Bulger lawyer: defense needs a year before trial


February 13, 2012 at 3:42p.m.

Bulger lawyer: defense needs a year before trial

BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for reputed gangster James “Whitey” Bulger have told a judge they need at least another year to go through “a tsunami’s worth” of evidence provided by prosecutors, including more than half a million documents and nearly 1,000 tapes.

Bulger’s lawyers said in court documents filed today that a suggestion by prosecutors that a trial date should be set soon is “so unreasonable that it is frivolous.” Bulger is accused of participating in 19 murders.

The 82-year-old former leader of the Winter Hill Gang was also a top-echelon FBI informant. He was captured in June in Santa Monica, Calif., after 16 years on the run.

Bulger’s lawyers are expected in court this afternoon for a hearing on what additional evidence they may ask for and to set a schedule for filing motions in the case.