Tension between Bulger and witnesses in fifth week of trial

Tempers continued to rise between James “Whitey” Bulger and the witnesses called to the stand as the trial entered its fifth week at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in South Boston.

The prosecution brought forensic scientists and drug dealers, who allegedly had to pay Bulger during the 1970s and 1980s, to the stand, but tension rose when former henchman and protégé of the defendant Kevin Weeks testified on Monday and Tuesday.

“We killed people that were rats and I had the two biggest rats [Bulger and associate Stephen Flemmi] right next to me,” Weeks said to the court on Tuesday, a statement immediately followed by expletives between him and Bulger.

Weeks is the second witness so far in the trial to discuss murders and other illegal activities on the condition of reduced sentences or legal immunity. John Martorano, a former friend of Bulger’s, who testified earlier in the trial, discussed under the same conditions.

Tracey Maclin, a professor of law at Boston University, said giving Weeks and Martorano plea deals in exchange for their testimony is a gray area of legal ethics.

“Prosecution can be a dirty business,” he said. “It’s a judgment call of what’s more important. If they [Bulger’s associates] incriminate themselves, their worries are ‘We’ll testify, but you have to give us the following,’ … and if it’s this testimony that’s essential, you can’t get anywhere else. It’s what you have to do. It’s a tradeoff.”

After Weeks testified about several executions and business extortions he was involved in, forensic anthropologist Ann Marie Mires took the stand on Wednesday. She explained pictures of remains of three bodies Bulger is accused of murdering. He faces a total of 19 murder charges.

Mires’s testimony added to Weeks’s description of the killings from the day before. Mires said two of the skeletons had jaw damage and Weeks said the victims’ teeth were removed when buried to prevent a dental match.

Mires stayed on the stand through Thursday morning to describe several other killings in a similar manner.

After she stepped down, several shorter testimonies were given on Friday from a coworker of John Connolly — Bulger’s handler when he was allegedly an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation — as well as relatives of alleged killings and drug dealers who allegedly had to pay Bulger.

J.W. Carney, Bulger’s defense attorney, and the rest of his team filed a motion on Thursday morning to adjourn the trial until July 16 on the basis that the large number of witnesses to cross-examine had made preparation impossible and Bulger was exhausted from getting up early to commute to daily court sessions.

“Mr. Bulger had 16 years to relax in California,” said Judge Denise Casper in her dismissal of the motion, referring to the time Bulger was on the run from the FBI until his capture in Santa Monica, Calif. in 2011.

Maclin said while the drug dealers could help the prosecution’s case, emotions shown from the relatives may draw sympathy from the jury.

“It would only be human nature for emotions to come into play [for the jury,]” he said. “It [the trial] is not over, but it wouldn’t surprise me if prosecution in the coming weeks — because by that point they will have had to make their case — if they close with some family members [of victims].”

The case resumed session on Monday and is expected to last into September.