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Jim Garrison (1921–1992) was the elected District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. In 1966 Garrison opened the only criminal investigation ever conducted by any U.S. jurisdiction into the assassination of President Kennedy. On March 1, 1967, Garrison arrested New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw on charges of conspiracy to assassinate the President. After a 40-day trial, a jury acquitted Shaw on March 1, 1969 after less than an hour of deliberation. Garrison's investigation has been variously characterized as a landmark independent inquiry, a prosecutorial overreach, and — by CIA internal documents later released — a target of CIA monitoring and counter-messaging. The 1978–79 House Select Committee on Assassinations examined Garrison's evidence and found it did not substantiate a conspiracy finding against Shaw. Garrison's 1988 book "On the Trail of the Assassins" was adapted into Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK".
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New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison begins the only DA-led investigation of the Kennedy assassination in U.S. history.
Garrison arrests New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw, charging him with conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Garrison alleges Shaw used the alias "Clay Bertrand."
Trial opens in Orleans Parish Criminal Court before Judge Edward A. Haggerty Jr. The trial lasts 40 days.
After less than one hour of deliberation, the jury returns a not-guilty verdict. Shaw remains the only person ever criminally tried for conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination.
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“ARRB · From: CIA/HRG · To: ARRB · JFK-M-20 : F22 : 20030731-973794 : · Release: In Part”
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Full trial transcripts of State v. Clay Shaw (1969), the Garrison prosecution.
CIA internal file on the Garrison investigation; documents agency monitoring and counter-messaging.
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Garrison's memoir on the Shaw prosecution; later adapted into Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK".
Dies in New Orleans at age 70.
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