The jury deliberated for two days before returning with its verdict. Connolly wil be sentenced on Aug. 7, and he was released on $200,000 bail.Connolly was found guilty of one racketeering charge, two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements to the FBI. He was acquitted of an additional obstruction of justice charge.
Connolly faces a maximum of 45 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines call for much less. At midafternoon, the jurors asked if they could have different findings for one of the acts Connolly was accused of committing under the racketeering charge and a separate obstruction of justice charge relating to similar conduct.Connolly, 61, was the handler for mobsters James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. Prosecutors alleged that Connolly gave Bulger and Flemmi the identities of three informants, who were later murdered. But jurors did not convict Connolly on charges related to those deaths, finding no evidence that he had anything to do with them.Former mob hit man Kevin Weeks testified that Connolly was looking for Bulger in 1994 on the day after several FBI agents were confidentially told that Bulger and Flemmi were going to be indicted. Both mobsters fled the area, and Bulger is still on the loose. Jurors found Connolly not guilty of obstruction of justice related to that incident.Connolly was found guilty of sending a false and fraudulent letter to a judge and persuading Flemmi to testify falsely about how Connolly's supervisor, John Morris, learned of the indictment.Connolly was also accused of accepting bribes. He was found guilty of one out of five bribery charges.He denied all the charges, saying that he was always following the orders of his superiors. Connolly did not testify in his own defense.
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