Fred Weichel, who has spent 32 years in prison on murder charges, is claiming his innocence, stating that notorious South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger framed him. Now 62, he is asking for a new trail claiming that certain evidence was withheld from the jury that convicted him back in 1981.
Weichel says that Bulger lackey Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi last year told federal prosecutors that Bulger coerced a corrupt FBI agent into withholding information from the authorities that he saw Weichel at the bar shortly before Robert LaMonica was shot in 1980 according to the Huffington Post. That alibi could have made a big difference in Weichel’s 1981 trail said his lawyers.
Boston attorney Michael Ricciuti,who is representing Weichel for free through New England Innocence Projec,t claims that he is innocent.
“It’s clear that there is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” stated Ricciuti on CBS. “They can say a jury convicted him — that is factually true — but the standard is if a jury had all the evidence we have now, would it make a difference? There is no way you can look at that and say let’s indict Weichel. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Last February, Flemmi gave the information to prosecutors when they were preparing for Bulger’s highly-publicized racketeering trail. Flemmi was a key witness against Bulger who was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to life in prison.
As well, in 2010, Braintree police suggested that someone else has been identified as a possible suspect. The police turned up the report from June 9, 1980 that said a witness and ten correctional officers identified a different man, Rocco Bailliro, as the subject of a composite drawing made by the details from the witness who stated he saw him run from the murder scene.
Bailliro was out of prison on furlough at the time of the killing. Bailliro past away in 2012, continued the Huffington Post. This report was not in the attorney’s file or turned over to Weichel’s lawyer during his trial.
“This failure was crippling to Mr. Weichel,” Ricciuti said during his motion for a new trial.
This is the third time Weichel has filed for a new trail at the Norfolk Superior Court.
(Image by Hollywood goodfella)
