I finally learned how to use Pacer the on-line system which gives an idea of what is happening with the Whitey Bulger case by showing the documents which are filed. That’s how I got a copy of the document J.W. Carney and Hank Brennan filed seeking additional discovery which I said I’d write more about today. In the past I had to bother another lawyer to get this for me which he did but I recognize he had other things to do so I learned to do it myself. It’s really an antiquated system that must have been created in the Seventies under some inane government contract. If the judiciary were really interested in making information available to the public it would be much more user-friendly in the 21st Century. But we know, and most people don’t seem to be particularly concerned about it, that the federal judiciary, especially, likes to operate behind closed doors. No television allowed in a federal court. It’s not good for the public to know too much and it is best that the news be filtered through court approved media members.
I believe there is an inscription on the wall outside the federal courthouse in Boston by Justice Brandies who talked about sunlight being the best disinfectant suggesting the more the public knows the better off we will be. Apparently few on the federal bench agree. Someday, if the public demands it, things will change.
I wrote the other day how we don’t know what Whitey’s medical condition is and that we should have that information rather than relying on unreliable speculation in the media based on unnamed sources. I was taken to the wood shed by a person (Patty) who commented on my site that I was way off base. She said merely because the case has consumed the interest of the public Whitey should not lose his privacy rights in his medical records which every other American has. She suggested this was another indication that people wanted to strip rights away from Whitey and rush him to judgment. I explained to her I was mostly motivated by the idea that secrecy is not good and the more we know about everything in the case the better we will be able to judge what is going on.
With that in mind, I went to the Pacer system to see if Judge Stearns made his decision on the motion for a continuance. That it is taking him so long to decide this looks like he is of a mind to set a new trial date. Judge Bowler acted quickly whenever J.W. Carney broached the subject saying, “the trial date is set.” Judge Stearns seems to be of another mind, especially after he received the most recent filing which opens up the case in a manner the DOJ hoped would never occur.
The docket for Whitey’s case showed no action on the motion for a continuance at this time. But it did show that a “Sealed Document” had been filed on 11/05/2012 and docketed on 11/07/2012. I assume this must relate to Whitey’s hospitalization, but whether it does or not it is something I have to guess at. You’d think that at least the title of the document would be set out like, “Report on Hospitalization of Defendant” and then note that it was sealed. But then again, if that were done, it may shed some light on the court’s doings.