Unclear if Bulger Will Testify

At the end of court proceedings Wednesday, it was still not clear if James "Whitey" Bulger would take the stand in his own defense.

Bulger, a notorious Boston gangster, is standing trial in federal court on charges of murder, racketeering and weapons possession.

According to Boston.com, federal prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Denise Casper they deserve to know if Bulger will take the stand, but after a private sidebar at the end of the day's proceedings, Casper hadn't made any decisions on the matter.

Casper did, however, make another important decision Wednesday, ruling that Parick Nee, a former Bulger associate, will not have to testify in the trial, according to BostonHerald.com.

Nee, who served time for smuggling weapons to the Irish Republican Army and for holding up armored cars, has been implicated in some of the murders Bulger is accused of committing, including those of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue, who were gunned down in a car, and Arthur "Bucky" Barrett, according to the news website.

Prosecutors and Nee's attorney said the Bulger associate would plead the Fifth if called to the stand and asked about those crimes, BostonHerald.com reported.

Also on Wednesday, Bulger's defense team grilled former FBI agents James Crawford and Fred Davis, according to WBUR.org.

Crawford suggested that it was Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, Bulger's former partner, who committed the murders of Halloran, Donahue and Debra Davis, according to the radio station's website.

Davis testified that Bulger's so-called informant file, back in the 1970s and 1980s, was thin and worthless, and that he recommended closing it. He also talked about a culture of paranoia, corruption and leaks in Boston's FBI office at that time. Again, that's according to WBUR.org.

The radio station's website noted Bulger's seeming obsession with denying he was an informant, which is "an irrelevant allegation since it’s not a crime to be an informant." WBUR called it a "vanity defense."

On Tuesday, Bulger's defense team filed documents asking Judge Casper to allow the jury to consider the lesser charge of "accessory after the fact to murder" against Bulger, according to BostonHerald.com.

Also, Casper ruled against the defense team Tuesday on its motion to sequester the jury, the news website said.

WBUR reported that Bulger's lawyers plan to call eight more witnesses. One of them will be John Martorano, a convicted murderer and former Bulger associate who has already testified in the trial, according to BostonHerald.com