BOSTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A judge has rejected claims from lawyers for 82-year-old accused mafia killer James "Whitey" Bulger that they need another year to prepare for his Boston trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler in U.S. District Court set Bulger's trial date for Nov. 5, The Boston Globe reported.
Defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. said in a court filing Monday prosecutors had turned over about 580,000 pages of documents and 921 wiretap tapes, of which only a few had been transcribed.
After Bowler announced the trial date, Carney said: "Your honor, I object. We can't possibly be ready."
But federal prosecutor Brian Kelly said Bulger was trying to avoid a trial.
"Frankly, it appears to us that Mr. Bulger is trying to run out the clock and delay it so he doesn't have a trial," Kelly said. "We don't need to delay this endlessly for discovery issues that are irrelevant."
Bulger, who is charged with 19 murders in the federal racketeering case, did not attend the hearing.
He was captured in June in Santa Monica, Calif., where neighbors said he had been living with his girlfriend for at least 13 years. Bulger had been one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted after fleeing to evade a 1995 federal racketeering indictment, the Globe said.
The Boston Herald reported Tuesday families of the 19 victims Bulger is accused of killing expressed relief his trial date has been set.
