Clay Shaw - The Trial

The Trial

During the trial, which took place in January–February 1969, Garrison called insurance salesman Perry Russo as his main witness. Russo testified that he had attended a party at the apartment of anti-Castro activist David Ferrie. At the party, Russo said that Lee Harvey Oswald (who Russo said was introduced to him as "Leon Oswald"), David Ferrie, and "Clem Bertrand" (who Russo identified in the courtroom as Clay Shaw) had discussed killing Kennedy. The conversation included plans for the "triangulation of crossfire" and alibis for the participants.

Critics of Garrison argue that his own records indicate that Russo's story had evolved over time. A key source was the "Sciambra Memo," which recorded Assistant D.A. Andrew Sciambra's first interview with Russo. The memo does not mention an "assassination party," and it says that Russo met with Shaw on two occasions, neither of which occurred at the party. Sciambra blamed himself for leaving out the Shaw/Ferrie/Oswald party episode in his memo. It was an omission that Shaw's attorneys were able to exploit by raising questions about the validity of Russo's testimony.

Another Garrison witness, Charles Spiesel, said, under cross examination, that he had filed a lawsuit in 1964 against a psychiatrist and the City of New York. He testified that, over a period of several years, the police and others had hypnotized him and harassed him out of business. He also said that he regularly fingerprinted his children, lest they had been replaced with cloned lookalikes by the US Government. Spiesel had been called as a witness for his claim that he had attended a gathering where Clay Shaw was present and identified himself as "Clay Bertrand". Land titles records showed the building where Spiesel claimed to have met Shaw was indeed owned by Shaw at the time of the alleged meeting.

On March 1, 1969 Shaw was acquitted less than one hour after the case went to the jury.