I suspect that at heart, he is one.
If you want a lawyer to defend you, a geek would be a good choice.
A geek will study.
A geek will obsess over minor details that the non-geek might miss.
Thats not a bad thing to have on your side.
He had no idea that once he started law school hed have no time for bands.
That doesnt mean he gave up improvisation.
He just took it to the courts.
Brennan isnt offended by the term mouthpiece.
He says hes been called a lot of names in his years as a lawyer.
I didnt float the word shyster past him, though.
Brennan talked about the law and movies about the law.
The cross examination, which is the heart of any trial, is so well orchestrated.
There are some real classic law movies.
He particularly cites Paul Newman inThe Verdict.
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Hank Brennan is James Whitey Bulgers lawyer.
He is working right now on appealing the Boston mob legends conviction on racketeering and 11 murder charges.
Hank Brennan:I thought the documentary was an excellent summary of what happened in the trial.
So the documentary unfortunately doesnt reflect the depth of that corruption throughout the decade.
But I thought the documentary itself was an excellent presentation.
The next step is to do something about it.
He also was found guilty of racketeering.
Were you satisfied with your defense?
Do you know anything now that would have changed your strategy?
Do you rehash it in retrospect?
I dont say this callously, but I wouldnt have changed a thing.
I think about it every day.
I wake up in late hours of the night.
I run my examination, strategy, function through my head regularly.
As a man of law what do you think of the street code, gangster code of Omerta?
Its been successful for generations.
As far as an organized crime standpoint, the government did have quite an ordeal fighting that entire concept.
How is the gangster code of silence like the attorneys duty of confidentiality?
I wouldnt want to draw an analysis between the two.
Its wholly different things.
Attorney client privilege deals with applying an extraordinarily high level of tactical responsibility.
I couldnt speak to that.
Who subverts the law more often, criminals or law enforcement?
Well, heres what I said in the closing of the James Bulger trial.
We expect that our criminals did their crime, because thats what they inherently do.
We dont expect it from our law enforcement.
Law enforcement has this great advantage of being the custodian for the peoples power.
That is probably one of the greatest harms.
Do you think cameras in the courtroom help or harm the Justice system?
Cameras in the courtroom is essential.
What happens is filtered through the media that is covering it.
Thats why Joe Berlinger felt it was so important.
And for that Im grateful.
More specifically, do you think they help or hurt your client?
There were no cameras in the courtroom.
There was no video in the courtroom.
How did the press coverage of the event, the legend that surrounds Whitey Bulger, affect the trial?
Much of whats been said about James Bulger is myth.
They have to perpetuate the myth.
Theyre going to continue to exacerbate that myth rather than report the facts.
But when the federal government gets in trouble, theres nobody to prosecute them.
Theyre not going to prosecute themselves.
So its the old adage whos going to guard the guards?
What happens is that there is no watchdog for the federal government.
They really let them down and that troubles me.
I respectfully decline to speak to that.
What kind of person is Whitey actually?
How is Whitey different than the public persona, before and after he went on the lam?
I can tell you that Ive spent thousands of hours with him.
I visited him two days a week, seven or eight hours at a time leading to the trial.
The person I came to know was shockingly different than that.
An extraordinary storyteller, a photographic memory.
So my relationship and my association with him really was much different than I ever would have anticipated.
After the conviction, what options can you now explore?
There are a couple of important things that happened in Boston that Im dissatisfied with.
That association was that he was going to receive protection.
The government blocked all the evidence of that relationship.
James Bulger was denied his right to a fair trial.
Every citizen, no matter what your impression of them, has a right to a fair trial.
As James Bulger said during the end of his trial, it was a sham.
I dont disagree with him.
Ill take it back to court.
If we win well try this case again.
You came up through the state prosecutors office.
Theyre very similar but the perspective is very different.
Jay Carney, who was co-lead counsel, was a prosecutor for five years.
I started as a prosecutor at Suffolk County in the State system.
I was a state prosecutor for five years.
Our approach to the case is very different.
The prosecutors approach to a case should be trying to ensure justice.
You present the facts to the jury.
You dont make any emotional attachment to it.
The jury decides whether the facts are enough for a conviction.
The defense has an obligation to protect the client and to give them the best defense possible.
So a defense attorney can get emotionally attached?
Its a temporary assignment.
Whereas if you have a client, theyre coming to you because theyre asking you to fight for them.
That could mean something very subtle or it could mean their life.
And so there is a very different bond and connection.
As a defense attorney, you become extraordinarily attached, but its important that you remain objective.
Though as a prosecutor, there are victims that I feel a strong attachment to.
You are one of the top Criminal Defense Attorneys in Massachusetts.
Its like studying for finals every day of your life.
I literally work 100 hours a week.
Ive worked 80 hours a week since I was a prosecutor.
Youre from the suburbs of Boston.
When you were growing up were gangsters at all heroes to you like they can be in the city?
When I was young, everybody sees television.
Everything is quite sensationalized on television and everybody wants to be the bad guy.
Theres something mysterious and cool about being the bad guy.
This case particularly left me with some really difficult experiences that I dont think I can ever escape from.
That is what happens to the people left behind.
The families left behind.
Its just a painful image to watch.
I dont think I see things the same way as when I was a little kid.
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