Try, Try Again

Bulger Takes Appeal to Supreme Court

Claims right to fair trial was violated.

Convicted Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger has turned to the U.S. Supreme Court to have his appeal of multiple racketeering convictions heard. Bulger, 86, is serving a life sentence for his role in 11 murders in the Boston area from the 1970s to late 1990s. In his petition to the Supreme Court, Bulger’s lawyer Hank Brennan argues that a judge’s ruling to bar Bulger from telling the jury about his immunity claim violated his right to fair trial. Bulger said he had been promised immunity from federal authorities during his time leading the White Hill Gang. “This error affected the fundamental fairness of Mr. Bulger’s trial and his convictions should be automatically reversed as a result,” Brennan said. An earlier appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was unsuccessful, with a three-judge panel ruling that Bulger had failed to prove his right to a fair trial was violated.