Read Online Where the Bodies Were Buried by T. J. English - Free Book Online

handled large, complicated criminal defenses, Carney kept his nose to the grindstone. Part of the reason the Bulger case took as long as it did to come to trial—two years from the time of Whitey’s arrest to the opening of the trial—was that the defense needed the time to absorb not only the totality of the charges against their client, but also the criminal history surrounding his case.
    Carney began his opening statement by introducing himself and his co-counsel, Hank Brennan, to the jury. “When we were appointed by a judgein this court to represent [James Bulger], we knew we had a challenging task. We hope when we present our case to you, you will see the results of all the work we have done to dig into this case and present to you what the truth is.”
    Carney’s manner of speaking was deliberate, as if he were talking to a small child. He thanked the jury for their service, a common gambit among lawyers designed to give the men and women of the jury the impression that their service was highly valued.
    Generally, trial lawyers are hyperattuned to the vagaries of human attraction. They know that jurors can be swayed simply by whether or not they like one particular legal advocate over another. In a trial that was expected to last many weeks, the lawyers and jurors in this case would be spending much time together. It was incumbent upon the lawyers to establish a rapport with the jury, to not alienate or grate upon an individual so as to turn them against your case simply because they didn’t like you.
    It was clear from the start that Carney was going to take his sweet time. In the weeks and months leading up to the trial, he had noticed, and frequently commented upon in court, that the strategy of the prosecution seemed to be to hold back information and then dump it on the court in large volumes at the last minute. At issue was what is known in the trade as “discovery material”—confidential documents, memos, internal law enforcement reports, court transcripts, etc.—that the government is obligated by law to turn over to the defense. The prosecution’s strategy seemed to be to overwhelm with an avalanche of evidence anyone hoping to make sense of the charges against Bulger, an approach that Carney and Brennan, as a matter of principle, seemed determined to counteract.
    â€œYou know,” said Bulger’s public defender, “listening to Mr. Kelly’s opening statement kind of reminded me of a restaurant and how when you go to a restaurant, you’re served a meal, and the food has been prepared in the kitchen. By the time it gets to your table, there’s a beautiful presentation. A lot of time has been spent on it, to make it look as appealing as possible. And that’s sort of like what it is when the government presents a witness in the courtroom. They’ve spent a lot of time with the witness, they’ve done a lot of negotiating with the witness, things have evolved with the witness, and then it leads to the point where the witnessis ready to come to the courtroom and testify, just like food when it’s brought to your table.
    â€œWhat Hank and I are going to do is try to show you what happens in the prosecutor’s kitchen before this witness gets out here and tells you things that went on that Mr. Kelly didn’t tell you, and the factors that shaped not just the witness, but more importantly, what the witness is going to be saying to you.”
    In keeping with the food and dining metaphor, Carney proceeded to set the table, which in his case involved laying out the historical framework that created the foundation for the Bulger years.
    He began his narrative in the early 1960s, describing how FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had become obsessed with building criminal cases against the Mafia. Noted Carney, “This became a nationwide crusade on the part of every prosecutor and the majority of the FBI agents working for the federal