,.. ,... .. - .: - ._ ._. REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES -k ._- __.__ - ..-_ _ ,.-.,-- -. ‘- .-e- . _ . .--x--b .._I %. .-. ..- _ . .._ . ___+___-b -_..- --.---_- -.-. --. --. .-e-- _. _ --_ _ .-” I _- CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF ORLEANS . STATE OF LOUISIANA . STATE OF LOUISIANA . 198-059 . vs. 1426 (30) . ' CLAY L. SEAW . SECTIOX "C" . ., . _:. :- 7.y' EXCERPT FROM PROCEEDINGS IN C2EN COURT 027 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1969, BEFORE: THE HOKORABLE ED:fARD A. HAGGERTY, JR. JUDGE, SECTION "C" Idietrich Cy-Pickett, Inc. 333 ST. CHARLES AVENUE, SUlfE 1221 NEW ORLEANS. LOUISIANA 70130- 522.3111 .:_ . .._ _ . .- . 1 e. OPENING STATEMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY , MR.. GARRISON: May it please the court: Gentlemen of the Jury, you have been im- posed on, to some extent unavoidably, because you have to be sequestered, and I am about to impose On you one more time, because I have to read to you a rather lengthy opening state- ment. The reason I have to read it 11 is because under our law we cannot 12 introduce evidence which has not 13 been described, at least generally, 14 in the opening statement, so as a- 15 result prosecuting attorneys in - It Louisiana have to read their opening 17 statements in order to make sure the1 18 have touched every point of evidence L ;- 19 that they intend to introduce. .So I 2c hope you will bear with me, and I 21 will try and make it as painless as 2: possible. 2: I am going to read it verbatim, because 2 I intend to give a copy to the Defen! for their convenience as soon as I 2 . : .__.- _ . .. , _ -, -... 1 finish, and I want the copy I give 3 : :’ 2 them to be precisely the same as I 3 have~given you. 4 The State of Louisiana is required by law 5 in all criminal trials to make an 6 opening statement to the Jury. This 7 statement is merely -a blueprint of : .. 8 what the State intends to prove. It _: 9 has no probative value and should 10 not be considered as evidence in the 11 case. 12 The defendant, CLAY L. SHAW, is charged 13 in a bill of indictment with having 14 willfully and unlawfully conspired ,. 1s with DAVID W. FERRIE, LEE HARVEY 16 OSWALD.and others to murder JOHN F, 17 KENNEDY. nm I-? r- :- ._ 18 0 ; ‘. The crime of ciminal conspiracy i,s to P . , , . 19 find in the'criminal code of Louisiar 2 F 20 as follows: 2 N 21 "CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY w I w 22 "Criminal conspiracy is the-agreement or * 23 combination of two or more persons 24 for the specific purpose of committir 25 any crime: provided that an agreement -_-. -. --- -. ._a-. -- -_.- .--- --.--.- -._-_ _ ___ .-._- .___ ..__ - -- _-.- ..-.-..-_-.--- - -. - .- - . ,.. _. ...-. -. _Y_-.. 1 or-'combination-to-commit a crime-‘ - ,. 2 shall not amount to a criminal con- 3 spiracy unless, in addition to such 4 agreement or combination, one or more 5 of such parties does an act in fur- 6 therance of the object of the agree- 7 ment or combination." 8 As required by the definition of criminal : ...__ 9 conspiracy, the State will prove the : 10 following overt acts:- 11 1. A meeting of LEE HARVEY OSWALD, DAVID 12’ w . FERRIE and the defendant, CLAY L. 13 SHAW, in the apartment,of DAVID W. 14 FERRIE at 3330 Louisiana Avenue . 15 parkway in the City of New Orleans ., i 16 during the month of September, .1963. .;: :: 1: 17 2. Discussion by OSWALD, FERRIE and the i’ _- 18 defendant, SHAW of means and methods _.. -. .- :. 19 of execution of the conspiracy with ": ‘;: a 20 regarci to assassination of JOHN F. .:' 21 KENNEDY -- particularly, the selec- ], :- .:I 22 tion and use of rifles to be fired 2 23 from multiple directions simultaneous' 24 -t ly to produce a triangulation of CrOs .:.7 2s fire, establishing.and selecting tihe \ : . .: : _: ._. 1 means and routes of escape from the -5 -. 2 assassination scene, tietermination c 3 procedures an6 the places to be useci 4 for some of the principals to the 5 conspiracy so as to establish alibis 6 on the date of the assassination. 7 3. A.trip to the West Coast of the Unite a States by CLAY L. SHAW during the 9 month of November, 1963. 10 4. A trip by DAVID W. FERRIE from New. .: .) 11 Orleans, Louisiana to Houston, Texas 12 on the tiay of November 22, 1963. 13 5. LEE HARVEY OSWALD taking a rifle to t 14 Texas Book Depository in Dallas, IS Texas on or before November 22, 196.3 16 The Criminal Code defines Murder in the rcJ 17 following terms: : ._ 18 MURDER 19 "&lurder is the killing 'of a human being: . 20 "(1) When the offender has a specific 21 intent to kill or to inflict great 22 bodily harm;" 23 The evitience will show that in New Orlean 24 in the Summer of 1963, LEE HARVEY 25 C- : OSWALD was engaged in bizarre activi -- _ _ _.__..- -- .-- -,.--.------. ,..._ -_.-_ . - --.. ___- -- -.-- - - -... __.. .___ 1 which we in effect are, there are 8. 2 two courses of action that can be 3 taken by a defendant ordinarily. 4 One is to prove that he was else- 5 where at the time of the alleged 6 happening. 7 Let me say now that this would be impos- 8 sible. First of all, never at any 9 stage of these proceedings has the 10 State seen fit to set-forth any 11 precise date upon which this meet-. 12 ing is supposed to have taken place, 13 and even if they had done that, Mr. .-i. .- ._. 14 Shaw would have been called upon to . 15 go back three and a half years and 16 account for his whereabouts at a 17 particular time. I don't have to . 18 tell you the impossibility of doing 19 such a task as that. 20 The other alternative that a defendant 21 has is to prove that whoever said 22 that he was at such a meeting or 23 committed such an act lies. And, 24 gentlemen, I stand here now and .i hr. I 25 tell you that we will prove t.hat I ..- . j ‘.. ;. DIETRICH & PICKETI', Inc. COURTREPO~TERS l surm 1221 . 333 m cuAluE5AYENUH. 1 Cuba Committee in New Orleans. The 7 2 other item taken by Officer RAY was -_ 3 a pamphlet entitled "The Truth 4 About Cuba" published by the Fair 5 Play fOrCuba Committee, 799.Broadway 6 New York 3, New York. In conjunction 7 with Officer RAY's testimony, the . .. ::. .: 8 State will offer into evidence 9 copies of these two pieces of :: ih 10 literature. 11 The evidence.will further show that in 12 June, 1963, the def'endant, CLAY SHAW, 13 was present at a party given in an 14 apartment in the French Quarter‘of , 15 this City. Among the guests at the 16 party.was DAVID FERRIE, a man known 17 as an accomplished airplane pilot. :: 18 During the course of the party, the .' 19 . .s. conversation among a small group of 20 those present turned to President ~. 21 JOHN F. KENNEDY. In this group were; 22 DAVID FERRIE and the defendant, CLAY' 23 SHAW. The comment was made that 24 / PRESIDENT KENNEDY should.be kiiled and that the job could best be done ._. _ _ __--a-. --- . -- .-c.^. -- ._.-_ - --- .-- . ._. ._.. -- .. .- .. ,_ :. --.-. ._ -.- .__. 1 by a rifle. At this point, the 2 \ defendant, CLAY SHAW, suggested 3 that the man doing the shooting 4 would probably be killed before 5 could make his escape. The deft 6 after making this observation, t 7 to FERRIE and asked if it might : : 8 I . be possible to.fly the gunman fx . 9 the scene of the shooting to saf 10 DAVID FERRIE replied that this k 11 be possible. At this point, ths 12 conversation was turned to other 13 subjects. 14 Later in June of 1963, the defendant, 15 CLAY SHAW, was observed spe-a.kinb - 16 to LEE HARVEY OSWALD on the lake 17 front in the City of New Orleans IS The defendant arrived at the lak :_ . 19 front in a iarge, black 4-door s . 20 and was there met by LEE HARVEY 21 OSWALD, who had walked to the me 22 point along the lakefront from a 23 westerly direction. The defenda 24 and OSWALD had a conversation wh .. -lasted approximately fiftee,n min .- ‘. ._ .: . _. : ._ - a-__ ._.-_ -.. _. --.----._,---._.---.--- .-.... -am .“. ,___. ..-. .I . _ 1 At the conclusion of this conversa- 2 tion, the defendant gave OSWALD 3 what appeared to be a roll of money 4 which he immediately placed in his 5 pocket, In shoving the money into 6 his pocket, OSWALD dropped several 7 leaflets to the ground. These leaf- : 8 lets were yellow in color with black 9 printing and dealt with.Cuba. The 10 color, contents and size of these II leaflets were identical with the 12 "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" leaf- 13 let taken from OSWALD earlier that 14 month on the Dumaine Street Wharf by 15 Harbor Police Patrolman GIROD RAY. 16 The evidence will show that on August 9, 17 1963, LEE HARVEY OSWALD was IS arrested by members of the New Orleal _. 19 t- . Police Depar'tment as a result of his 20 becoming involved in a fight with 21 several Cubans who were protesting 22 his passing out "Fair Play for Cuba, 23 Committee" literature.