Former Prosecutor: Catherine Greig Could Face More Serious Charges
BOSTON (CBS) - Some of the focus after Whitey Bulger's arrest now turns to his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, who will be back in court this week.
"It's going to be really interesting to see what involvement Catherine Greig did or did not have," said Jennifer Roman, a former prosecutor at the Middlesex district attorney's office
Roman said Catherine Greig could potentially face more serious charges.
"She's definitely facing a harboring a fugitive charge; that's kind of the no-brainer. But, she could also face some conspiracy charges, conspiracy to commit murder, depending on what she knew or didn't know, conspiracy to commit extortion, and those kinds of conspiracy charges would carry a much heavier penalty than the five years a harboring a fugitive (charge) would carry," said Roman.
WBZ-TV's Jim Smith reports.
Prosecutors said Greig had been on the run with Bulger since he fled in 1995.
The Scene: Whitey & Greig's Home In Santa Monica, California
But, will Greig try to convince those prosecutors that she stayed with him against her will?
"A part of the mitigating circumstances that the prosecution's gonna look at is if she does start to talk, and reveal some involvement or some knowledge about these alleged crimes that have occurred, will be her state of mind," said Roman.
Roman said harboring a fugitive might be the only charge that federal officials can make stick, but they could also try to threaten Greig with some legal saber-rattling to try and make her talk.
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"Certainly, they could use it as a pressure tool. If you don't tell us what you know about Whitey Bulger or some of his other thought-to-be cohorts in crime, then we're gonna hit you with this heavier charge and heavier penalty," said Roman.
Greig is being held at a detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, while Bulger remains in the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. The prisons are roughly 50 miles apart.
