James ‘Whitey’ Bulger was convicted on 31 counts year that is last including costs pertaining to his involvement in 11 murders. That was enough to earn the previous criminal mastermind and FBI informant two consecutive life terms in prison and a cell at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.

But if anyone thought that Bulger was going straight down with out a fight, he’s planning to prove them incorrect.

Lawyers for Bulger are asking a federal appeals court to overturn their conviction for taking part in those 11 murders, arguing that the judge in case ‘constitutionally deprived Mr. Bulger of his right presenting an effective defense.’

That argument is organized in a filing that is 201-page ended up being sent to the US Court of Appeals for the initial Circuit by lawyers Hank Brennan and James Budreau.

Bulger Wanted to Testify

According to attorneys, Bulger wanted to just take the stand in their own protection during the trial. Nonetheless, US District Judge Denise Casper had barred Bulger from telling the jury he had been promised immunity from all crimes by a now-dead federal prosecutor.

‘The court ruled that the defense could not raise the immunity defense at trial in almost any form, including the defendant’s very own testimony at trial,’ Bulger’s appropriate team had written. ‘This error effected the fairness that is fundamental of Bulger’s trial and his convictions should be automatically reversed as a result.’

Bulger, that is now 84 years old, planned to tell jurors that prosecutor Jeremiah T. O’Sullivan had promised him immunity that is complete exchange for Bulger’s promise to protect ‘his life.’ But Judge Casper would not allow that defense, stating that Bulger had no documentation to support his claims, and that whether or not this kind of agreement had taken spot, O’Sullivan had no authority to offer this kind of promise.

The protection in turn argued that as the head of the New England Organized Crime Strike Force, O’Sullivan could indeed make such a deal.

Without the cap ability to bring this defense up, solicitors say that Bulger had been left with no explanation to testify in his or her own defense at last summer’s trial.

Prosecutors Dispute Claims

Prosecutors, however, tell a different sort of tale about what took place at the trial that is sensational. According to former associate US attorney Brian T. Kelly, several judges had given Bulger the opportunity to present a resistance defense before the trial it self, but he had made the tactical choice to decline that opportunity.

‘He had no license to kill or virtually any immunity agreement, in which he repeatedly failed to simply take the chance to present it,’ Kelly said.

Instead, prosecutors claim, Bulger likely didn’t take the stand to prevent a cross-examination in which he’d have had to answer endless questions about his functions in crimes, like the 19 murders he was accused of participating in.

Ultimately, the jury found that Bulger participated in 11 murders, while finding that prosecutors had unsuccessful to provide evidence that is enough convict him on seven other people. On the final count, which involved the murder of Debra Davis in 1981, the jury was unable to achieve a verdict.

Bulger’s lawyers defended their client by wanting to refute much of what appeared in Bulger’s FBI informant file, which alleged which he served as an informant from 1975 to 1990. In their appeal, the lawyers state that Bulger wished to testify to ‘the systemic corruption that existed in the federal government during the 1970s through 1990s and also the governmental and institutional motivations that led Jeremiah O’Sullivan and also the Strike Force to offer immunity to James Bulger.’