© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Fifty years ago, Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
On Friday, a jury of a dozen Dallas citizens sat in judgment in the five decade old case in a mock trial orchestrated by the State Bar of Texas.
After two hours of oral arguments and presentation of evidence, the mock jury was no more united on Oswald’s role in the president’s slaying than the public at large.
Nine of the mock jurors voted that Oswald was guilty, but three said that the government had not met its burden of proof.
In short, Oswald would walk.
The two-hour mock trial represented what was likely to have happened in the “trial of the century” if Oswald had not been assassinated by Jack Ruby two days after the JFK shooting. It took place in the Probate Court No. 1 of the Old Criminal Courts Building in downtown Dallas, the likely venue if the trial had actually happened.
The presiding judge in the mock trial was Judge Martin Hoffman of the 68th District Court of Dallas County. Sarah Saldaña, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, was the federal prosecutor. Dallas criminal defense attorney Toby Shook played Oswald’s counsel.
For more details, visit dallasnews.com.
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