Records of JFK assassination investigation missing
NEW ORLEANS (Reuter) - Most of the documents amassed by former
District Attorney Jim Garrison during his controversial investigation
of conspiracy in President John F. Kennedy's assassination have been
missing for 21 years, Garrison's successor said Wednesday.
Testifying before a public hearing of the federally appointed
JFK Assassination Records Review Board, Orleans Parish District Attorney
Harry Connick Sr. said four of five filing cabinets believed to contain
records of Garrison's controversial investigation were missing when
he took over for Garrison in 1974.
Oliver Stone's movie about the assassination, "JFK," was loosely
based on a book Garrison published in 1990, "JFK: On the Trail of
the Assassin."
"A lot was taken before we took office, and I think a lot of material
is in the custody of people who worked in that office," Connick said.
"I think the files that were left were rifled and the material
taken would be of tremendous interest to the American people and the
world."
Board member William L. Joyce, associate University librarian
for rare books and special collections at Princeton University, told
Reuters he was surprised that the records were missing. "I didn't
expect that."
The missing documents would not have affected the Warren Commission
Report, which was completed before Garrison's investigation ended.
That commission unanimously named Lee Harvey Oswald as JFK's lone
assassin.
But the availability of the records could affect future inquiries,
according to several conspiracy theorists at the hearing.
Garrison, who later became a judge and has since died, indicted
and tried New Orleans businessman and French Quarter preservationist
Clay Shaw in connection with the alleged conspiracy.
The jury deliberated less than an hour before exonerating Shaw
in 1969. Connick called putting Shaw on trial "a gross miscarriage
of justice."
The surviving files were given to the New Orleans Archives about
five years ago and are available to the public.
Copyright 1995 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The above news report
may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without
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Nyla Hutcheson, Jua, Records of JFK assassination investigation missing., Reuters, 06-28-1995.