BOSTON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- James "Whitey" Bulger, an alleged Boston crime boss charged with 19 murders, says he "involuntarily" decided Friday not to take the stand in his trial.
His defense team rested after Bulger told the judge the trial had been a "sham," CNN reported.
"I'm making the choice involuntarily," Bulger told the judge. "I feel I've been choked off from making an adequate defense.
"This is a sham," he added. "Do what ya's want with me."
Bulger claimed he had been granted immunity by the now-deceased head of the Justice Department's New England Crime Strike Force. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper previously ruled Bulger could not use immunity as a defense.
Bulger had offered to hand over $822,000 in cash to relatives of two men he is accused of murdering, The Boston Globe reported.
The cash was found inside the walls of Bulger's California apartment when he was arrested in June 2011 after 16 years as a fugitive.
It is questionable whether the families of Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran, whom Bulger is accused of killing in 1982, could actually receive that money. The Justice Department seized the money when Bulger was arrested and it could be released only if he was acquitted and the money was found to have been earned legally, the newspaper said.
