Whitey Bulger’s Handler Seeks Freedom During Murder Conviction Appeal
Disgraced ex-FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., one of the many characters in the Whitey Bulger saga, wants out of a Florida prison while an appeals court reconsiders his conviction in the 1982 murder of John Callahan, NECN reports.
Convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm in 2008, Connolly has served nearly six years of his 40-year sentence. Though he didn’t shoot Callahan himself, Connolly fed Bulger information that led to the murder.
Callahan was a Boston businessman with ties to Miami. His body was found in the trunk of his Cadillac in a Miami International Airport parking lot on August 2, 1982. Bulger hitman John Martorano was convicted for murdering Callahan.
Prosecutors had charged Connolly with “second-degree murder with a firearm’’ because that law does not have a statute of limitations in Florida. Without that firearm qualification, the statute of limitations would have long expired by 2005, when Connolly was charged.
In May, a three-judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal overturned Connolly’s conviction by a vote of 2-1, ruling that the firearm charge was applied incorrectly. The Boston Globe reported:
“The appeals court found that Connolly’s conviction should be overturned because there was a four-year statute of limitations on second-degree murder in Florida in 1982, unless the defendant used a gun. The court found that since Connolly was not the triggerman in Callahan’s slaying, his conviction was time-barred.’’
Prosecutors have asked the full 10-judge bench to reconsider that decision, however. Meanwhile, attorneys for Connolly are asking the Florida Supreme Court to free him during his appeal.
Oral arguments in the rehearing are set to begin Feb. 12.
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