Perry Russo testified in the three-day hearing held by Judge Herbert Christenberry in January 1971 that was held to determine if Clay Shaw should be tried for perjury.
Here is his testimony:
Russo pleaded the fifth and refused to say if Clay Shaw was in David Ferrie's apartment in September of 1963. At the Clay Shaw trial in 1969, he testified that Shaw was in Ferrie's apartment.
So, was Russo having a change of heart? Was he now trying to tell the truth? If he now said that Shaw was NOT at Ferrie's apartment, he knew that Garrison would charge him with perjury.
The only way out was the fifth.
Right at the end of the hearings, William Alford, one of the lawyers for Jim Garrison, had an objection:
So ,Garrison passed on an opportunity to grant Russo immunity from a possible perjury charge, and have him testify.
I wonder why?
Two days after his testimony, Russo stopped by the offices of William Gurvich. He was interviewed by Gurvich and Wegmann and opened up about what had happened in the Garrison investigation. I'll be posting segments of this interview in the coming weeks.