DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
RE: The "Oswald Being Denied Legal Counsel" myth.....
Conspiracy theorists are, of course, forced to label Captain J. Will
Fritz a liar once again with respect to this "counsel for Oswald"
issue....because CTers must think Fritz was telling a big fat whopper
of a falsehood when he told the Warren Commission this in 1964, which
is a statement that makes it abundantly clear that Mr. Oswald was
never denied legal counsel during his brief 2-day stay at the Dallas
City Jail:
JOE BALL -- "Did you say anything to him [Oswald] about an attorney
the first time you talked to him?"
CAPTAIN FRITZ -- "Yes, sir; the first time. He asked about an
attorney, and I told him he certainly could have an attorney any time
he wanted it. I told him he could have an attorney any time he liked,
any attorney he wanted. I told him, I said, we will do it. He said he
wanted an attorney in New York. And he gave me his name, Mr. Abt, and
he said that is who he wanted, and I told him he could have anyone he
liked."
[Later....]
FRITZ -- "He [LHO] told me that he didn't want a lawyer and he told me
once or twice that he didn't want to answer any questions at all. ....
I talked to him about a lawyer a number of times and he said he didn't
want the local attorneys, some attorney had been up to see him after
one of these questionings, and he said he didn't want him at all. He
wanted Mr. Abt."
Also:
The President of the Dallas Bar Association (H. Louis Nichols) came to
see Oswald on Saturday, November 23 and offered the services of the
DBA, but LHO turned down the offer and told Nichols that he might
contact him later if he could not secure Mr. Abt's services. .....
"The chief [Jesse Curry] had the officer open the door, and he
introduced me to Oswald, and told him my name and said that I was the
president of the Dallas Bar Association and had come up to see him
about whether or not he needed or wanted a lawyer. .... I said, "What
I am interested in knowing is right now, do you want me or the Dallas
Bar Association to try to get you a lawyer?" He said, "No, not now"."
-- H.L. Nichols; WC Testimony; April 8, 1964
Anyone who claims that Lee Oswald was denied legal assistance is
simply 100% wrong.
There's also this tidbit of info from Nichols' WC session (re: Chief
Curry's concerns on Saturday, 11/23 about this matter):
"[Jesse Curry] said, 'Incidentally, I am very glad you came up
here. We don't want any question coming up about us refusing to let
him have a lawyer. As far as know, he has never asked for one. He has
never asked to call one.'* And I believe the chief mentioned that Mr.
Abt's name, but he said, has never asked us to call him. .... He
[Curry] said, 'I am glad that you came down and talked to him. At
least that takes a problem off of us about not furnishing him a
lawyer'."
* = This comment made by Chief Curry, however, if Nichols heard Curry
correctly, does conflict with Capt. Fritz' WC statements that I posted
earlier, because Fritz indicated to the Commission that in the very FIRST
interrogation session he had with Oswald (which was, of course, on
11/22), LHO had requested Mr. Abt as an attorney. Evidently, some of
the initial communications between Fritz and Curry about Fritz'
interrogations of Oswald were lacking in some details.
David Von Pein
July 21, 2008
