Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

This was a quirky interview with Jim Leavelle.

http://cjonline.com/news-state/2013-04-20/retired-dallas-detective-recalls-ruby-killing-oswald?page=2

He said he never gave a moment's thought to whether he could get hurt if someone shot at Oswald. But, how can that be when for 53 years he has been recalling how he kidded Oswald that if someone shoots at him, he hopes tgat he's as good a shot as he is, meaning that the shooter should hit Oswald and not himself. So apparently, he did think about it, at the time and many times afterwards. 

Leavelle questioned Oswald in an interrogation room.

" 'I didn't shoot anybody,' " Leavelle quoted Oswald as saying. Oswald's use of the "anybody" rather than referring to Tippit, the police officer, "was very odd. He was getting his denial in early."

Leavelle interrogated Oswald quite awhile, and Oswald denied everything, Leavelle said.

Leavelle told Oswald that the pistol recovered from him by police and .38-caliber shell casings shucked from the revolver at the Tippit shooting scene could be compared to prove Oswald's link to the officer's killing.

Oswald said police would just have to do the ballistics tests, Leavelle said.

"He was calm, he didn't seem concerned," Leavelle said.

To me, these are the trappings of innocence. 

Meanwhile, Oswald's supervisor at the Book Depository, where he worked, said Oswald was missing from work after Kennedy's shooting, making "him a prime suspect" in the president's assassination, Leavelle said.

I never bought that. First, Oswald was not the only one who left, and second, why would that provoke a person to think that he was probably the killer? I mean, did he ever express anger at Kennedy? Did he ever speak of committing violent acts? Was he ever hot-tempered and aggressive and acting wild and dangerous? If not, if he was always mild-mannered and civil and not the least bit violent in word or deed, why would you think that it was him? What reason did Truly have to think that Oswald even owned a rifle? 

To keep Oswald from being snatched from custody, Leavelle handcuffed his left wrist to Oswald's right wrist. A second set of cuffs was snapped on Oswald's wrists.

Why do people keep saying that? Oswald's hands were not cuffed to each other. Remember the Jackson photo, with his left arm slapped to his chest? Do you see any handcuff?

Of course, I have told you a thousand times that that arm slap is fake. It's as phony as a $3 bill.

As Leavelle walked into the basement of the Dallas police building, he held onto Oswald's belt to control him.

His belt? Huh. That's the first time I've seen it put that way. He had his hand in his pants, at least in the pictures.  His belt? That's revisionism for sure. 

Leavelle was briefly blinded by TV news lights but then spotted Ruby holding a pistol by his thigh.

"I saw that pistol in his hand and knew what was going to happen," he said.

He wasn't blinded by the tv newslights. We'd have seen it in the film if he was. And he did NOT see the pistol in advance. He wasn't even looking in that direction.

This Leavelle was such a liar, and still is, and the world lets him get away with it. 

Now, here's some interesting. Remember when I said that when Leavelle spoke to Oswald about a potential attacker being as good a shot as he is, that Oswald should have responded with outrage, not having shot anyone. Well, Leavelle agrees: 

 'Lee, if anybody shoots at you, I hope they're as good a shot as you,' " Leavelle said he told Oswald, meaning the shooter would hit Oswald and not Leavelle. Oswald laughed and smiled for the only time during the interview.

" 'Nobody is going to be shooting at me,' " Leavelle quoted Oswald as answering. If Leavelle was Oswald, he would have answered he didn't shoot anyone as he did earlier during questioning, Leavelle said.

Yeah, I get that, Jimbo, but the thing is, we don't have any confirmation about this. We don't even know if the conversation ever took place. It's only you claiming it, and you've been known to spin a few. 

For many months after Kennedy's assassination, Leavelle investigated the killing as though it might be a conspiracy.

"We never found anybody else connected with it," Leavelle said.

Leavelle retired after 26 years on the Dallas Police Department.

JIM LEAVELLE TALK: 



Leavelle, 92, will speak at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Kansas Room of the Memorial Union at Washburn University. The talk is sponsored by the criminal justice and legal studies department at WU. 

Jim Leavelle has turned the Oswald assassination into a cottage industry. I wonder how much he gets paid per speech.