Bulger lawyers object to prosecutors' request for criminal background checks on jurors

BOSTON — Lawyers for reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger have criticized a request from prosecutors to do criminal background checks on potential jurors for Bulger's trial.

His lawyers said in a filing Friday there is no compelling reason to do background checks on potential jurors. They said jurors could see it as a "harassing investigation."

Prosecutors filed a motion Thursday arguing that background checks could help determine whether potential jurors have truthfully answered questionnaires and would minimize the possibility of a mistrial.

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is scheduled to go on trial in June in a racketeering indictment accusing him of participating in 19 murders.

Bulger fled Boston in 1994 and remained one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives until he was captured in California in 2011.

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