Kin of Flemmi’s victims argue for damages
Prosecutors seek denial of claims
Justice Department lawyers argued yesterday that the mother of a woman who was allegedly slain by longtime FBI informants James “Whitey’’ Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman’’ Flemmi should not be awarded damages for the loss of her daughter’s companionship because she had other children.
Debra Davis, 26, who was Flemmi’s girlfriend, was strangled by Bulger inside a South Boston home on Sept. 17, 1981, because she was about to leave Flemmi and knew too much about the gangsters’ corrupt relationship with the FBI, according to Flemmi.
US District Judge William G. Young ruled in September that the government was liable for Davis’s wrongful death, but found that her mother, Olga, was not entitled to collect damages for the loss of her daughter’s companionship and support because she was an adult living on her own at the time of the slaying. He awarded the estate of Olga Davis, who died two years ago, $350,000 for Debra Davis’s suffering when she was killed.
Yesterday, Young told lawyers he thought he made a mistake by denying damages for Olga Davis’s loss. But Justice Department lawyer Lawrence Eiser said the judge had not been wrong.
“She had many other children who were providing her support and society,’’ Eiser said.
He added that even if the judge found that Olga Davis was entitled to damages, her claim does not survive her death.
Framingham attorney Michael J. Heineman, who represents the Davis family, argued that it would be “a severe injustice’’ if the court denies damages because Olga Davis died. He pointed out that the suit, filed in 2002, languished because the government asked for delays while criminal cases against Bulger, Flemmi, and their handler, former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., were underway.
He said that Olga Davis, who was 51 when her daughter died, suffered enormous loss because Debra did her laundry and grocery shopping, advised her when to take medications, visited constantly, and called her every day.
Calling it irrelevant that Olga Davis had other children, Heineman said, “Every person is unique, and the relationship between one child and a mother is not the same as another.’’
Young said he would rule soon.
Bulger, 80, who has been a fugitive since 1995, is wanted on charges stemming from 19 slayings. Flemmi, 75, is serving a life sentence for 10 murders. The remains of Debra Davis, which had been buried in Quincy, were recovered in 2000.
Eiser also argued that if Olga Davis is awarded damages, then it should be only for the loss she suffered after 2000, because until then she believed her daughter might be alive.
Young disagreed, saying that Olga Davis suffered the loss of her daughter for 26 years.
In a related case, Young ruled earlier that he would not award damages for loss of companionship and support to the mother of another victim, Deborah Hussey, 26, who was strangled by Flemmi and allegedly by Bulger in 1985. He awarded $350,000 to Marion Hussey for her daughter’s suffering.
Yesterday, the lawyer for Marion Hussey, Flemmi’s longtime girlfriend, said she was not seeking damages for the mother’s loss of companionship and support.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. 
