Prosecutors had argued that evidence against Mr. Bulger, an infamous Boston crime boss who was captured last week in California after 16 years on the run, is stronger in the murder case. The penalties are steeper, too: a conviction on a single murder charge could send Mr. Bulger, 81, to prison for the rest of his life.
“We do believe it’s in the public interest for the government to go forward with its best and strongest case,” Fred Wyshak, an assistant United States attorney, told Judge Mark L. Wolf of Federal District Court, pointing to the “19 families of homicide victims who have been waiting for years for justice.”
Mr. Bulger’s temporary lawyer had sought to consolidate the two cases under Judge Wolf, but the judge said they were too different. He added that Mr. Bulger should have come out of hiding and asked for consolidation when the murder charges were brought if he felt so strongly about it. “He had the opportunity when he was charged in 2000,” Judge Wolf said.
In a separate proceeding, Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler ruled that Mr. Bulger qualified for free legal counsel and appointed J. W. Carney Jr., a prominent criminal defense lawyer, to represent him. Mr. Bulger had filed a financial statement saying he could not afford counsel.
Prosecutors, pointing to the $822,198 that F.B.I. agents found in Mr. Bulger’s Santa Monica, Calif., apartment after his arrest, had suggested that he might have hidden assets. They had also raised the possibility that Mr. Bulger’s brothers — William, 77, a former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, and John, 73 — could pay for his defense instead.
But Judge Bowler said that she had no evidence that William or John Bulger was willing to write a check, and that the law did not compel them to. Both brothers attended the hearing on dismissing the racketeering case, but skipped the hearing on whether Mr. Bulger was entitled to taxpayer-financed counsel.
Mr. Carney met Mr. Bulger for the first time in the courtroom, shaking his hand and saying, “It’s a pleasure.” Afterward, he told reporters, “Our Constitution guarantees every defendant the right to a fair trial, and we’re going to see that he gets it.”
Mr. Carney has represented several notorious defendants, including John C. Salvi III, who was convicted in 1996 of killing two women and wounding five other people at abortion clinics in Brookline, Mass. He said he would seek to bring on his law partner, Janice Bassil, as co-counsel because of the magnitude of the case. “It’s clear there will be tens of thousands of pieces of paper that we will need to put eyeballs on,” he said.
Mr. Bulger was brought by helicopter to Boston from the Plymouth County jail. His next court appearance, an arraignment, is scheduled for Wednesday. Mr. Carney would say nothing about how he intended to plead or about a possible defense.
Mr. Bulger had been an informer for the F.B.I. before his disappearance in January 1995; a retired F.B.I. agent who had worked closely with him tipped Mr. Bulger off to the imminent racketeering indictment, leading him to flee.
Most of the murder charges against Mr. Bulger were filed in September 2000, more than five years after he vanished and shortly after investigators unearthed the bodies of several victims. According to the indictment, he killed 11 people during his time as an informer, an allegation that badly damaged the F.B.I.’s reputation.
On Thursday, Thomas Donahue, whose father is said to be among Mr. Bulger’s victims, said he was annoyed that Mr. Bulger had won court-appointed counsel but pleased that the racketeering case had been dismissed.
“I’m glad it’s out of the way so we can get on with the bigger picture,” he said. “This man is wanted for horrific crimes.”
没有评论:
发表评论