Reference clock for assassination events?

[Marc Ellis]

This may be a dumb question. But I can't find an answer and it seems important.

Studying the assassination, various times are given for the specific events.
At 12:30 CST for example, we're told shots were fired.
1:15 was the purported time for the Tippit shooting.
Whose clock is being used for reference? Is it the WC? TV news? Radio? Police dispatcher?

The timeline becomes especially important for LHO's activities. Where was he at what time?
We're given times in all the works on the subject. But where do these times come from?

Do they all come from one source? If so - what is that source?

Or do they come from more than one source?

Whose watch are we using?

[Tracy Riddle]

As with the events of 9/11, this is a crucial issue, and as with 9/11 there are disputes because the official Commissions put out their own timelines, and yet other evidence (from press accounts, witnesses, etc ) isn't always in agreement.

The time of the assassination is pretty well established (+/- a minute) because of the clock on the TSBD roof. The official time of the Tippit murder is just wrong. The best evidence shows it happened several minutes earlier, but then Oswald couldn't have gotten there on foot in time.

The Bethesda autopsy timeline is a mess too. So they are not set in stone.

[Marc Ellis]

A prosecutor has to tell a story that makes sense to a jury or a judge. Part of that requires an accurate or at least plausible timeline, using a reliable reference for time. Using several different sources for a timeline can make a prosecutor's case more vulnerable. Defense attorneys earn their money pointing out flaws in prosecutors' timelines.

I am thinking any reasonably fair trial of Oswald would be a disaster for a prosecutor. The timeline, as T.R. says, is a mess. And then comes the testimony about Mexico City and 544 Camp Street? The bullet? The missing brain?

Oswald had to die before trial.