Prodded by federal prosecutors, US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper today told the jury in the James “Whitey†Bulger racketeering trial that they should try to reach verdicts on all of the allegations in the racketeering charge that Bulger faces, including the 19 murders he allegedly participated in.
Casper gave that instruction to the jury this morning before sending them out of her courtroom to begin their third day of deliberations in the closely-watched trial of the 83-year-old Bulger. Since getting the case Tuesday, the jury of four women and eight men have deliberated for about 13 hours.
Bulger faces a sweeping 32-count indictment that alleges that he participated in a criminal enterprise — initially the Winter Hill Gang and later a South Boston gang — from the 1970s to the 1990s and raked in millions from drug trafficking and extortion.
One of the counts, a federal racketeering charge, contains an array of 33 acts, including allegations that Bulger participated in the murders as well as six extortions, and conspired to sell marijuana and cocaine.
In her instructions today, Casper told jurors they must go through those 33 acts and try to reach a unanimous verdict of “proved†or “not proved†on each one. Casper had earlier told jurors that they only need to find that the government proved Bulger committed two of the acts within a 10-year period to convict him of the racketeering charge.
“You have a duty to attempt to reach agreement on each of the racketeering acts,’’ Casper said. “If you can do so conscientiously.â€
Steve Davis, the brother of murder victim Debra Davis, said that without the direction from Casper, he feared the jury would skip over the allegation that Bulger killed his sister, and he would never see Bulger held responsible for the murder.
Casper told jurors Wednesday that they could pass on an act if they could not be unanimous, but prosecutors asked they at least try. She refined that instruction today.
Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held without bail.
On Wednesday, jurors sent a flurry of questions to Casper, who answered many of them in public. But Casper huddled with defense lawyers and prosecutors during a series of secret sidebars over two hours to address an unknown issue. The back-and-forth seemed to grow so serious that US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz appeared in court.
Jurors began deliberating Tuesday after hearing 72 witnesses over 35 days of testimony. Bulger, who was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in June 2011 after more than 16 years on the run, faces a life sentence if the jury finds he committed even one of the slayings.
Relatives of Bulger’s alleged victims continued their vigil at the Moakley Courthouse in South Boston.
Bulger’s brother, John “Jackie†Bulger, sat today in the area reserved for relatives of the defendant.
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.
