NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 15 -- New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. is set to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect sealed 30-year-old transcripts of grand jury testimony in the investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Connick, who plans to will file the appeal today, said he is acting to preserve the secrecy of grand jury testimony, which he calls a cornerstone of American jurisprudence.
Connick is trying to stop a federal appeals court order to turn over all materials from the 1967 transcripts in his office in the investigation of the Kennedy's 1963 assassination in Dallas. A federal appeals court ruled that Connick must obey a subpoena from the Assassination Records Review Board, which triggered today's action. The prosecutor contends the old file cabinet full of records in his office offers nothing new on the assassination and could have local historical significance. The files at issue were gathered by Jim Garrison, the district attorney who prosecuted businessman Clay Shaw. The conspiracy case against Shaw collapsed during the trial, and he was acquitted by a jury in 45 minutes. The Assassinations Review Board first learned that Connick had Kennedy-related materials when a reporter obtained grand jury transcripts from a retired investigator who worked in the office. The reporter turned them over to the board. ---
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