Mark Lane and Charles Brehm

[Fred Litwin]

Mark Lane and Charles Brehm

Charles Brehm at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office on November 22, 1963.


Charles Brehm and his son were witnesses to the JFK assassination, Here is the FBI report:





Brehm told the FBI that the "shots came from one of two buildings back at the corner of Elm and Houston Streets."

Here is the Charles Brehm segment from the film Rush to Judgment: (1:04:20)

Mark Lane: Mr. Brehm, where were you on November 22 1963?

Charles Brehm: I had taken my five year old son downtown to see the Presidential parade.

Mark Lane: This is a picture taken by Mr. Nix of the limousine at the time the shots were fired. Do you see yourself and your boy in that picture?



Still from Ruch to Judgment showing location of Charles Brehm.
Charles Brehm: Yes, sir. This is myself, and this is my son. On this frame here where the first shot hit the President, I would say that the, he was possibly 30 feet away when the first bullet struck, moved a little closer and was possibly 20 to 25 feet away when the second bullet hit.


Mark Lane: Did you see the effect of the bullets upon the President?


Charles Brehm: When the second bullet hit, there was, the hair seemed to go flying. It was very definite then that he was struck in the head with the second bullet. And 

yes, sir, I very definitely saw effects of the second bullet.


Mark Lane: Did you see any particles of the President's skull fly when the bullet struck him in the head?


Charles Brehm: I saw a piece fly over, oh, in the area of the curb where I was standing.


Mark Lane: And in which direction did that fly?


Charles Brehm: It seemed to have have come left and back.


Mark Lane: In other words, the skull particle flew to the left and to the rear of the Presidential limousine.


Charles Brehm: Sir, whatever it was that I saw, did fall both in that direction and over into the curb there.


Mark Lane: You were a ranger during the war, correct?


Charles Brehm: Yes, sir, I was a ranger during the war. Took part in the invasion of France and was shot a couple of times. So, as I say, it's possibly like swimming. I hadn't heard that sound for many a year, but you don't forget it once, once you've heard a shot rounding, coming close to you.


Mark Lane: Did you speak with newsmen on November 22 and tell them what you saw?


Charles Brehm: Yes, sir. And told them simply that there, two shots had hit the president and the direction that I had thought the bullets had come from.


Mark Lane: Did you at any time that day make a statement which was televised?


Charles Brehm: Yes, sir.

Brehm video


Charles Brehm: Fortunately, I was probably 15 to 20 feet away from the president when it happened.


Newsman: Tell us exactly what you saw, sir,


Charles Brehm: He was coming down the street, and my five year old boy and myself were by ourselves on the grass there on Palmer street, and I asked Joe to wave to him, and Joe waved, and I waved in the ...man, (crying)


Newsman: That's all right, sir.


Charles Brehm: He was waving back. He was, he was. the shot rang out, and he swung down in the seat, and his wife reached up toward him. They were slumping down, and the second shot went off, and it just knocked him down from the seat. I'm positive it had hit him. I hope it didn't, but I'm positive that it hit him, and he went all the way down in the car. Then they speeded up, and I didn't know what was going on, so I just grabbed the boy and fell on him, and hopes there wasn't a maniac around. I can't help you more but I won't forget it.


end of Brehm video


Mark Lane: Did you make a statement to the Dallas sheriff's office?


Charles Brehm: Yes, I did.


Mark Lane: How long did you remain in the Dallas sheriff's office that day?


Charles Brehm: I was, say about three hours to four hours.


Mark Lane: Were you among the closest witnesses to the limousine when the shot struck the President?


Charles Brehm: Yes, sir, I would have to say that, if not the closest, one of the closest to the unfortunate incident. I did get a view of something I'll never forget.


Mark Lane: Were you called as a witness by the Warren Commission?


Charles Brehm: No, I was not called by the Warren Commission to testify.


Lane tries to use Brehm as a grassy knoll witness based on the movement of skull fragments after the head shot. But, as we all know, the head material (skull, scalp, blood, brain tissue, brain fluids) flew upward and forward and only seemed to go back and to left because the limousine was moving forward.



Analysis of the Zapruder film by Itek Corporation.
Here is what Brehm thought of Lane's conclusion: (page 61 of The Scavengers and Critics of the Warren Report by Lawrence Schiller and Richard Lewis)



So, why didn't Lane ask Brehm where he thoughts the shots came from?


Well, he DID ask Brehm, but he cut out his answer from the Rush to Judgment film:



Excerpt from the full Lane interview of Brehm.
Here is what Charles Brehm told CBS News in 1967: (page 284 or Stephen White's book, Should We Now Believe the Warren Report?)



And here is what Charles Brehm told Larry Sneed in his book No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy: (pp. 65-66)

People have mentioned seeing puffs of smoke at the time of the assassination. I saw none whatsoever. The smoke that I created through years of cigar smoking would probably account for a puff of smoke here and a puff of smoke there as I went through life. But I sure didn’t see any puffs of smoke anywhere; nothing other than the three shots from the same area, and that has been identified to me as that particular window as to where they came from. I would agree with it because of the sound factor. But if they told me today that I was all wrong, that they came from the fourth floor, or the seventh floor, I’d have to believe them. But there’s no question in my mind that there were three shots from one source, the Texas School Book Depository, and nothing else from any of the other buildings.


There were no shots from sewers, no shots from the grassy knoll. There were no people hiding around with silencers, which in itself is laughable, because why should this person have a silencer and that person not have a silencer? And if there were nine people, as somebody advocates, why eight people with silencers shooting and only one without one. No, I feel comfortable with myself. I was very uncomfortable until the Warren Report came out because I stood by myself on November 22nd, that night. I came up with the original thought of the single bullet. I said at that time that there were three bullets, and they all came from the same place.


Then all the controversy starts. You don’t know what you’re letting yourself in for in a deal like this. The controversy starts about this or that extra gunman coming from here, coming from there. All of these things go on and you start to doubt yourself. You say, “Hey, am I right on this thing or what?” People are going to show me movies and tapes and things like that of what I said and they’re going to cast doubts. But everything I said was what the Warren Commission said, so I felt that I was clean on it. I felt that they printed the truth of what happened. Conspiracy, before or after, I have no idea. All I know is about those few seconds where I was standing, and that I’m sure of.


I’ve had one experience with Mark Lane where he did the interview by asking the questions off camera. I saw his movie, “Rush To Judgment,” once, and this was less than a year ago. It seems to me that he might have taken poetic justice with some of the questions that he asked or fit my answers to his questions rather than the opposite way of me answering the questions. But that was an unpleasantness because he was the type of person who made you believe that you were helping him when all he was looking for was one piece of junk in that whole new car showroom so he could say, “Ha! Ha! Here’s what! The whole thing is wrong because of this!” And that’s what he was! He was looking for that junk in some shining place so that he could destroy everything that was worthwhile.


Charles Brehm is a good case study of Mark Lane's intellectual dishonesty.

[Michael Capasse]

Lane asked him these questions and he answered
  There was nothing dishonest about it

Mark Lane: Did you see the effect of the bullets upon the President?

Charles Brehm: When the second bullet hit, there was, the hair seemed to go flying.
It was very definite then that he was struck in the head with the second bullet. And 
yes, sir, I very definitely saw effects of the second bullet.

Mark Lane: Did you see any particles of the President's skull fly when the bullet struck him in the head?
Charles Brehm: I saw a piece fly over, oh, in the area of the curb where I was standing.

Mark Lane: And in which direction did that fly?
Charles Brehm: It seemed to have have come left and back.

Mark Lane: In other words, the skull particle flew to the left and to the rear of the Presidential limousine.
Charles Brehm: Sir, whatever it was that I saw, did fall both in that direction and over into the curb there.

[Duncan MacRae]

Charles Brehm is a good case study of Mark Lane's intellectual dishonesty.

[John Corbett]

None of this has the least bit of relevance.

For starters, Brehm seems not to have heard the first shot and can be seen in the Z-film still clapping his hands as JFK passed by him, slumping from having been hit by the second shot. Brehm is hardly alone. It appears that some people recognized the first bang as a gunshot and others did not. Connally instantly recognized it as the sound of a high powered rifle while JFK sitting behind him seemed oblivious to it. SS agent Bennett recognized the first sound as a gunshot while he was scanning the crowd to his right. He immediately turned his attention to JFK and saw the second shot strike him high on his upper right back. Meanwhile, SS agent Hill apparently did not recognize the first shot and is seen looking forward toward JFK after the second shot had struck JFK in the back. He heard the third shot as he was racing to the limo but only remembers hearing two shots total. It's a mystery as to why some recognized the first shot for what it was and others did not. Perhaps the accelerating motorcycles coming off the sharp turn on Elm St muffled the sound of that first shot. Perhaps some thought the first shot was a motorcycle backfire.

The direction a piece of skull flew is no indication of the direction of the shot. Only an autopsy can determine that. Entry and exit wounds have distinct characteristics and it is elementary for qualified medical examiners to determine which wounds were entrances. That's why EVERY qualified medical examiner who has seen the autopsy photos and x-rays has concurred with the original finding that JFK was hit by two shots from behind and there is no medical evidence of a shot from any other direction.

Case closed.

[Michael Capasse]

Lane stated:

"[Brehm] told me in a filmed interview that a portion of the President's skull was driven back and sharply to the left, over the rear of the President's car... this offers impressive corroboration for those who say the shot came from the right front."

  It's what Brehm said. 

[Duncan MacRae]

For starters, Brehm seems not to have heard the first shot

0.25

[Sean Kneringer]

Unfortunately, Brehm started to enjoy the spotlight a little too much.

[Michael Capasse]

I wonder what happened to his statement to the Sheriff's Dept on the 22nd. He was held for 2+ hours.
Or why wasn't he called by the WC? His FBI statement recites the tale quite well