Over the last couple of days I see the newspapers are reporting that the prosecutors of Whitey Bulger are complaining that J. W. Carney, Whitey Bulger’s lawyer, is trying to “color the facts.” I found that a little absurd. Whitey’s name is so blackened that to change the public perception Carney would need the yearly output of Benjamin Moore’s products just to make a dent in it.
The prosecutors whine that through Carney’s remarks to reporters he is impugning the credibility of prospective witnesses the government plans to call at his trial. Now who would ever believe that any of the prosecution witnesses like Martorano, Flemmi, Weeks, Morris, or any other the other gangsters may have credibility problems. They are all such wonderful government witnesses it’s no wonder the government flies to their defense.
Apparently there is some federal court rule that prevents a lawyer from releasing an opinion if there is ‘reasonable likelihood’ that it will interfere with a fair trial. Just think of how absurd the prosecutions position is. It has been releasing information about Whitey over many years telling us how evil he is — number one criminal in America, showing us the weapons found in his apartment, bringing him to court surrounding by SWAT teams, etc — including leaking grand jury information to the press during the Congressional hearings. Carney stands in front of some microphones and says some benign things such as suggesting that some of the witnesses the prosecution intends to use are slime bags and the prosecutors start squealing like a hogs being taken to the slaughter-house.
The jurors in the upcoming trial won’t be affected by what Carney says, if they’ve lived in this area for more than a couple of months. You’ll find few who don’t believe Whitey is evil incarnate. The prosecutors, the FBI, the media have relentlessly hammered that message to us. Now the prosecutors want to silence anyone who suggests that what it has been putting out may have some rough edges to it.
I’m off the Cape today. I’m heading into Boston for a 2:30 pm status hearing in the Federal Court to see what is going on. Hopefully I’ll have some news on the outcome of this attempt to muzzle Carney. I’ll let you know tomorrow. Stay tuned.