Pat Speer | May 22, 2007
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At another point, where he's trying to make the case that Oswald never came down for lunch, he mentions that a Secret Service Report on an interview with Oswald's boss Billy Shelley said he saw Oswald at about 11:50 on the first floor and he appeared to be going about his normal duties. He then argues that this must have been earlier in the day BEFORE Shelley and the crew came down from the sixth floor to go to lunch. He mentions that Eddie Piper also said he saw Oswald around noon but neglects to tell his readers that Piper specifically mentioned that Oswald said he was going to eat his lunch, thereby placing this occurrence at lunchtime. He neglects as well Shelley's later testimony that Oswald was standing near the phone, and not working. Meanwhile, in the same section, Bugliosi accepts Charles Givens' testimony that he saw Oswald on the sixth floor, and dismisses the FBI report where Givens said he saw Oswald on the first floor as "hearsay." Bugliosi's acceptance of Givens' word over the FBI in this instance is not only inconsistent with his dismissal of Shelley's testimony over an earlier Secret Service Report, but probably incorrect. A February FBI report on Givens, even before he'd changed his story, detailed that Givens had had a history of drug abuse and was the kind of guy that their sources in the Dallas Police said would change his story for money. (A more detailed examination of Givens' testimony is available in chapter 4 at patspeer.com,)
While I'm still reading the book, and learning a little bit here and there, the main thing I've learned so far is that you can't trust this book!