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Ex-Boston mob boss 'Whitey' Bulger appeals to U.S. Supreme Court
Source: Reuters
U.S. | Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:57pm EDT
Ex-Boston mob boss 'Whitey' Bulger appeals to U.S. Supreme Court
Former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his 2013 conviction for committing or ordering the murders of 11 people while he ruled the city's underworld in the 1970s and 80s.
Bulger's attorneys deployed a novel strategy at his racketeering trial, admitting on the first day that their client, now 86, had been an "organized criminal" and focusing most of their energy on denying he had ever served as a law enforcement informant, or "rat" in mob parlance.
Last year they argued that Bulger had been denied justice because he had not been allowed to testify that a now-dead former U.S. prosecutor gave him immunity for his crimes in exchange for protection.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper had blocked that claim on the grounds that no immunity deal could allow a suspect to legally commit murder, and in March the First Circuit upheld the original verdict.
A court filing made public on Wednesday does not lay out the reasoning for Bulger's latest appeal, but merely seeks the top court's attention.
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Ex-Boston mob boss 'Whitey' Bulger appeals to U.S. Supreme Court
Former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his 2013 conviction for committing or ordering the murders of 11 people while he ruled the city's underworld in the 1970s and 80s.
Bulger's attorneys deployed a novel strategy at his racketeering trial, admitting on the first day that their client, now 86, had been an "organized criminal" and focusing most of their energy on denying he had ever served as a law enforcement informant, or "rat" in mob parlance.
Last year they argued that Bulger had been denied justice because he had not been allowed to testify that a now-dead former U.S. prosecutor gave him immunity for his crimes in exchange for protection.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper had blocked that claim on the grounds that no immunity deal could allow a suspect to legally commit murder, and in March the First Circuit upheld the original verdict.
A court filing made public on Wednesday does not lay out the reasoning for Bulger's latest appeal, but merely seeks the top court's attention.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-bulger-idUSKCN10S21A