Lawyers in Bulger case huddle but unclear why
BOSTON — Federal prosecutors and lawyers for reputed crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger huddled and met repeatedly with the judge in Bulger’s racketeering trial Wednesday, but the long courtroom drama ended with no explanation.
The meetings took place while the jury was in its second day of deliberations on a sweeping racketeering indictment against Bulger.
Prosecutors and Bulger’s lawyers were called into the courtroom at about noon. The judge held a brief sidebar with the attorneys, then left the courtroom. Over the course of the next 2 1/2 hours, the judge held three additional sidebars with the lawyers. Some of the discussions appeared heated.
In between, the prosecutors and defense lawyers read a packet of documents handed to them by the judge’s clerk.
As prosecutor Brian Kelly left the courtroom, he said, “Now we wait” to relatives of people Bulger is accused of killing. Kelly also said deliberations were continuing.
Earlier Wednesday, the jury asked the judge for clarification on several legal concepts.
The 83-year-old Bulger is facing life in prison after being charged with orchestrating or committing the killings during the 1970s and ‘80s while he led the Winter Hill Gang, South Boston’s Irish mob.
He was one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives after he fled Boston ahead of a 1994 indictment. He was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.