Post by Gil Jesus on Aug 20, 2022 8:01:54 GMT -5
What a lot of people don't realize is how important clothing is to the "positive identification" of a suspect. Unless you can prove that the suspect changed clothes AFTER committing the crime, the identification of a suspect's clothes is secondary only to facial recognition in a witness' identification of a suspect.
So how did the Tippit witnesses fare in identifying Oswald's clothing as those worn by the killer?
(A note for the newbies: Keep in mind that [Lee Harvey] Oswald's gray jacket is Commission Exhibit 162, his blue jacket is Commission Exhibit 163 and the shirt he was arrested in is Commission Exhibit 150.)
The Jacket
Helen Louise Markham
Mr. BALL. I have here an exhibit, Commission Exhibit 162, a jacket. Did you ever see this before?
Mrs. MARKHAM. No I did not. (3 H 312)
Barbara Jeanette Davis
Mr. BALL. I have a jacket, I would like to show you, which is Commission Exhibit 162. Does this look anything like the jacket that the man had on that was going across your lawn?
Mrs. DAVIS. No sir. (3 H 347)
Virginia Davis testified that the killer wore a "light brown tan jacket" (6 H 457) but she was never shown CE 162 and asked to identify it.
Domingo Benavides identified Oswald's BLUE jacket (CE 163) as the one the killer wore. (6 H 453)
William Scoggins testified that CE 162 was too light and the killer's jacket was darker. (3 H 328)
When shown the CE 162 jacket, Ted Callaway testified that he thought the killer's jacket "had a little more tan to it". (3 H 356)
William Arthur Smith remembered that the killer wore "..a sport coat of some kind...." (7 H 85)
The Commission failed to mention in its Report that witnesses had described the Tippit killer's jacket as a sport jacket, dark in color and of a rough fabric, all descriptions that did not match the jacket in evidence.
The Commission also failed to report that this same group of witnesses failed to identify Oswald's shirt (CE 150) as the one the killer wore.
The Shirt
Mr. BALL. I show a shirt here, which is Exhibit 150. Did you ever see a shirt the color of this?
Mrs. MARKHAM. The shirt that this man had, it was a lighter looking shirt than that. (3 H 312)
Mr. BALL. I show you a shirt, which is Commission Exhibit 150. Was that---does that shirt look like something he had on, that the man had on who went across your lawn?
Mrs. DAVIS. I thought that the shirt he had on was lighter than that. (3 H 347)
Benavides testified that Tippit's killer wore a dark shirt but he didn't know what color. He was never asked to identify CE 150 as the shirt he saw.
Callaway, Virginia Davis and Scoggins could not identify the CE 150 shirt as the shirt Tippit's killer was wearing because they all claimed to have not been able to see the shirt.
So these seven witnesses, who the Commission counted among those who made a "positive identification" of Oswald as the killer of Officer J.D. Tippit, never made a positive identifcation of his clothing.
In addition, three Jefferson Ave. witnesses who saw the gunman as he fled the Tippit murder, L.J. Lewis, B.M. Patterson and Harold Russell, were never called to testify
A fourth Jefferson Ave. witness, Warren Reynolds did testify and in spite of his alleged observance and following of the man with the gun, he was never shown the shirt and jacket and asked to identify them.
That's eleven witnesses who saw the man who executed Tippit and did not identify Oswald's jacket and shirt as those worn by the killer.
And as I said before, if you can't positively identify the suspect's clothing, you can't positively identify the suspect.
Unless you can prove that he changed his clothes after the murder, which he didn't.
The FBI was careful which witnesses it selected to appear before the Commission and Commission Counsel was careful not to ask certain questions of witnesses.
And under those circumstances, the evidence indicates that Tippit's killer was not Oswald.
So how did the Tippit witnesses fare in identifying Oswald's clothing as those worn by the killer?
(A note for the newbies: Keep in mind that [Lee Harvey] Oswald's gray jacket is Commission Exhibit 162, his blue jacket is Commission Exhibit 163 and the shirt he was arrested in is Commission Exhibit 150.)
The Jacket
Helen Louise Markham
Mr. BALL. I have here an exhibit, Commission Exhibit 162, a jacket. Did you ever see this before?
Mrs. MARKHAM. No I did not. (3 H 312)
Barbara Jeanette Davis
Mr. BALL. I have a jacket, I would like to show you, which is Commission Exhibit 162. Does this look anything like the jacket that the man had on that was going across your lawn?
Mrs. DAVIS. No sir. (3 H 347)
Virginia Davis testified that the killer wore a "light brown tan jacket" (6 H 457) but she was never shown CE 162 and asked to identify it.
Domingo Benavides identified Oswald's BLUE jacket (CE 163) as the one the killer wore. (6 H 453)
William Scoggins testified that CE 162 was too light and the killer's jacket was darker. (3 H 328)
When shown the CE 162 jacket, Ted Callaway testified that he thought the killer's jacket "had a little more tan to it". (3 H 356)
William Arthur Smith remembered that the killer wore "..a sport coat of some kind...." (7 H 85)
The Commission failed to mention in its Report that witnesses had described the Tippit killer's jacket as a sport jacket, dark in color and of a rough fabric, all descriptions that did not match the jacket in evidence.
The Commission also failed to report that this same group of witnesses failed to identify Oswald's shirt (CE 150) as the one the killer wore.
The Shirt
Mr. BALL. I show a shirt here, which is Exhibit 150. Did you ever see a shirt the color of this?
Mrs. MARKHAM. The shirt that this man had, it was a lighter looking shirt than that. (3 H 312)
Mr. BALL. I show you a shirt, which is Commission Exhibit 150. Was that---does that shirt look like something he had on, that the man had on who went across your lawn?
Mrs. DAVIS. I thought that the shirt he had on was lighter than that. (3 H 347)
Benavides testified that Tippit's killer wore a dark shirt but he didn't know what color. He was never asked to identify CE 150 as the shirt he saw.
Callaway, Virginia Davis and Scoggins could not identify the CE 150 shirt as the shirt Tippit's killer was wearing because they all claimed to have not been able to see the shirt.
So these seven witnesses, who the Commission counted among those who made a "positive identification" of Oswald as the killer of Officer J.D. Tippit, never made a positive identifcation of his clothing.
In addition, three Jefferson Ave. witnesses who saw the gunman as he fled the Tippit murder, L.J. Lewis, B.M. Patterson and Harold Russell, were never called to testify
A fourth Jefferson Ave. witness, Warren Reynolds did testify and in spite of his alleged observance and following of the man with the gun, he was never shown the shirt and jacket and asked to identify them.
That's eleven witnesses who saw the man who executed Tippit and did not identify Oswald's jacket and shirt as those worn by the killer.
And as I said before, if you can't positively identify the suspect's clothing, you can't positively identify the suspect.
Unless you can prove that he changed his clothes after the murder, which he didn't.
The FBI was careful which witnesses it selected to appear before the Commission and Commission Counsel was careful not to ask certain questions of witnesses.
And under those circumstances, the evidence indicates that Tippit's killer was not Oswald.