Question about Malcolm Couch

[David Von Pein]

You routinely win arguments like this, David, but only because you don't have to deal with the Rules of Evidence.

And the only possible way you, Jon, can "win" some of your arguments is to steadfastly and stubbornly remain married to your "Rules of Evidence" that only apply inside a courtroom.

But the FACT remains that those three bullet shells WERE fired in Oswald's C2766 Carcano (and, yes, it most certainly WAS "Oswald's" Carcano, as Waldman #7 clearly proves).....

MELVIN EISENBERG -- "After receiving the cartridge cases, did you examine them to determine whether they had been fired in Commission Exhibit 139?"

ROBERT A. FRAZIER (FBI) -- "Yes, sir."

MR. EISENBERG -- "And what were your conclusions, Mr. Frazier?"

MR. FRAZIER -- "I found all three of the cartridge cases had been fired in this particular weapon."

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/frazr1.htm

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And I can hear the laughter in the courtroom, Jon, if you tried to float the idea that the three shells found under the window really WEREN'T fired at the time of the assassination. The prosecutor would, of course, hammer home to the jury the fact that Harold Norman heard shells falling to the floor DURING the assassination itself. And the prosecutor would also mention the little fact about the two large bullet fragments FROM THE SAME GUN owned by Oswald being found in the President's car. And the fact that Oswald's rifle was also found on that very same sixth floor.

And then Jon Tidd would get up and plead with the jury for them to just IGNORE all of the above facts because Jon thinks the shells might have been planted (even though he has no hard evidence to back up such an assertion).

Reminds me of the O.J. Defense. Same thing exactly. Try to get the jury to concentrate on things that could not possibly have happened in the real world, all the while getting the 12 jurors to throw into the trash the cold hard facts in the case.

Edited June 14, 2015 by David Von Pein

[Robert Prudhomme]

I was mistaken. Of the three men on the 5th floor, it was Harold Norman, and not Bonnie Ray Williams, who, under oath, denied that he had leaned out of the 5th floor window to look up at the 6th floor; thus contradicting not only the testimony of Malcolm Couch but also the falsified contents of an FBI report.

From the Warren Commission testimony of Harold Norman:

Mr. BALL. I have one question.
On the 26th of November, an FBI agent named Kreutzer advises us in a report that he talked to you. Do you remember that?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. You remember?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes; I remember talking to him. I don't know his name.
Mr. BALL. He reports that you told him that you heard a shot and that you stuck your head from the window and looked upward toward the roof but could see nothing because small particles of dirt were falling from above you. Did you tell him that?
Mr. NORMAN. I don't recall telling him that.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever put your head out the window?
Mr. NORMAN. No, sir; I don't remember ever putting my head out the window.
Mr. BALL. And he reports that you stated that two additional shots were fired after you pulled your head back in from the window. Do you remember telling him that?
Mr. NORMAN. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. BALL. I have no further questions."

[Jon G. Tidd]

DVP,

I don't dispute the cartridges were ejected from the weapon Frazier examined. I assume Frazier was correct when he testified to the W.C. on this point. The question remains, when were they ejected?

Harold Norman would not be permitted to testify he heard rifle cartridges hitting the floor overhead. He heard noises, let's say clinking noises, but who in the world knows what made those noises. Maybe they were made by falling keys, or falling coins, or falling chicken bones. All Norman could testify to at trial is that he heard whatever noises he described.

The cartridges, as you must know, have a varied history. Two fired and one unfired cartridges is one version. Cartridges placed in an envelope and placed in an unlocked DPD desk drawer is another version. Two cartridges supplemented by a third cartridge is a third version. Cartridges in Will Fritz's pockets is a fourth version. There's only one true version, and I'm sure you know it. But whatever version you would submit to the trial court would be met with immediate challenge.

You're good at trying Oswald in the court of public opinion, which is what the Warren Commission and HSCA did. You're less good at understanding how a real court trial of Oswald would have worked. Oswald would have skated, IMO.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Jon G. Tidd