X-INVESTIGATOR WHO KEPT THE RECORDS IN JFK CASE JAILED

The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA 2-15-96

New Orleans --

A one-time police officer was cited for contempt of court Tuesday and ordered to jail for six months for revealing secret grand jury transcripts of a 1960's investigation into president John F. Kennedy's assassination. Left unresolved was the question of whether a television reporter should also be held in contempt because he obtained the transcripts and aired the names of some of the witnesses who testified in former District Attorney Jim Garrison's probe of businessman Clay Shaw.

Left unresolved was the question of whether a televison reporter should be also be held in comtempt because he obtained the transcripts and aired the names of some of the witnesses who testified in the probe.

Criminal District Judge Frank Marullo found that Gary Raymond, who said he was ordered by District Attorney Harry Connick to destroy the records in 1974, had violated state law regarding the secrecy of grand juries.

Raymond was taken into custody immediately after being handed the maximum six-month jail term. He was released shortly afterward on $10,000 property bond.

Marullo said he was inclinded to find WDSU-TV reporter Richard Angelico, who received the transcripts from Raymond, incontempt. But he said he would rule February 22 after studying court cases regarding reporter' rights.

Garrison, who died in 1992, was the former district attorney whose investigation and indictment of Shaw on murder charges was fictionalized by filmmaker Oliver Stone in the movie "JFK".

The current case broke when Connick told the federal Assassination Records Review Board on June 28 that files from Garrison's investigation disappeared when Garrison left office.

But on July 11, Angelico reported the existence of records that had been kept by a former Connick staff 
member. Raymond testified Tuesday that he considered the transcripts historic and kept them for 21 years 
until he heard of Connick's testimony before the records board. "Not only is the man lying, but he is 
trying to pin it on Garrison's people," Raymond said.

Assistant District Attorney Camille Buras said that Connick was referring to investigative files and the 
review board had been told that if grand jury transcripts still existed, they would not be turned over. Buras 
said the district attorney considered the records stolen.

Raymond said he contacted Angelico who agreed to pass the records on to the review board. According to 
documents submitted in court, the records also were mailed to Hugh Aynesworth, an investigative reporter 
in Dallas. Raymond said he knew nothing of Angelico's plan to report on the transcripts.

"If Mr. Angelico wanted to have some fun with Harry Connick, that was his business," Raymond said. "Connick was embarrassed, and he deserved to be."

Angelico's attorney, Julian Murray, said Angelico was not a court officer affected by the secrecy requirement, and his reporting was covered by the First Amendment.

"He (Angelico) did nothing illegal. he obtained the materials legally and has the First Amendment right to disseminate them," Murray said. Murray said the case, showed Connick had lied to the review board and, thus, the transcripts were a matter of public interest.

"What Mr. Raymond testified to is exactly why there are constitutional rights to protect reporters," Murray argued. "When the district attorney states (to the review board) that these records should have been preserved and he himself ordered their destruction, it is a matter of public interest."

Angelico did not testify.

But Burras said Angelico violated the secrecy guarantee given to grand jury witnesses. "He knew those witnesses didn't want their words disseminated to the public and to Mr. Aynesworth," Buras said.

Connick was not in court.

http://jfklancer.com/Garrison.html