Whitey Bulger Trial: The Judge And Attorneys
BOSTON (CBS) - Here is a look at some of the main players in the Whitey Bulger trial at U.S. District Court in South Boston.
Trial Coverage | Evidence | Timeline | Defense Witnesses | Prosecution Witnesses
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper
Casper has been a federal judge since December 2010. She was nominated by President Obama in April 2010 to fill the seat vacated by the late Judge Reginald Lindsay. Casper is the first black woman to sit on the federal bench in Massachusetts. She's a 1994 graduate of Harvard Law School.
She took over for U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns, who was ordered to step down from the trial in March by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Carney is Bulger's lead criminal defense attorney. He graduated from Holy Cross and Boston College Law School and began his career as a full-time public defender in Boston from 1978 to 1983.
Carney was an Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County from 1983 to 1988. He co-founded the firm of Carney & Bassil in 1989. He most recently represented Tarek Mehanna, a Sudbury man convicted of conspiring to help al Qaeda.
Brennan is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School. Before joining Carney's firm, he was a prosecutor in Essex and Suffolk Counties.
Ortiz was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009. She is the first Hispanic and the first woman to represent Massachusetts as United States Attorney.
Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and a prosecutor in Middlesex County. She is a graduate of Adelphi University and George Washington University Law School.
Assistant US Attorneys:
Brian Kelly
Kelly has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 22 years. He's been the Chief of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit since January 2005.
Kelly, 52, graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Prior to coming to Boston, he worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego.
Fred Wyshak, Jr.
Wyshak, 60, has been with the U.S. Attorney's Office since 1989. He previously worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. He graduated from New York University and St. John's Law School.
Zachary Hafer
Hafer, 37, has been with the Boston office for six years. He worked previously with the New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Hafer graduated from Dartmouth and the University of Virginia Law School.
