Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

by United States. Warren Commission

TREATMENT OF OSWALD IN CUSTODY

The focal center of the Police and Courts Building during Oswald’s detention was the third floor, which housed the main offices of the Dallas Police Department. The public elevators on this floor opened into a lobby midpoint of a corridor that extended along the length of the floor for about 140 feet. At one end of this 7-foot-wide corridor were the offices occupied by Chief of Police Jesse E. Curry and his immediate subordinates; at the other end was a small pressroom that could accommodate only a handful of reporters. Along this corridor were other police offices, including those of the major detective bureaus. Between the pressroom and the lobby was the complex of offices belonging to the homicide and robbery bureau, headed by Capt. J. Will Fritz.[C5-1] (See Commission Exhibit No. 2175, [p. 197].)

Commission Exhibit No. 2175

THIRD FLOOR PLAN DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT DALLAS, TEXAS

Chronology

The policemen who seized Oswald at the Texas Theatre arrived with him at the police department building at about 2 p.m. and brought him immediately to the third floor offices of the homicide and robbery bureau to await the arrival of Captain Fritz from the Texas School Book Depository. After about 15 or 20 minutes Oswald was ushered into the office of Captain Fritz for the first of several interrogation sessions.[C5-2] At 4:05 p.m. he was taken to the basement assembly room for his first lineup.[C5-3] While waiting outside the lineup room, Oswald was searched, and five cartridges and other items were removed from his pockets.[C5-4] After the lineup, at about 4:20, Oswald was returned to Captain Fritz’ office for further questioning.[C5-5] Two hours later, at 6:20 p.m., Oswald was taken downstairs for a second lineup and returned to Captain Fritz’ office within 15 minutes for additional interrogation.[C5-6] Shortly after 7 p.m., Captain Fritz signed a complaint charging Oswald with the murder of Patrolman Tippit. Oswald was formally arraigned, i.e., advised of the charges, at 7:10 p.m., before Justice of the Peace David L. Johnston, who came to Captain Fritz’ office for the occasion.[C5-7]

After a third lineup at about 7:40 p.m., Oswald was returned to Fritz’ office.[C5-8] About an hour later, after further questioning, Oswald’s fingerprints and palmprints were taken and a paraffin test (see [app. XI]) administered in Fritz’ office, after which the questioning resumed.[C5-9] At 11:26 p.m. Fritz signed the complaint charging Oswald with the murder of President Kennedy.[C5-10] Shortly after midnight, detectives took Oswald to the basement assembly room for an appearance of several minutes before members of the press.[C5-11] At about 12:20 a.m. Oswald was delivered to the jailer who placed him in a maximum security cell on the fifth floor.[C5-12] His cell was the center one in a block of three cells that were separated from the remainder of the jail area. The cells on either side of Oswald were empty and a guard was nearby whenever Oswald was present.[C5-13] Shortly after 1:30 a.m. Oswald was brought to the identification bureau on the fourth floor and arraigned before Justice of the Peace Johnston, this time for the murder of President Kennedy.[C5-14]

Questioning resumed in Fritz’ office on Saturday morning at about 10:25 a.m., and the session lasted nearly an hour and 10 minutes.[C5-15] Oswald was then returned to his cell for an hour, and at 12:35 p.m. he was brought back to Fritz’ office for an additional half-hour of questioning.[C5-16] From 1:10 to 1:30 p.m., Oswald’s wife and mother visited him in the fourth floor visiting area;[C5-17] at 1:40 p.m. he attempted to call an attorney in New York.[C5-18] He appeared in another lineup at 2:15 p.m.[C5-19] At 2:45 p.m., with Oswald’s consent, a member of the identification bureau obtained fingernail scrapings and specimens of hair from him.[C5-20] He returned to the fourth floor at 3:30 p.m. for a 10-minute visit with his brother, Robert.[C5-21] Between 4 and 4:30 p.m., Oswald made two telephone calls to Mrs. Ruth Paine[C5-22] at her home in Irving; at about 5:30 p.m. he was visited by the president of the Dallas Bar Association[C5-23] with whom he spoke for about 5 minutes. From 6 to 7:15 p.m. Oswald was interrogated once again in Captain Fritz’ office and then returned to his cell.[C5-24] At 8 p.m. he called the Paine residence again and asked to speak to his wife, but Mrs. Paine told him that his wife was no longer there.[C5-25]

Oswald was signed out of jail at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, and taken to Captain Fritz’ office for a final round of questioning.[C5-26] The transfer party left Fritz’ office at about 11:15 a.m.;[C5-27] at 11:21 a.m. Oswald was shot.[C5-28] He was declared dead at Parkland Hospital at 1:07 p.m.[C5-29]

Interrogation Sessions

During the period between 2:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon and 11:15 a.m. Sunday morning, Oswald was interrogated for a total of approximately 12 hours.[C5-30] Though subject to intermittent questioning for more than 7 hours on Friday, Oswald was given 8 to 9 hours to rest that night. On Saturday he was questioned for a total of only 3 hours during three interrogation sessions, and on Sunday he was questioned for less than 2 hours.[C5-31] (These interrogations are discussed in [ch. IV].)

Captain Fritz’ office, within which the interrogations took place, was a small room, 14 feet by 9½ feet in size.[C5-32] In addition to the policemen guarding the prisoner, those present usually included Dallas detectives, investigators from the FBI and the Secret Service, and occasionally other officials, particularly a post office inspector and the U.S. marshal. (See statements in [app. XI].) As many as seven or eight people crowded into the small office.[C5-33] In all, more than 25 different persons participated in or were present at some time during interrogations. Captain Fritz, who conducted most of the interrogations, was frequently called from the room. He said, “I don’t believe there was any time when I went through a very long period without having to step to the door, or step outside, to get a report from some pair of officers, or to give them additional assignments.”[C5-34] In his absence, others present would occasionally question Oswald.[C5-35]

The interrogators differ on whether the confusion prevailing in the main third floor corridor penetrated Fritz’ office and affected the atmosphere within.[C5-36] Oswald’s processions through the third floor corridor, described more fully below, tended, in Fritz’ opinion, to keep Oswald upset, and the remarks and questions of newsmen sometimes caused him to become annoyed. Despite the confusion that frequently prevailed, Oswald remained calm most of the time during the interrogations.[C5-37] According to Captain Fritz:

You know I didn’t have trouble with him. If we would just talk to him quietly like we are talking right now, we talked all right until I asked him a question that meant something, every time I asked him a question that meant something, that would produce evidence he immediately told me he wouldn’t tell me about it and he seemed to anticipate what I was going to ask.[C5-38]

Special Agent James W. Bookhout, who represented the FBI at most of the interrogations, stated, “I think generally you might say anytime that you asked a question that would be pertinent to the investigation, that would be the type of question he would refuse to discuss.”[C5-39]

The number of people in the interrogation room and the tumultuous atmosphere throughout the third floor made it difficult for the interrogators to gain Oswald’s confidence and to encourage him to be truthful. As Chief Curry has recognized in his testimony, “we were violating every principle of interrogation * * * it was just against all principles of good interrogation practice.”[C5-40]

Oswald’s Legal Rights

All available evidence indicates that Oswald was not subjected to any physical hardship during the interrogation sessions or at any other time while he was in custody. He was fed and allowed to rest. When he protested on Friday against being handcuffed from behind, the cuffs were removed and he was handcuffed in front.[C5-41] Although he made remarks to newsmen about desiring a shower and demanding his “civil rights,” Oswald did not complain about his treatment to any of the numerous police officers and other persons who had much to do with him during the 2 days of his detention.[C5-42] As described in chapter IV, Oswald received a slight cut over his right eye and a bruise under his left eye during the scuffle in the Texas Theatre with the arresting officers, three of whom were injured and required medical treatment. These marks were visible to all who saw him during the 2 days of his detention and to millions of television viewers.[C5-43]

Before the first questioning session on Friday afternoon, Fritz warned Oswald that he was not compelled to make any statement and that statements he did make could be used against him.[C5-44] About 5 hours later, he was arraigned for the Tippit murder and within an additional 6½ hours he was arraigned for the murder of President Kennedy. On each occasion the justice of the peace advised Oswald of his right to obtain counsel and the right to remain silent.[C5-45]

Throughout the period of detention, however, Oswald was not represented by counsel. At the Friday midnight press conference in the basement assembly room, he made the following remarks:

Oswald. Well, I was questioned by Judge —— [Johnston]. However, I protested at that time that I was not allowed legal representation during that very short and sweet hearing. I really don’t know what the situation is about. Nobody has told me anything except that I am accused of, of, murdering a policeman. I know nothing more than that and I do request someone to come forward to give me legal assistance.

Q. Did you kill the President?

A. No. I have not been charged with that. In fact nobody has said that to me yet. The first thing I heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question.

* * * * *

Q. Mr. Oswald, how did you hurt your eye?

A. A policeman hit me.[C5-46]

At this time Oswald had been arraigned only for the murder of Patrolman Tippit, but questioning by Captain Fritz and others had been substantially concerned with Oswald’s connection with the assassination.[C5-47]

On Friday evening, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union visited the police department to determine whether Oswald was being deprived of counsel. They were assured by police officials and Justice of the Peace Johnston that Oswald had been informed of his rights and was being allowed to seek a lawyer.[C5-48] On Saturday Oswald attempted several times to reach John Abt, a New York lawyer, by telephone, but with no success.[C5-49] In the afternoon, he called Ruth Paine and asked her to try to reach Abt for him, but she too failed.[C5-50] Later in the afternoon, H. Louis Nichols, president of the Dallas Bar Association, visited Oswald in his cell and asked him whether he wanted the association to obtain a lawyer for him. Oswald declined the offer, stating a first preference for Abt and a second preference for a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union.[C5-51] As late as Sunday morning, according to Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes, Oswald said that he preferred to get his own lawyer.[C5-52]