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A federal judge told alleged mobster James “Whitey” Bulger that he does not have the right to know the identity of a federal confidential information.
Judge Denise Casper filed her decision Monday and wrote that “there is no ‘compelling scenario’ that such disclosure is relevant and helpful to the defense or essential to a fair determination of the case.”
Bulger’s lawyer filed a motion in March to force the government to disclose the identity of the informant claiming that the informant could contradict testimony by former Bulger associate Kevin Weeks. Weeks, who has already pleaded guilty, is expected to testify at Bulger’s trial this summer.
“[T]here is no necessity for this information for Bulger to attack Weeks’s credibility. The government has disclosed the identity of the other CI upon whom [an FBI agent] relied in support of his affidavit,” Casper wrote.
The six-page ruling is the latest blow for Bulger’s defense. He earlier sought to have his claim of immunity decided by a jury during trial, but a judge ruled that the immunity issue would be decided before trial.
Bulger did score a major win when the US First Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to his request to remove Judge Richard Stearns because of his prior work in the US Attorney’s office.
Jury selection in Bulger’s trial is expected to start in June.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
