16-02-2017, 07:03 PM
I agree, but there isn't much in the way of solid proof in any of this. In similar fashion the argument for Benavides' presence 15 feet from the killing lacks corroboration. When the FBI compiled a list of "WITNESSES TO THE SHOOTING" [CO-2-34,030 12/1/63] bus driver McWatters made the cut but not Benavides.
Detective Leavelle's Supplementary Offense Report (11/22/63) states, "Another witness who saw the officer lying in the street, but did not see suspect, was a Domingo Benavides," and goes on to describe him in action picking up "2 spent 38 hulls," nothing about being there when the shots were fired. Leavelle also states that Benavides gave an affidavit ("All of the above witnesses, with the exception of Scoggins, made affidavits"). This affidavit was either lost or destroyed, the latter much more likely than the former, for the sake of script revision.
When Bowley was rejected as a WC witness (strong Ruby ties and he told the time) Benavides' role was augmented to make the radio call. This led to the peculiar stage direction of having Benavides enter the same scene twice. The interlude he described of walking down the alley toward his mother's house is puzzling until one realizes it was a preemptive strike against the presence of a second squad car. It also served as a hedge against others who witnessed his actual arrival, such as Guinyard, but in this instance the revised script went awry. Guinyard gave the game away when he testified that Benavides arrived on tenth street in his truck (not on foot) long after the shots were fired, just in time to gather the hulls.
For the offical story Benavides was invaluable: the "eyewitness" who eyewitnessed nothing, crouched behind the dashboard at the killing scene, duration unspecified & elastic, on hand to suit the convenience of whatever plot element was about to be concocted.
Detective Leavelle's Supplementary Offense Report (11/22/63) states, "Another witness who saw the officer lying in the street, but did not see suspect, was a Domingo Benavides," and goes on to describe him in action picking up "2 spent 38 hulls," nothing about being there when the shots were fired. Leavelle also states that Benavides gave an affidavit ("All of the above witnesses, with the exception of Scoggins, made affidavits"). This affidavit was either lost or destroyed, the latter much more likely than the former, for the sake of script revision.
When Bowley was rejected as a WC witness (strong Ruby ties and he told the time) Benavides' role was augmented to make the radio call. This led to the peculiar stage direction of having Benavides enter the same scene twice. The interlude he described of walking down the alley toward his mother's house is puzzling until one realizes it was a preemptive strike against the presence of a second squad car. It also served as a hedge against others who witnessed his actual arrival, such as Guinyard, but in this instance the revised script went awry. Guinyard gave the game away when he testified that Benavides arrived on tenth street in his truck (not on foot) long after the shots were fired, just in time to gather the hulls.
For the offical story Benavides was invaluable: the "eyewitness" who eyewitnessed nothing, crouched behind the dashboard at the killing scene, duration unspecified & elastic, on hand to suit the convenience of whatever plot element was about to be concocted.