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Though most of the witnesses have testified previously, they have never before faced crossexamination. Both attorneys are persuasive advocates. Bugliosi deflates some of the more outlandish conspiracy theories with rapid- fire probes. Spence, a drawling, flamboyant courtroom performer, homes in shrewdly on ambiguities and unanswered questions in the official account.
Some questions seem rather conclusively settled. The Zapruder film, for example, shows Kennedy lurching backward after the shot to his head, implying that the bullet came from somewhere in front of the car. But the medical evidence leaves no doubt that both shots came from the rear; as one expert explains, the backward lurch could have been caused by an involuntary neuromuscular reaction to the devastating bullet.
Other testimony has the drama of the unfathomable. Perhaps most compelling is the appearance of Ruth Paine, the school psychologist with whom Oswald's wife Marina lived before the assassination. Holding up bravely under Spence's prickly cross-examination, she describes Oswald's actions before the assassination in articulate but quavering words.
Paine: It's important that people understand that Lee was a very ordinary person, that people can kill a President without that being something that shows on them in advance.
Spence: Is it really your purpose to try to defame this man in some way?
Paine: I think it's really important for history that a full picture of the man be seen.
Spence: Yes, so do I.
The show-biz demands of television do some damage to the program's credibility. Because it is not a real trial, witnesses could not be subpoenaed (Marina Oswald was among the few who refused to appear). The lawyers agreed to adhere to a time limit on questioning, and the number of witnesses was streamlined. Complained Spence after the taping: "All kinds of inadmissible hearsay got into evidence, necessitated by the fact that this was a three-day trial instead of a three-month trial."
Nevertheless, the participants contend, the program contributes importantly to the assassination record. "I defy anyone who is familiar with the Kennedy assassination," says Bugliosi, "to look at the 18 hours of tape or examine the trial transcript and say that the gut issues of the case were not addressed or were treated cosmetically." Even for casual observers raised on Perry Mason, On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald provides a fascinating lesson in history and the law. And, not incidentally, TV's best courtroom drama ever.