his versions of several murders to paint him as an unreliable witness and to grill him on the plea agreement that let him walk free after just 12 years in jail despite admitting to 20 murders. Martorano alleged that he cooperated in part because, “I wanted to come out with the story … the true story, not somebody else’s story.”
On the details of the plea agreeement, reporters were in agreement:
After deal, did MSP ever call you in to testify about Pat Nee? Objection, and judge asks for relevance. Another sidebar. Zzzzzzzzzz. #Bulger
— Kevin Cullen (@GlobeCullen) June 19, 2013
Neither here nor there, but today is easily the least entertaining day of the trial thus far. #Bulger — Brendan Lynch (@bmolynch) June 19, 2013
Today’s #bulger proceedings less riveting b/c Martorano being pressed on plea deal and unreliability as narrator–not brutality of murders. — Adam Reilly (@reillyadam) June 19, 2013
At any rate, Martorano finished up his testimony and left the courtroom to … who knows? Get a sandwich? Having described his 20 gruesome murders of targets and accidental bystanders alike to the government’s satisfaction, he was free to go. Still amazing, isn’t it?
The evidence: Things took a turn away from the dull and toward the gruesome though when Sgt. Detective Billy Doogan of the Boston Police Department took the stand to identify photos of various victims. The Globe has an account of the photos’ effect on some of the victims:
Patricia Donahue, who sat in the front row of the courtroom with her three sons, deliberately looked away as photos of the bullet-riddled blue Datsun her husband was driving on the day he was gunned down on the South Boston waterfront flashed across a computer monitor a few feet away. Prosecutors allege Bulger and an accomplice opened fire on the car because Donahue was giving his intended target, Halloran, a ride home.
The defense had no questions for Doogan and court wrapped up.
Most Unexpected Testimony: That’d be from a courtroom computer, informing everyone that the virus software had been updated. Thank goodness for that.
A light moment in court when computer projection system voice says over speakers “virus database has been updated” @NECN#Bulger
— Alysha Palumbo (@AlyshaNECN) June 19, 2013
Best idea for a bar name: The Sidebar. (There were a lot of those today.)
How many law schools boast a nearby watering hole called “The Sidebar”?
— Adam Reilly (@reillyadam) June 19, 2013
See you at “The Sidebar” #bulger
— Adam Reilly (@reillyadam) June 19, 2013
I’d go, Adam, but I’ve got to finish up this reading for my Torts class tomorrow.
