After 35 days of sometimes grotesque stories of ruthless murders, a jury of eight women and four men are expected to begin deliberations today in the federal racketeering trial of FBI informant and crime boss James “Whitey†Bulger, who is accused of participating in 19 murders.
US District Court Denise J. Casper told jurors that it is their duty to determine, beyhond a reasonable doubt that Bulger is guilty of each of the 32 charges he faces. She also told them that they are duty-bound to follow the law as she describes it to them.
“Your function is to weigh evidence in the case,’’ she told the jurors, and conclude whether federal prosecutors proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Casper expects to spend 90 minutes today describing the legal issues underlying the charges detailed in the sweeping racketeering indictment that covers Bulger’s alleged crimes dating back to the 1960s and end in the 1990s when he was both the leader of the Winter Hill Gang and an FBI informant.
The court released a copy of the form that jurors will use during their deliberations, and then hand to Casper once they have reached verdicts. The options are guilty, not guilty or deadlocked.
Bulger appeared in the Boston courtroom today wearing a navy long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Before Casper started speaking to the jury, he seemed relaxed. Sitting in the spot reserved for his family was his brother, John “Jackie†Bulger, along with a niece.
In another section, relatives of four of the murders Bulger is alleged to have participated in area also in attendance.
The deliberations will start one day after the panel heard some six hours of closing arguments from Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak and defense attorneys J. W. Carney Jr and Hank Brennan.
Bulger, 83, is “one of the most vicious, violent criminals ever to walk the streets of Boston,†Wyshak told jurors Monday in a voice that occasionally cracked with emotion during his 3½-hour closing. He ridiculed defense lawyers’ efforts to paint Bulger as a gangster with a code, who barred heroin from his South Boston neighborhood, even as they conceded that Bulger raked in millions of dollars from extortion and from dealing marijuana and cocaine.
“This is not some Robin Hood story about a guy who kept angel dust and heroin out of Southie,†Wyshak said.
But Bulger’s lawyers aggressively attacked the government for cutting lenient plea deals with three former associates who admitted to participating in gruesome and unprovoked murders and blamed Bulger for their crimes.
“I ask you to find strength in the oath you took,†Carney, one of Bulger’s lawyers, told jurors. “You have the power to stand up to government abuse.â€
Bulger, who was captured in 2011 in Santa Monica, Calif., after 16 years on the run, is charged with the extortion of bookmakers, drug dealers, and businessmen. He is also charged with money laundering and stockpiling high-powered weapons, including six machine guns.
He faces life in prison if found guilty. On Friday, Bulger told Casper that he would not testify, calling the trial a sham.
From day one, his defense made the tactical decision to concede Bulger was responsible for many of the lesser charges. But his lawyers contended he did not commit several of the murders and spent much of their time trying to prove something that was not part of the indictment: Bulger was not an FBI informant; instead, he paid his handlers for information.
(John R. Ellement and Globe columnist Kevin Cullen contributed to this report.) Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shelleymurph. Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.
