By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Convicted gangster James “Whitey” Bulger is asking for a new trial, claiming he was given an unfair trial because he was barred from testifying about his contention that he received immunity for his crimes, the Associated Press reports.
Bulger’s attorney Hank Brennan said Bulger should have been permitted to testify that a now-dead federal prosecutor granted him immunity.
“The defendant has that right to testify. There is no shaking that right,” Brennan told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The government argued that the judge had a right to deny Bulger from testifying about the immunity claim because there was no hard evidence such an agreement existed.
“He chose not to testify,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Kromm said.
