Newspaper, defense seeks Bulger documents release

BOSTON (AP) -- A federal magistrate judge in Boston is scheduled to hear arguments from a media company seeking access to records in the government's case against mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Authorities nabbed the 82-year-old Bulger in June 2011 in California after he spent 16 years on the run. Prosecutors say he had a role in 19 slayings, beginning in the 1970s when he was a top FBI informant.

The Boston Globe is seeking to defeat a 2011 protective order restricting disclosure of government discovery materials.

The company argues that keeping the public from getting information about Bulger without showing it poses a threat to his fair trial rights violates the First Amendment.

The defense agreed with the order last year, but now wants it lifted, saying it's "unconstitutionally overbroad."