For the second time in less than four months, the federal judge slated to preside over James “Whitey” Bulger’s criminal trial has denied a request from Bulger’s lawyer to recuse himself from the case.

In a three-page ruling issued on Sunday, US District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns wrote that the latest motion for recusal, which Bulger’s lead attorney filed last week, “raises no new issues of material fact or law.”