þ °UÐ Ç@  $(  PÀà=Ð/ÐÐ Page -  SHAW ACQUITTED OF 'KENNEDY PLOT' Jury Out 50 Minutes After Summation by Garrison By Martin Waldron As written in the New York Times of March 1,1969 NEW ORLEANS, Saturday, March 1 -- An all-male jury early today acquitted Clay L.Shaw of a charge of conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy. The jury deliberated about 50 minutes. The verdict came quickly despite a courtroom speech by District Attorney Jim Garrison pleading for a guilty verdict as a sign that citizens of the United States were beginning to fight against the power of the secret police, the admirals and generals." Mr.Garrison, who had contended that the assassination had been carried out by employes of the Central Intelligence Agency, was not in court when nine white men and three Negro man announced their verdict. He had departed after making a 35-minute summation late last night. Mr.Shaw, wearing a sad smile, shook the hand of each juror as he left the courtroom shortly after 2 A.M., New York time. He said he would make a statement later in the day. Assistant District Attorneys, who had handled most of the prosecution, refused to comment. There were loud squeals of approval of the verdict from a section of the crowded courtroom filled with women. Mr.Shaw had steadfastly denied the accusation and on the witness stand Thursday he testified that he never had even seen Oswald or David W.Ferrie, a deceased airline pilot said by Mr.Garrison to be the third major conspirator. Mr.Garrison's closing speech to the jury was a recitation of his belief that sinister forces are growing more powerful in the United States. Seated on a corner of the defense counsel table, the six-foot six-inch District Attorney, said that the freedom of individuals in the future was at stake in the Shaw trial. He said that the jury was required to convict Mr.Shaw to prove that the Government cannot run rampant over a single individual. "If the Government can murder truth, it can murder freedom and if it can murder your son and tell you that he died in an industrial accident," he said. "As Tennyson said, 'Authority begets kings.' This was never more true than in the murder of John Kennedy," he said. The District Attorney's statement came in reply to a contention by Mr.Shaw's chief counsel, F.Irvin Dymond, that Mr.Shaw had been brought to trial only to give Mr.Garrison a forum in which to attack the Warren commission's investigation of Mr.Kennedy's murder. Mr. Dymond said that Mr.Garrison knew there was "not a shred of evidence" that Mr.Shaw had conspired to assassinate the President. The jury, which got the case shortly after midnight New Orleans time, was sent to the jury room to deliberate for at least an hour. The judge ordered the courtroom locked in the event that the jury should decide it wanted to return a verdict before morning. Calling on the 12-man jury to free Mr.Shaw, Mr.Dymond said that if Mr.Garrison wanted to accuse the Federal Government of "fraud, deceit, or any other unscrupulous conduct," he should do so directly. Mr.Dymond said he believed the Warren Commission conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. He said he would hate to live in an atmosphere where he would have to believe that the Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department, the Dallas Police Department, the doctors at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and the doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland had all joined in a conspiracy to make the citizens of the United States believe something that had not happened. Mr.Dymond said that even the state's chief witness, Perry Raymond Russo, had testified that the "conspiracy" that he overheard had been more like "shooting the breeze." In leading off the closing argument for the state, the prosecution acknowledged that the discussion about the assassination may have sounded "like a bull session." "But subsequent events in Dallas, Tex., proved that it was more than that," said the assistant district attorney, James L. Alcock, in his summation to the jury. The burden of arguing the state's case fell on Mr.Alcock, 35, who handled most of the trial work, too. The arguments got under way in an overcrowded courtroom in midafternoon after a two-hour recess, during which Judge Edward A. Haggerty Jr. wrote an explanation of Louisiana's conspiracy laws that he will give to the jury. Deputy sheriffs guarding the courtroom said there were 211 seats for spectators and reporters. But the seating capacity was increased considerably by squeezing spectators together on the benches. Hundreds of others were turned away. Extra security was put into effect this morning with those entering being searched closely. No explanation was given for the increase in security. The trial in Criminal District Court, one of the longest criminal trials in New Orleans history, began Jan. 21. Tomorrow will mark the second anniversary of the arrest of Mr.Shaw. Mr.Shaw, whose expression has not changed during formal proceedings of the trial, sat motionless, staring at the jury and Mr.Alcock. Mr.Alcock, red-faced and waving a finger at Mr.Shaw accused him of being a "Har and unworthy of belief." Meeting Recalled Defense attorneys had told the jury that Mr.Shaw would not only deny the conspiracy but would also deny even knowing either Oswald or Mr.Ferrie. The trial was not four hours old, Mr.Alcock said, before such denials had been disproved and "lay shattered in the dust of Clinton, La." Witnesses testified, Mr.Alcock recalled, that they had been seen Mr.Shaw and Mr.Ferrie sitting in a black Cadillac in Clinton all day in late August or early September, 1963, while Oswald was trying to register to vote. "Thus, he is a liar who is unworthy of belief," Mr.Alcock said.    `Ç|z /`s¥¨ªedx'„ôÚ—1 § ® qqkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeee àÀ!® 3 7  m °WúcC.Äzmoqs…‡¥yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyssssyy¥ƒ¶ÇyyyÇ0® ¥Ç123ºº¸ºARTICLE.NYT