By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Former FBI Agent John Connolly, who was charged with assisting now-imprisoned mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, was rightfully convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm even though he was 1,500 miles away from his vicim at the time of the fatal shooting by a hit man, an appeals court ruled, the Associated Press reports.
The full 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled 6-4 that Connolly’s conviction was proper because Connolly had a gun when he tipped off Bulger’s gang about John Callahan, who was fatally shot in Fort. Lauderdale in 1982.
“The evidence as to both his participation in the murder and his possession of a firearm during his participation are overwhelming,” Judge Leslie Rothenberg wrote on behalf of the majority. “The law does not require that the defendant be the actual shooter.”
The decision reverses that of a three-judge panel of the same court, the AP wrote.
