BOSTON --- A U.S. District Court magistrate judge has told parties in the murder case of notorious Irish-American gangster James "Whitey" Bulger to be ready for trial on November 5, despite strenuous objections from defense attorney J. W. Carney Jr.
Carney told judge Marianne Bowler during Monday's hearing that he is considering hiring more full-time lawyers to help him prepare for Bulger's defense, and that his team will need at least a year to review the voluminous records pertaining to the 19 murders Bulger is accused of committing.
But assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly told the judge that the 82-year-old Bulger is apparently "trying to run out the clock so this case doesn't go to trial."
While acknowledging that Carney faces a "monumental task" in poring over 580,000 documents and listening to 921 tapes of secret wiretaps, the judge said that it is important to set a date for trial.
"I think it's best that I give you a strict timeline," Bowler told Carney and federal prosecutors. "I urge you to work in a cooperative fashion."
Bulger, along with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, was captured on June 22 last year in Santa Monica, California at an apartment where authorities discovered more than $800,000 in cash and an assortment of weapons. Bulger had been on the run for 16 years.
