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Statute of Limitations?


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Since there's no statute of limitations on murder, and since there was no murder trial per se, do you think the murder of JFK is still an open cold case file with the Texas Attorney General's Office?

 

Any practicing attorneys have a thought?

 

Steve Thomas

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The Dallas authorities have original jurisdiction and their ongoing decision to ignore the assassination speaks volumes.   The truth could still shake things up badly.

BTW, just to nitpick, the Texas Attorney General is not really an active crime-fighting office.   The Dallas DA, the DPD, and the Dallas County Sheriff's Department are in prime positions to release old-hidden evidence and even generate new undiscovered evidence; in the unlikely event they want to re-open the case and risk upheaval in their own agencies.

 

Jason

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from a practical standpoint, the state attorneys have full caseloads and are not going to voluntarily devote time to a 50-year old case.. Likewise, John Orr encountered the same response when he presented his report to DOJ in the late 1990s. However, CAPA has a strategy to force the issue and is hoping to take the first step this fall. Stay Tuned. 

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I did a little more reading about this question.

In 1963, it was not a federal crime to murder the President of the U.S. (that changed in 1965). It was a State crime if that murder was committed within the confines of the State in question. Typically the trial was prosecuted in the local municipality where the murder took place. In the case of JFK, that would be the local district attorney, who is a county employee - i.e. Henry Wade. Theoretically, it could have been prosecuted at the State level though, couldn't it? i.e. Waggoner Carr?

Part of what I was getting at is the question of someone being tried for a murder in absentia. This seems to be more common in other parts of the world than here in the U.S.

What happens when your prime suspect dies before the trial takes place?

 

"When Can a Defendant Be Tried in Absentia?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2003/06/when_can_a_defendant_be_tried_in_absentia.html

Trials in absentia are exceedingly rare—most judges and attorneys will never be involved with one. The procedure doesn't jibe with the notion of due process, especially the constitutional right of the accused to confront witnesses. So, judges are careful to make sure that a defendant's absence is truly voluntary, rather than the result of foul play, ill health, or lack of notice, lest they create grounds for an appeal.

If a defendant takes off during the pretrial phase, however, he may be able to elude an in absentia conviction. In the 1993 case Crosby v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law "prohibits the trial in absentia of a defendant who is not present at the beginning of trial." This despite the fact that Crosby, accused of mail fraud in Minnesota, appeared before a federal magistrate to enter a "not guilty" plea before escaping to Florida. As for a fugitive who has never been in custody, such as Osama Bin Laden, odds are slim to none that any U.S. court would permit his trial in absentia, regardless of the strength of the evidence."

 

Did Lee Harvey Oswald's murder make it impossible for him to have ever been tried for the murder of JFK?

 

Steve Thomas

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