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'Whitey' Bulger loses on jury sequestration during deliberations

BOSTON, July 30 (UPI) -- Accused Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger lost a bid Tuesday to have jurors sequestered during deliberation in his murder and racketeering trial.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper said ordering the jury into a hotel without advance notice would cause its members great inconvenience, but she reserves the right to change her mind and order sequestration, The Boston Globe reported.

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Casper said all the articles cited by Bulger's lawyers as evidence of sensational and biased media coverage were the work of Kevin Cullen, a columnist for the Globe.

Bulger, who spent years as a fugitive before his arrest in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011, is charged with a long list of crimes, including murders. Prosecutors rested their case last week.

Robert Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent and the first defense witness, returned to the stand Tuesday, the Globe said. Fitzpatrick wrote a book, "Betrayal," about corruption in the Boston FBI office in the 1980s, when some agents allegedly shielded Bulger because he provided information on other criminals.

Fitzpatrick testified Bulger told him he was not an FBI informant. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly grilled him on inconsistencies between his testimony and his book.

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