Whitey Bulger
Credit: Hand out
Federal prosecutors are pushing back against the lawyers for alleged fugitive mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger who don’t want the family members of the alleged victims to testify at trial.
In a three-page memorandum filed Tuesday, prosecutors said they will call the family members of the alleged 19 murder victims to testify. Bulger’s lawyers earlier filed a motion to bar any “prejudicial testimony.”
“This Court should not, on the basis of a vague one-and-a-half page motion from the defendant, preemptively bar the government from legitimate areas of inquiry because the family members of James Bulger’s nineteen murder victims are grief-stricken,” prosecutors wrote in the memo.
Bulger’s girlfriend Catherine Greig was sentenced last year. During that hearing some of the family members were allowed to speak and cursed at her during their statements.
The 83-year-old’s trial starts next week. Jury selection is scheduled for Thursday.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
