US Supreme Court rejects bid to hear appeal from Whitey Bulger’s alleged victims

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By David Frank
Dolan Media Newswires

BOSTON, MA — Any hope the families of two of James “Whitey” Bulger’s alleged victims may have had that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear their appeal have come to an end.

In a decision that effectively concludes a bitter decade-long legal battle, the court on May 14 rejected an application for further appellate review brought by the estates of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue.

Family members for both men, who were killed on Bulger’s alleged orders, accused the FBI of leaking confidential information to the reputed mob boss, which enabled his alleged reign of terror to continue.

When the estates each won landmark multi-million-dollar judgments in 2009, the government quickly appealed, on grounds that the suits were not filed within the two-year statute of limitations.

Although two different trial judges ruled in favor of the families, U.S. Court of Appeals First District Chief Judge Sandra Lynch concluded last fall that the Halloran and Donahue plaintiffs had ample notice of their claims to file suit earlier, but simply failed to do so.

“The legal issues presented by these cases is not whether the conduct of the FBI was shameful; it was,” Lynch wrote. “It is not whether these plaintiffs are victims of that conduct; they are.”

In an unusually scathing dissent, U.S. Appeals Judge Juan Torruella said there was no good reason to deprive the families of their money.

“Bulger has finally been apprehended, and is now being hauled into the federal courthouse in Boston to answer for the crimes he allegedly committed years ago,” the judge wrote. “But unlike Bulger himself, thanks to the panel majority’s decision and the full court’s refusal to reverse it, Bulger’s most trusted associate — the Boston FBI office — has gotten away with murder.”

The odds of the appeal succeeding were stacked against both families, as the Supreme Court only agrees to hear a small percentage of cases every year.

The decision means the families’ only real chance of receiving any money will be to appeal to Congress, which is currently considering passage of two bills that could eventually lead to some form of compensation.

“As far as our judicial remedies, I think this is the end of the road,” said William Christie of New Hampshire, who represents the Halloran family. “Justice, as far as the courts go, has been denied.”

Bulger’s criminal trial is scheduled for November.