Whitey Bulger Witness Found Dead; Katherine Jackson Takes The Stand
WHITFIELD: A dramatic twist in the trial of alleged Boston mob boss, Whitey Bulger. A potential witness was found dead a day after he learned he was dropped from the prosecution's witness list. Our legal guys are back, Avery Friedman in Cleveland, Richard Herman in Las Vegas. All right, good to see you guys again. OK, so let's set the scene a bit here. Stephen Rakes body was discovered on a roadside about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The D.A.'s Office says the autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma, but police are still investigating. Rakes has claimed that he was forced to give up his South Boston liquor store so Whitey Bulger could turn it into a front for his mob gang. So with this suspicious death of a potential witness, has that now shaken up the case, potentially scare off other potential witnesses, Avery?</s>FRIEDMAN: Wow. Well, I'll tell you something. Rakes really wanted to testify in this case and they find him dead this week. On top of that, the number two guy in the Winterhouse Gang, which was headed up by Bulger testified. That was Stephen "The Rifleman" Fleming and he actually talked about having to work with number one, with Bulger, in strangling his girlfriend. On top of that, there's a battle about who's a rat to whom and which FBI was taking money? Fredricka, you couldn't hire screenwriters to come up with this kind of a story. It is absolutely amazing, and wait for the cross-examination, which will be starting on Monday.</s>WHITFIELD: And then, Richard, you have a situation where you've got potential -- a witness leaving the stand. Mouthing off saying a few things to Bulger, he's saying a few things in return, and then they go, you know, their own way after not seeing each other for many, many years. This is quite the soap opera in this courtroom.</s>HERMAN: Fred, this is better than "The Sopranos." But Avery, I just want to be clear. So you were being antagonistic towards "The Rifleman," right? Is that what you were doing just now, Avery?</s>FRIEDMAN: Yes. That's right. Exactly right.</s>HERMAN: OK. Anyway, Fred, this case -- I'm going to duck. Nineteen murders here, Fred, are coming out during the course of this trial. It's a massive Rico trial. Everyone's a rat. Everyone's giving up everybody. You know, even Whitey Bulger was a rat for a few years and then he got the tip-off despite the government. They're going to press additional charges against him. So he went on the lam. He hid for so long. They found him and now everybody is laying it on because everybody wants substantial assistance. They want to reduce their prison terms and are saying anything and everything about Whitey Bulger.</s>WHITFIELD: So some interesting pleas, plea deals, or exchange deals that have been offered here.</s>HERMAN: Cooperation, cooperation deals.</s>WHITFIELD: Cooperation, OK.</s>HERMAN: There you go.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's talk about another case involving the wrongful death case against AEG. You've got the former pop star, Michael Jackson's mom, Katherine Jackson, taking to the stand, getting very emotional saying that she wants to know what really happened to her son. How impactful is the testimony of, you know, Katherine Jackson on the stand there, Richard?</s>HERMAN: Yes, Fred, it has to be gut wrenching. You know, just like Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin are experiencing the loss of a son. She experienced the loss of her son. It's unnatural for a parent to have to bury a child. That's what's going on. They laid it on today. They made her go through the beginning of the career of Michael Jackson, when he started singing. It's gut wrenching to hear this as juror. At the end of the day, though, I don't know if her testimony makes or breaks the case. The issue is whether or not AEG negligently hired Conrad Murray. That's really the issue before the jury, but it was compelling testimony, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, and that given the case, Avery, thus far is that being established?</s>FRIEDMAN: I think there are some evidence that the jury is going to be able to consider it. It's not going to be thrown out in the middle of the case, but let me tell you something. The jury has been there 12 weeks, Fredricka, and the people that represent the estate are now trying to end their piece of it by -- by the -- by crescendoing the case and bringing in Katherine Jackson, and she's the sympathetic mother of Michael Jackson. What's very interesting is the judge even permitted a montage of the children and grandchildren with Michael Jackson singing in the background. I mean, ordinarily that's not evidence, but, remember, we're Los Angeles. So these sorts of things get in, and then we will start up the defense. The defense of this case, we're going hear what AEG Live has to say, but up to this point, Katherine Jackson, was exactly the witness that should have ended this case.</s>WHITFIELD: Pulling at the heartstrings. All right, Avery, Richard.</s>FRIEDMAN: That's for sure.</s>WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.</s>HERMAN: Good to see you. Great seeing you, Fred.</s>FRIEDMAN: All the best.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, of course, you can always catch the legal guys here every Saturday. They are so committed about this time with their take on the most intriguing and fascinating legal cases of the day, the week, the year. You name it. Whatever it is, they're here. We can count on them. Thanks so much, guys.