Did Clay Shaw Get the Help He Deserved?, Part Eight
- Fred Litwin
- Nov 1
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Clay Shaw's Acquittal; New Charges; and Wegmann Goes Back to the Department of Justice.
Our last post ended with the start of Clay Shaw's trial for conspiring to kill JFK.
During the course of the trial, there was ample opportunity for the Department of Justice to get involved and help Clay Shaw.
For instance:
Clay Shaw's attorneys had trouble with the Clinton witnesses because they did not have access to Garrison's investigative reports which showed their contradictory stories over time.
Inconsistencies in the Stories of the Clinton Witnesses
Part Ten: Corrie Collins continually changed his story about what happened in Clinton.
Part Twelve: Henry Earl Palmer told a ridiculous story about Oswald claiming he was living with a doctor in Jackson.
Part Fourteen: Henry Earl Palmer told Andrew Sciambra that Judge John Rarick was there when the black Cadillac visited Clinton. Author Don Carpenter emailed Rarick in 2007 to ask him. His answer is revealing.
Part Sixteen: Some witnesses saw other people in Clinton that day; Manchester's poor memory; and a look at whether the Cadillac's registration was checked in Baton Rouge.
And as the DOJ memo above indicates, the FBI informed Garrison that their files showed that Reeves Morgan, despite his claims, never called the FBI after the assassination to say that he had recognized Oswald. Shaw's attorneys did not know this and Garrison was not going to divulge that information.
The Department of Justice could have blown away the Clinton witnesses with the information in the FBI files. But they did nothing. As you can see, Nathaniel Kossack's notation at the bottom of this reads: "No -- do not do anything at this time. We cannot interfere with State trial."
Colonel Finck did not do well under cross-examination and James Robinson, an attorney with the DOJ Crime Section, worried that the "net result" will be "to discredit the Commission Report in the minds of the jury and lead to Shaw's conviction." And while reporters may understand this has "no direct bearing" on Shaw's guilt, the "jurors will not be inclined to draw such a distinction, rather they will reason: if the report is wrong, Garrison is right."
Kossack wrote at the bottom that "We are unable to extricate Shaw's attorneys. I am reluctant to get us involved in any positive act."
Clay Shaw was acquitted on March 1, 1969, and two days later Garrison charged Shaw with two counts of perjury, claiming that Shaw lied when he testified he had never met Lee Harvey Oswald or David Ferrie. The two charges would be hard to refute -- after all, Garrison had found bogus witnesses for the conspiracy charges; it wouldn't be hard to drum up some bogus witnesses that would claim Shaw knew Ferrie or Oswald.
Shaw was in real jeopardy since perjury is a felony and carried ten-year prison terms for each count.
Once again, Shaw's lawyers turned to the Department of Justice. Richard Nixon was now the President and there was a new team at the Department of Justice. Perhaps new eyes would understand that Garrison had to be stopped.
Shaw's attorneys filed a new civil rights complaint and handed it to the FBI in New Orleans.
Here is Clay Shaw's statement:
Money Quote:
I reiterate that I did not know, was never acquainted with, did not talk to and never saw in person, and had absolutely no contact of any kind or nature with either Lee Harvey Oswald or David W. Ferrie. The perjury charges filed against me by Garrison can be for no purpose other than to continue to deprive me of my civil and constitutional rights and to further harass me as he has done for more than two years.
Money Quote:
When Garrison arrested me and when he caused me to be indicted by the grand jury, he and his co-conspirators knew that the charges were entirely without basis in fact or in law. While there is other evidence to support that statement, it perhaps best evidenced by the conversation which transpired between Charles Ward, Executive Assistant District Attorney to Garrison, and William Gurvich, approximately three hours after my arrest: Ward, in response to Gurvich's question as to why I had been arrested, and the basis therefor, stated: "Raw political power."
Money Quote:
During the trial, Russo acknowledged that he had stated to Lieutenant Edward O'Donnell of the New Orleans Police Department Detective Bureau "I don't know if he (Clay Shaw) was there or not."; and that the alleged conspiratorial meeting was nothing more than a "bull session."
Money Quote:
It is significant that the prosecution produced only one witness to attest to the alleged conspiratorial meeting. No witnesses were produced nor was any evidence introduced to corroborate the testimony of Russo with respect to anything, but most especially with respect to the alleged conspiratorial meeting.
Money Quote:
Lieutenant Edward O'Donnell of the New Orleans Police Department Detective Bureau, will attest to the fact that prior to Bundy's having been placed on the witness stand at the preliminary hearing in March of 1967, he, O'Donnell, gave Bundy a polygraph examination, which showed Bundy to be lying when he told his story. The fact of his having failed the polygraph test was transmitted to Garrison and his associates, whereupon Garrison stated: "We didn't tell him to lie so we are protected -- we will use him as a witness," or words to that effect.
Money Quote:
The testimony of these witnesses is suspect for a number of reasons. Manchester allegedly obtained a "1028" (license registration check) on the car, but no such document was produced.
You can read more about Roger Craig at these links:
A look at Bleau's assertions about Roger Craig.
Both Ferrell and Meagher didn't think much of Roger Craig.
Craig told Lane some really crazy stuff.
Roger Craig wrote a memo to Jim Garrison about Marina Oswald's doctor.
Garrison charges Edgar Eugene Bradley with conspiracy to kill JFK, and Roger Craig says that Bradley was the Secret Service man he encountered outside the TSBD.
Some conspiracy theorists believe that Bradley was one of the three tramps. A few letters in this post mention Roger Craig.
Here is the report they submitted on the Perry Russo interview:
Here is what Shaw's attorneys submitted on Charles Spiesel:
Now it was up to the new Department of Justice to consider if it could help Clay Shaw.
NEXT: The Bonderman Memo.
The Clay Shaw Series
The setting in New Orleans
The DOJ is told not to get involved. The FBI follows suit.
Ed Wegmann goes to Washington.
The CIA gets involved.
Wegmann goes back to Washington with Irvin Dymond.
Wegmann files a civil rights complaint with the Department of Justice.
Wegmann files a forty-five-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans.
Clay Shaw's Acquittal; New Charges; and Wegmann Goes Back to the Department of Justice.
The new Department of Justice, under President Nixon, considers Shaw's new civil rights complaint.
Conclusion -- and a case study in how a conspiracy theorist gets it wrong on Clay Shaw.
