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

Why did Jim Leavelle need to put his hand in Oswald's pants when he was already attached to him by the handcuffs?

If Oswald tried to run away, he couldn't, because of the handcuffs. No need to hold on to the pants.

If someone tried to grab Oswald and pull him away, same thing. Couldn't happen because of the handcuffs.

If someone tried to shoot Oswald, neither the handcuffs nor the hand in the pants was going to stop the bullet or make any difference.

And even regarding jerking on Oswald to pull him behind, you know, to protect him, to get him safe, Leavelle could just pull him through the handcuffs, right? Why did he also need to have his hand in his pants?

And the thing is: even though Leavelle claimed to do that, we know he didn't because the films don't show it. The only thing that shows it is the Jackson photo. However, in the Jackson photo, Leavelle's hand is still in the center. If he had pulled on Oswald, his pulling hand would have been leading the way, not trailing. So, even though Oswald looks turned in the Jackson photo, it is impossible for Leavelle to have turned him.  I mean physically impossible, ie impossible as per the laws of physics. You can't pull someone from behind. Your pulling has to lead the way.

So, Leavelle lied and that's clear. He did not "jerk" Oswald anywhere. But, what I think is that when they started working on the Jackson photo, their goal was to "explain" photographically why there was no sign of any trauma, any violence, or even any torn clothing in connection to the shot, even though it was lethal. So, they had to cover up the whole area. Adding that forearm and hand of Leavelle was part of that. They may not have known in advance that they were going to need to do that. They may have decided to do it on the spot. So, it was afterwards that somebody said to him, "Oh Jimmy, you had your hand in Oswald's pants. Don't forget it. We had to go with that because otherwise, we couldn't get the area covered to justify the absence of any blood or trauma or torn clothes. So, you add that to your story: you had your hand in Oswald's pants." And Leavelle did. By that very afternoon, he was saying it in his interview with Bill Lords.