Whitey Bulger Will Get His Day in Court. Again.
Convicted gangster James “Whitey” Bulger has another court date.
Bulger’s attorneys will argue before a federal appeals judge that he did not receive a fair trial on July 27 at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The notorious Irish gangster was reportedly furious during his trial that he was not allowed to present evidence that implicated the federal government in his rise up the Boston mob food chain. Specifically, Judge Denise J. Casper blocked Bulger from arguing that he was granted immunity by the FBI for the numerous crimes he committed over three decades. Bulger’s attorneys argued in their initial filing that Casper “constitutionally deprived Mr. Bulger of his right to present an effective defense.”
Bulger, 85, was captured in 2011 after 16 years on the lam, the bulk of which was spent in a rent-controlled apartment just blocks from the beaches of Santa Monica. He was convicted on 31 of 32 charges including murder, racketeering, extortion, money laundering, drug dealing, and various gun charges in August 2013.
Bulger is serving a life sentence plus five years in a Florida prison.
After his sentencing, two of his attorneys declared on the steps of Moakley Courthouse that he would appeal his sentence.
