Nation's Press Editorializes on Shaw Trial (Editor's Note: Nationwide interest centered ter is that Garrison came horrible thought intrudes diet of not guilty was evoca- might have resulted . - in the New Orleans' trial of Clay Shaw on charges up with very shoddy evi- that possibly it could only tive of the maddened fish- If a fraud was perpetrated, of conspiracy to assassinate President John F. dence, if one can call it have happened in the Amer- wives of Paris, unaccount- no one has to look further Kennedy. Presented is a cross-section of this that . ica of the late '60s or at ably cheated at the very far it than the office of the The point that needs em- some time very close to the steps to the guillotine of New Orleans district attor- week's editorial comment.) 5- - i .3 )g-itt phasizing is not whether late '60s; that it is a part some long-awaited head . . . ney. Garrison acted irresponsi- The whole ridiculous Pro- St. Louis Shaw conspiracy case onto of the general derangement bly now that his case against of our times and conceivably Houston Chronicle: ceeding is a blot on New the public stage two years Shaw flopped. The point is— Globe-Democrat: even an indispensable part. Orleans. Mr. Garrison is up ago with a roll of drums and did he violate the principles For more than two years The New Orleans farce di- of justice regardless of the It is difficult to believe for reelection in six Marlins, the sound of trumpets. The the nation and the world rected by District Attorney curtain came down quietly outcome of the trial? that Mr. Garrison's charade and we hope the voters deal The Louisiana Bar would have been assaulted with a Jim Garrison has ended, could have been maintained with him as he deserves • • • after a five-week trial that be remiss if it did not at barrage of wild claims from with his ultradramatic at- for . . . (two years) if there failed to produce the prom- least make a thorough New Orleans' District At- tempts to expose the War- ised fireworks, when the jury were not a sizable number Lake Charles study . of members of the public-at- torney Jim Garrison . . ren Commission as a fraud. was unanimous in acquitting American Priss: Shaw on the first ballot, af- large who were prepared to When it became obvious to Instead Garrison was shown believe any kind of conspira- ter only 50 minutes of delib- Arkansas Gazette: most people that the sound The farce in New Orleans an irresponsible and maca- cy theory for the John Ken- erations . . . of Garrison's voice was more is over. The verdicts are in. bre court jester. As a result, the report of Looking back on the trial nedy assassination they were important to him than the One verdict, which sur- The bizarre conspiracy the Warren Commission . . - (if that is the word) of offered, so long as it was a case, in which Garrison emerges stronger than ever. Clay Shaw, the instinctual re- conspiracy. soundness of his statements, prised no one, was rendered charged the Warren Corn- Some skeptics, of course, sponse is to ask oneself The screams and cries of "Big Jim" promised that he by the jury . . how anything like this could "Nol" "No!" heard from would be borne out at the mission's report on the as- will continue to harbor Another verdict is also in- sassination of President John doubts. A few opportunists have happened in the Ameri- women at the back of the Shaw trial. - ca of the late '60s. But the This verdict is on the F. Kennedy was fraudulent, may use the record of the spectators' seats at the ver- The trial is finally over, Dis- two years after Shaw's ar- duct of New Orleans has revealed Garrison as un- Shaw trial to write books trict Attorney Jim Garrison, fit to hold his present office. for profit, if not enlighten- rest . . . Shaw is innocent. the small society by Brickman and the verdict here is "guil- He took advantage of his ment. The jurors, had to ty as charged" . . . deal with matters of fact, legal position by using the St. Louis The Shaw trial was fi- not with rumors and fig- trial as a forum to advance so WPAT IF TfIE Post-Dispatch: nanced 0( ifn apart)prvae b ty contri- his own pet theories, based ments of imagination. -11/.10 Pi TN f~Y butions on unsubstantial charges exAcTLY LOVE E.Aci-i - The acquittal of Clay L. We do not think this sort of which wilted of their own Monroe News-Star: OTftER. WHY cArier Shaw on a charge of con- thing should be con- absurdity . . . SGT A LONG spiring to assassinate Presi- doned . . Based on the evidence LIKE HUSBAND dent Kennedy would have Some months back, we Said Philadelphia Inquirer: presented . . the jury hear- AMP WIPE ? been a foregone conclusion that the Shaw trialst oci wa f ing the case had no choice were it not for the fact that making a laughing of Flamboyant Jim Garrison, but to render a verdict of the case against him was so Louisiana, and there is no is ex- the district attorney of New not guilty. 1.• 3-alicreKriArd. preposterous that an equally doubt now that this Orleans, ushered the Clay The cold fact of the mat- preposterous v e r diet just actly what has happened •