Were all the men in the first lineup handcuffed together?It matters how these men are presented to the witnesses.
Is it a suspect handcuffed between 2 officers or all 4 suspects handcuffed together?
The order of the men:1 Perry | 2 Oswald | 3 Clark | 4 Ables
The question then becomes: Is Clark handcuffed to Ables?
Here are some witnesses called between April 6 -9, The attorney is David Ball.
During DPO Elmer Boyd's testimony Ball inserts into the question;"the usual thing" to have them all come in cuffed.
But then very peculiar, and out of the blue, Ball brings it up, "why wasn't it done in this case?" Boyd doesn't know...and they move on.
Elmer Boyd (04/06/64)
Dallas Police Dept.Mr. BALL. The usual thing is to have other prisoners come in handcuffed with the suspect, isn't it?
Mr. BOYD. Yes.
Mr. BALL. Do you know why that wasn't done in this case?
Mr. BOYD. No; I do not.
but then....look 2 pages later....Mr. BALL. Were they manacled--handcuffed?
Mr. BOYD. Yes; they were handcuffed.
Mr. BALL. All four of them?
Mr. BOYD. Yes--handcuffed together.
But he's not the guy to ask. It's Clark and Ables that need to be cuffed.
Ball is able to lead it into "common procedure to cuff them all together," and Sims and Boyd go along with it.
But neither of which were handcuffed to Clark or Ables.
Richard Sims (04/06/64)
Dallas Police Dept.Mr. BALL. Were they handcuffed?
Mr. SIMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. They were handcuffed together?
Mr. SIMS. Yes; all of them was handcuffed.
Mr. BALL. Now, there were four of them altogether?
Mr. SIMS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. In the showup?
Mr. SIMS. Yes, sir.
It's when he asks Clark, he learns they were not all cuffed.
Richard Clark (04/09/64)
Dallas Police Dept.Mr. BALL. What was your position in the showup?
Mr. CLARK. My right had was handcuffed to Oswald's left hand.
Mr. BALL. Your right----
Mr. CLARK. To his left.
Mr. BALL. To his left. Then who was next to Oswald?
Mr. CLARK. And my partner, W.E. Perry, was next to Oswald.
Mr. BALL. Was he handcuffed to Oswald?
Mr. CLARK. Yes, sir; he was. Handcuffed his left hand to Oswald's right hand.
Mr. BALL. What about Mr. Ables?
Mr. CLARK. Mr. Ables was standing to the left.
Mr. BALL. Was he handcuffed?
Mr. CLARK. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
Uh-Oh. Ball takes a secret conversation, then once Clark is dismissed, Don Ables takes the stand. The guy to ask, also notice: this is all happening within one hour.
Ball already knows Perry and Clark are on either side of Oswald. Both Boyd and Sims told him that 3 days ago. But Clark just told him he was not cuffed to Ables.
Still, he refuses to ask Ables the question. But he needs to confirm all of the men. Very sly, instead, he only asks Ables about being handcuffed to Lee.
Don Ables (04/09/64)
Dallas Police Dept.Mr. BALL - You were at no time handcuffed to Oswald?
Mr. ABLES - No, sir.
It is a completely deceitful way to get something in he knows is not confirmed. The record will be left with the bare bones of these words.
He only needs to get "the possibility" into the record, in this case by not asking Ables the obvious question. He must never confirm the exclusion of Lee.
He got Sims to say all were cuffed. But, he got Ables to say he was not cuffed to Oswald, therefore, all men must be cuffed to each other. It goes in sideways.
In July, Fritz conveniently cannot remember, but reinforces it as standard procedure.
Capt William Fritz (07/14/64)
Dallas Police Dept.Mr. BALL. They were all handcuffed together, were they?
Mr. FRITZ. I am not sure, I don't remember for sure if they were all handcuffed together or not. They probably did. I couldn't be positive about that.
There is nothing in the record to confirm all these men were cuffed together. One of them said directly he wasn't.
WC refused to ask the other for a confirmation.Yet another guideline is broken, demonstrating the process was an obvious setup.