Lawyer: ‘Whitey’ Bulger fears he can’t get a fair trial due to past media coverage

By Shelley Murphy and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Citing a story in the Boston Sunday Globe, the lawyer for James “Whitey” Bulger said that Bulger fears that the years of media coverage of his career as an FBI informant and a gangster allegedly responsible for 19 murders will make it impossible for him to get a fair trial.

Attorney Peter B. Krupp filed an emergency request in US District Court asking that the FBI be barred from disclosing any information about the 81-year-old Bulger, who was captured last week in Santa Monica, where he apparently had been living for the past 16 years.

“Mr. Bulger is presumed innocent, and entitled to be tried by an impartial jury. The jury pool has surely been tainted by the flood of publicity about this case over the last 25 years,’’ Krupp wrote.

He then wrote that Bulger himself fears his constitutional rights are in danger of being violated.

“If it is now possible - and Mr. Bulger seriously questions whether it will be possible -- for Mr. Bulger to receive a fair trial, law enforcement leaks of non-public information must end, with disclosures of information limited to the judicial process,’’ Krupp wrote.

In the court papers, Krupp cited a Boston Sunday Globe story that reported that Bulger told FBI agents after his capture that he would travel to Mexico to buy prescription heart medication during his years on the run.

“The FBI appears to be leaking non-public information to the press in potential violation’’ of federal law, Krupp wrote. “When the FBI leaks non-public alleged information to the press, it compounds the already profound problem the court will face trying to afford Mr. Bulger a fair trial.’’

In a separate court filing, Krupp asked that the FBI be ordered to provide copies of any reports made by the agents who escorted Bulger to Massachusetts from California last Friday.

“The reports and notes of statements allegedly made by Mr. Bulger are likely to be exculpatory, undermine the representations made by the government ... and will assist Mr. Bulger to address properly the government’s contention that Mr. Bulger has hidden assets,’’ Krupp wrote.

The attorney said the cases against Bulger “have already been highly publicized, hyped, written-about and sensationalized. It will be as close to impossible for Mr. Bulger to get a fair trial on these charges as can be.’’