DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Let's talk about the testimony relevant to the discovery of Lee Harvey Oswald's clipboard (testimony given by Frankie Kaiser, Bill Shelley, Roy Truly, and FBI agent Nat Pinkston).
Pinkston's testimony is probably the most relevant, in that Pinkston told the Warren Commission that the clipboard, which had not yet been moved by anyone, was located "on the floor behind the books, against the wall of the stairwell" [6 H 335].
It therefore seems clear that the clipboard, while not exactly found where the Warren Commission placed a circle on CE506, was found in a location "against the wall" and "behind the books", which makes Kaiser's testimony about the clipboard being right out in the "plain open" a bit inconsistent. But even Kaiser himself said that the clipboard was located "between these row of cartons right over there" [6 H 345].
And TSBD Superintendent Roy Truly testified that the clipboard was found "behind some cartons" [3 H 233].
Sure sounds to me as though that clipboard was somewhat concealed "between" or "behind" some cartons of books on the Depository's sixth floor.
Of course, conspiracy theorists are free to call FBI agent Nat Pinkston a rotten liar if they choose to do so (along with Roy Truly too), but I don't see any huge error or "cover-up" by the Warren Commission concerning the clipboard. Do some conspiracists think the clipboard was planted up on the sixth floor? (I'm guessing they do believe that.)
And do some conspiracists also believe Charles Givens was coaxed or coerced into giving false testimony about seeing Lee Oswald with a clipboard on the day of the assassination?
That last allegation seems a bit flimsy if you ask me (even from a CTer's point-of-view).
Why?
Because if the Warren Commission or the FBI or the Dallas police had wanted Givens to say something to incriminate Oswald, don't you think they probably would have made Givens tell a lie that tied Oswald more directly to the assassination? Such as, perhaps, strong-arming Givens into saying he saw Oswald doing something with a long paper bag near the Sniper's Nest in the southeast corner of the sixth floor? Or, maybe, having Givens say he saw Oswald trying to hide something near the area of the Sniper's Nest?
Because if Givens' story about seeing Oswald on the sixth floor is nothing but a pack of lies created FOR GIVENS by the authorities wishing to frame Patsy Oswald, they didn't make Givens tell a very TALL tale, did they? Any idea why they didn't?
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JOSEPH BALL. Where did you see the clipboard?
FRANKIE KAISER. It was Just laying there in the plain open--and just the plain open boxes--you see, we've got a pretty good space back there and I just noticed it laying over there.
Mr. BALL. Laying on the floor?
Mr. KAISER. Yes, it was laying on the floor.
Mr. BALL. It was on the floor?
Mr. KAISER. It was on the floor.
Mr. BALL. How close was it to the wall?
Mr. KAISER. It was about---oh--I would say, just guessing, about 5 or 6 inches, something like that.
Mr. BALL. From the wall and on the floor?
Mr. KAISER. Laying on the floor.
Mr. BALL. And were there any boxes between the wall and the clipboard?
Mr. KAISER. No, not between the wall and the clipboard--there wasn't.
Mr. BALL. Were there boxes between the stairway and the clipboard?
Mr. KAISER. No, you see, here's---let me see just a second---here's the stairs right here, and we went down this way and here's the stairs this way going up...and it was laying right in here by the cards--there are about four or five cards, I guess, running in front of it--just laying between the part you go down and the part you go up.
Mr. BALL. You mean laying between the stairway up and the stairway down?
Mr. KAISER. Yes, right there in the corner.
[Later...]
Mr. BALL. Now, here is a picture which is marked in a group of pictures as No. 36, but which I will mark as Exhibit A to your deposition.
(Instrument marked by the reporter as Kaiser Exhibit A, for identification.)
Mr. BALL. Does this show the place where the clipboard was found, or do you know?
Mr. KAISER. It wasn't found there--it was found on the floor.
Mr. BALL. Where on the floor?
Mr. KAISER. Behind these cartons--between there and the wall.
Mr. BALL. Behind which cartons?
Mr. KAISER. Right in here (indicating).
Mr. BALL. Which cartons--it was found behind--are the cartons in the picture--it wasn't found where it is circled there?
Mr. KAISER. It wasn't found where it circled--there--it was found on the floor.
Mr. BALL. Put a big "X" on the carton behind which it was found.
Mr. KAISER. I'll put it on this one---it was found between that and the wall. (Witness placed "X" on the pictures requested by Counsel Ball.)
Mr. BALL. You have marked an "X" on the carton--between that carton and the wall the clipboard was found.
Mr. KAISER. Yes, between these row of cartons right over there.
David Von Pein
October 29, 2012 [This forum link is no longer available.]
