JFK Assassination Forum

Is there any legal reason Oswald couldn't have been tried for both murders in the same trial.

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy was tried and convicted for many murders over the span of years in one trial. They didn't have to try him for each one individually.

Gerry Spence was dealt a losing hand and tried to make the best of it. Oswald would have been easily convicted and sentenced to death had Jack Ruby not done us a huge favor. It's highly unlikely Oswald would have been executed in the Texas electric chair. That would have been the ideal outcome but one we wouldn't have got to enjoy. SCOTUS would have commuted his sentence in 1972 as they did for every other death row inmate including Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson.

In my humble opinion, in the real world the murders would have required bifurcated trials. It would be extremely prejudicial to Oswald and confusing as hell to have them at the same time. What an absolute mess if the jury had convicted him of Tippit and acquitted him of JFK! With Gacy, the crimes weren't connected - one wasn't supposedly showing consciousness of guilt of the other.

Speaking of Sirhan, Jim DiEugenio approvingly posted today Lisa Pease's diatribe against the LA Times for a program about the RFK murder, about which I know nothing other than that I'm pretty sure Oswald didn't do it:

This is ridiculous. You're ignoring all the evidence that has come out long after the official story and trial happened that not only exonerates Sirhan but shows he was hypnotically controlled by CIA operatives, including the one holding RFK at the moment of the shooting. Everything you say about Sirhan was part of the CIA's carefully constructed cover story, but it doesn't match the reality of what happened. It's no wonder conspiracy theories abound when the average conspiracy theorist knows that Sirhan was in front of Kennedy and that witnesses put his gun muzzle 3 feet from Kennedy, yet Kennedy was shot from behind at a distance of an inch. The eyewitnesses weren't wrong or random - the four people who saw them both at the moment of the shooting saw exactly the same thing, and it doesn't match the official story. I spent 30+ years studying this and wrote a detailed, heavily footnoted against the primary record book. How long did the LA Times team on this spend? Sheesh. Btw - the newly released files show the CIA was deeply involved with the LAPD's investigation and sort of shoved their way in there. The CIA released a "dummy" file on Sirhan because they are STILL HIDING WHAT THEY KNOW. The media has lost all credibility in this country by refusing to go beyond the official lies in all the assassinations of the sixties and even more recent ones. Sirhan had no motive. The defense team GAVE him that motive because they didn't think a jury would believe he really couldn't remember. But the CIA used hypnosis and drugs in experiments and were able to get people to do things they could not remember. There's so much to say and no one with the guts to follow where the truth actually leads. btw - I'm not MAGA. Can't stand Trump. Lifelong Democrat. But the truth matters!!!

If President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had not himself been murdered just two days after JFK was killed in Dallas in November 1963, then many of the scenes we see played out in the 1964 fictional drama "The Trial Of Lee Harvey Oswald" (which can be viewed in its entirety below), just might have actually taken place inside a real courtroom in Dallas, Texas, in the year 1964.

Relying on eyewitness accounts of the tragedy and news reports available at the time the film was being put together, cult movie director Larry Buchanan has weaved a remarkably accurate portrayal of the events surrounding JFK's assassination. And it's all the more remarkable considering the fact that this film premiered in April of 1964, several months before the official investigation into the President's death had been completed by the Warren Commission.

[More comments about this 1964 Mock Trial HERE.]

An interesting question is to what extent the murder of Tippit could have been mentioned. Surprisingly, it was apparently a major feature of the famous 1986 made-for-TV mock trial. I am skeptical about this. The murder of Tippit could be used to show consciousness of guilt, but not unless Oswald were guilty of that murder. Possibly the trial of that murder would have been held first in real life. To try the two murders together would have been very confusing and prejudicial to Oswald. I have to believe Bugliosi and Spence stipulated to the use of the Tippit murder for dramatic effect for the TV show.

Is there any legal reason Oswald couldn't have been tried for both murders in the same trial.

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy was tried and convicted for many murders over the span of years in one trial. They didn't have to try him for each one individually.

Gerry Spence was dealt a losing hand and tried to make the best of it. Oswald would have been easily convicted and sentenced to death had Jack Ruby not done us a huge favor. It's highly unlikely Oswald would have been executed in the Texas electric chair. That would have been the ideal outcome but one we wouldn't have got to enjoy. SCOTUS would have commuted his sentence in 1972 as they did for every other death row inmate including Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson.

That Moscow and Tehran narratives have flooded into the JFKA research community, from the beginning, and even more in the present day, is hardly controversial.

Now a Education Forum "moderator" Willim Niedernut is citing the Moon of Alabama blog. Well, lunatics of a feather flock together, no?

Don't feel bad is you never delved into the demented little corner of the internet known as Moon of Alabama. I never heard of it either, until advised by a friend that Niedernut was citing the blog as a source. You really have to look under a rock to find this stuff.

Here is the AI version of Moon of Alabama:

"While not classified by researchers as a covert Russian state-directed covert operation, the Moon of Alabama blog functions as a pro-Kremlin, anti-Western conspiracy website that consistently echoes and amplifies official Russian disinformation narratives.

Operating since 2004 under the pseudonym "Bernhard," the site is an English-language commentary blog focused heavily on foreign policy, military conflicts, and geopolitics. In disinformation tracking, the site is recognized for:

Amplification of State Media: The blog frequently cites and defends Russian state-owned media outlets like RT and Sputnik.

Discrediting Human Rights Claims: Researchers have documented the blog's role in publishing articles that cast doubt on reports of Russian atrocities in Ukraine, often sharing talking points timed to align with Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statements.

Ideological Alignment: Rather than acting as a covert troll operation, Moon of Alabama operates as an independent actor within an alternative-media, conspiratorial ecosystem.

It strongly supports isolationist policies, consistently blames NATO for the invasion of Ukraine, and advocates heavily in favor of Kremlin-friendly geopolitical outcomes.

Ideological Alignment: Rather than acting as a covert troll operation, Moon of Alabama operates as an independent actor within an alternative-media, conspiratorial ecosystem. It strongly supports isolationist policies, consistently blames NATO for the invasion of Ukraine, and advocates heavily in favor of Kremlin-friendly geopolitical outcomes."

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BTW, the Moon of Alabama blog is not written by some guy in the Cotton State...but rather Bernhard Horstmann, a German-based "independent political commentator." Likely a Russian stooge op.

So William Niedernut is a fan of Bernhard Horstmann. Why am I not surprised?

The KGB's JFKA narrative has long been prominent in JFKA research circles, even after the "Hunt letter" was exposed. Some things never change. See Oliver Stone and Putin.

Caveat emptor, and draw your own conclusions.

Your whole premise assumes Oswald was hoping to get away with the crime. I think he was perfectly willing to trade his life for JFK's. If that was his mindset, none of the above items could be classified as mistakes.

You think Oswald had already contemplated shooting JFK before  Oswald ( or whomever ) ordered a rifle by mail?