Mr. Fowler. He says he’s going to take this test regardless of his lawyers, and he says, “By God, I’m going to take the test.”
Mr. Tonahill. Well, you know the law is in his favor and that he is presumed to be sane, and there can’t be anybody speak for him but himself.
Mr. Fowler. I have advised him, and I have read this letter to him, and I have explained all of this to him when I talked to him.
Mr. Tonahill. If he wouldn’t take it now—— Mr. Fowler. Well, I won’t want to go back there then.
Mr. Tonahill. If he ever gets his hands on you, they’ll let him have it.
Mr. Specter (addressing the court reporter). I hope you have had a chance to put these observations on the record.
Mr. Fowler. I also want this further put into the record as to how many requests, in addition to this one, that were made for this test.
Mr. Specter. We would be willing to accede to that request, and as you know, we have been trying to set this up for a long while. The circumstances of the Commission’s timetable require us to proceed today; that is, either proceed or find out from Mr. Ruby that we would not ever proceed along this line. I have requested Sheriff Decker to have a physician standing by so that he may protect, to the fullest extent possible, Mr. Ruby’s physical condition if he needs medical attention. As to your first request for Dr. Tanay of Detroit to be present, the Commission would permit that. But since Dr. Tanay is not now present, there is no way to implement that. We have no objection to having any other doctor here who can be present here today.
With respect to request No. 2 made during our preliminary discussion, that the results of the tests be held confidential, the Commission has heretofore on other questions refused to make any advance commitment because of the nature of its responsibility to make the final decision on disclosing or not disclosing what it concludes is in the public interest. Or stated differently, the Commission just won’t be committed. The results of this examination will not be disclosed to anyone until the Commission itself has reviewed the results and makes a decision, bearing many factors in mind, including your request, to have the information remain confidential.
Mr. Fowler. All right; now in the past, of course we feel this—that as to the other information that we assumed would be confidential and would not be released to the press, this of course has been done, and we strenuously request that this matter not be released to the press.