Bulger Day 25: A Victim’s Brother Screams at Stephen Flemmi

So Whitey Bulger’s on trial and you’re interested in hearing about it, but you’ve got this darn day job and you can’t manage to keep up with all the live tweets. We feel you. Here’s what you missed. (Past coverage here.)

The Outburst: In a surprisingly dramatic confrontation, even for a trial that’s had more than its share of them, Steve Davis, the brother of alleged victim Debra Davis, erupted in an obscenity-laced tirade against the witness, Stephen Flemmi, just moments into his testimony.

Flemmi picked up where he left off Friday afternoon, describing the murder of his girlfriend Debra Davis. He began by saying that Debra’s brother Steve was suspected to be an informer and drug dealer.

“That’s a lie,” screamed Davis from his seat in court, where he’s been a constant presence. “That’s a fucking lie.” Davis continued to call Flemmi a “fucking liar” as Flemmi quickly acknowledge that he’d meant to name Debra’s other brother, Mickey, who isn’t in court today. “I apologize for that remark,” he said, to which Davis replied, “Thank you.”

As the U.S. Marshals quickly made their way to him, Judge Casper told him he could only stay in court if he promised to behave. Davis sat fuming for another few moments before excusing himself. And somewhere, deep in the bowels of a cable news office, Nancy Grace softly wept at the notion that this trial isn’t being televised.

The Testimony: After the exciting start, the rest of the day proceeded less eventfully. Flemmi detailed murder after murder, all of which we’d heard about before from both Kevin Weeks and John Martorano. Once again, the most dramatic testimony concerned the killing of a woman, Deborah Hussey, who was the daughter of Flemmi’s common law wife. Flemmi described how Bulger wanted Hussey dead because she’d been involved in prostitution and drugs, and was dropping Bulger’s and Flemmi’s names around town. And so she was brought over to the Haunty where Bulger fell to the ground while strangling her. “It didn’t take long. She was a very fragile woman,” he testified.

Bulger’s lawyer just began a cross-examination when court was adjourned, during which he began to imply that Flemmi might be lying about having strangled her himself because he helped raise her from a young age. He also focused on Flemmi’s sexual relationship with her, which Flemmi said was consensual and never involved intercourse. It’s a grim topic, but expect to hear more on it tomorrow.