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| Mark Lane, Who Asserted That Kennedy Was Killed in Conspiracy, Dies at 89 | Mark Lane, Who Asserted That Kennedy Was Killed in Conspiracy, Dies at 89 |
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| Mark Lane, the defense lawyer, social activist and author who concluded in a blockbuster book in the mid-1960s that Lee Harvey Oswald could not have acted alone in killing President John F. Kennedy, a thesis supported in part by the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979, died on Tuesday at his home in Charlottesville, Va. He was 89. | Mark Lane, the defense lawyer, social activist and author who concluded in a blockbuster book in the mid-1960s that Lee Harvey Oswald could not have acted alone in killing President John F. Kennedy, a thesis supported in part by the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979, died on Tuesday at his home in Charlottesville, Va. He was 89. |
| The cause was a heart attack, his friend and paralegal Sue Herndon said. | The cause was a heart attack, his friend and paralegal Sue Herndon said. |
| The Kennedy assassination, one of the manifest turning points of the 20th century, was also the climactic moment of Mr. Lane’s life and career. Before the president’s murder on Nov. 22, 1963, Mr. Lane was a minor figure in New York’s legal and political circles. He had organized rent strikes, opposed bomb shelter programs, joined the Freedom Riders, took on civil rights cases and was active in the New York City Democratic Party. He was elected a State Assemblyman in 1960 and served one term. | The Kennedy assassination, one of the manifest turning points of the 20th century, was also the climactic moment of Mr. Lane’s life and career. Before the president’s murder on Nov. 22, 1963, Mr. Lane was a minor figure in New York’s legal and political circles. He had organized rent strikes, opposed bomb shelter programs, joined the Freedom Riders, took on civil rights cases and was active in the New York City Democratic Party. He was elected a State Assemblyman in 1960 and served one term. |
| After the Kennedy murder, Mr. Lane devoted much of the next three decades to its investigation. Almost immediately he began the Citizens’ Committee of Inquiry, interviewed witnesses, collected evidence and delivered speeches on the assassination in the United States and in Europe, where he befriended Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, who became an early supporter of Mr. Lane. | After the Kennedy murder, Mr. Lane devoted much of the next three decades to its investigation. Almost immediately he began the Citizens’ Committee of Inquiry, interviewed witnesses, collected evidence and delivered speeches on the assassination in the United States and in Europe, where he befriended Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, who became an early supporter of Mr. Lane. |
| After President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination, Mr. Lane emerged as one of its important independent experts. He testified before the commission in 1964 and was a legal counsel to Marguerite Oswald, the suspect’s mother. | After President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination, Mr. Lane emerged as one of its important independent experts. He testified before the commission in 1964 and was a legal counsel to Marguerite Oswald, the suspect’s mother. |
| Mr. Lane published the results of his inquiry in August 1966 in “Rush to Judgment,” his first book, which dominated best-seller lists for two years. With a trial lawyer’s capacity to amass facts, and a storyteller’s skill in distilling them into a coherent narrative, Mr. Lane asserted that the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald was the lone gunman was incomplete, reckless at times, and implausible. | Mr. Lane published the results of his inquiry in August 1966 in “Rush to Judgment,” his first book, which dominated best-seller lists for two years. With a trial lawyer’s capacity to amass facts, and a storyteller’s skill in distilling them into a coherent narrative, Mr. Lane asserted that the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald was the lone gunman was incomplete, reckless at times, and implausible. |
| He coined the term “grassy knoll” to describe a green expanse of Dealey Plaza in Dallas that Mr. Lane argued was the source of several of the shots fired at the president. | He coined the term “grassy knoll” to describe a green expanse of Dealey Plaza in Dallas that Mr. Lane argued was the source of several of the shots fired at the president. |
| The book raised doubts about Oswald’s marksmanship and the expertise of police agencies. And he sought to ridicule the Warren Commission’s conclusion that one “magic bullet” could strike and grievously injure President Kennedy and Gov. John Connally and still emerge essentially intact. | The book raised doubts about Oswald’s marksmanship and the expertise of police agencies. And he sought to ridicule the Warren Commission’s conclusion that one “magic bullet” could strike and grievously injure President Kennedy and Gov. John Connally and still emerge essentially intact. |
| Mr. Lane’s findings were disputed aggressively by the government. Still, the financial success of “Rush to Judgment” and its conclusions prompted the development of a new assassination genre in nonfiction — by both those who believed in a conspiracy and those who did not — that eventually counted more than 2,000 titles. | Mr. Lane’s findings were disputed aggressively by the government. Still, the financial success of “Rush to Judgment” and its conclusions prompted the development of a new assassination genre in nonfiction — by both those who believed in a conspiracy and those who did not — that eventually counted more than 2,000 titles. |
| Mr. Lane was among the genre’s most active contributors. In 1967, the same year Mr. Lane produced a documentary film version of the book, with the same title, The New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin called him one of the foremost Kennedy “assassination buffs.” The next year Mr. Lane published “A Citizen’s Dissent,’’ his response to the Warren report’s defenders. | |
| His book “Rush to Judgment” was adapted into the 1973 feature film “Executive Action,” starring Burt Lancaster and written by Mr. Lane with help from the formerly blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Mr. Lane produced a second documentary on the Kennedy assassination, “Two Men in Dallas,” and published another book, “Plausible Denial,” arguing that the C.I.A. was involved in the Kennedy murder. Both the film and the book came out in 1991. | |
| Mr. Lane relished his heightened national attention. The comedian Dick Gregory chose Mr. Lane to be his running mate in several states in a write-in presidential candidacy in 1968 under the banner of the Freedom and Peace Party. The campaign collected nearly 50,000 votes. | |
| While working with Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1970, Mr. Lane befriended Jane Fonda and appeared with her on “The Dick Cavett Show” on ABC. In 1974, he represented the American Indian Movement and joined the lawyer William M. Kunstler in successfully defending Russell C. Means and Dennis J. Banks, who led the 71-day Indian uprising at Wounded Knee in 1973, against federal charges of conspiracy, assault and larceny. | |
| During this period, Mr. Lane also joined Mr. Gregory and other civil rights leaders in investigating the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He and Mr. Gregory published their findings as co-authors of the book “Murder in Memphis,” (first released in 1977 as “Code Name Zero”) which concluded that a conspiracy involving the F.B.I. had been behind the killing. Mr. Lane also worked with Representative Thomas N. Downey, a New York Democrat, to draft legislation that in 1976 established the House Select Committee on Assassinations, with Mr. Downey as its first chairman, to investigate the murders of Kennedy and King. He represented King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, for a time and in testimony before the committee unsuccessfully sought his release. | |
| In its final report in 1979, the committee went further than any branch of government to support the central points of Mr. Lane’s thesis about Kennedy’s murder. It concluded that the F.B.I. and the Warren Commission investigations of the assassination were flawed. | In its final report in 1979, the committee went further than any branch of government to support the central points of Mr. Lane’s thesis about Kennedy’s murder. It concluded that the F.B.I. and the Warren Commission investigations of the assassination were flawed. |
| The committee also found that while Oswald fired three shots, one of which killed President Kennedy, a “high probability” existed that a second gunman was present and that the president “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.” The committee, though, was "unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.” | The committee also found that while Oswald fired three shots, one of which killed President Kennedy, a “high probability” existed that a second gunman was present and that the president “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.” The committee, though, was "unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.” |
| But Mr. Lane also came under criticism from the committee for providing evidence about the King assassination that they regarded as unsubstantiated: “In many instances, the committee found that Lane was willing to advocate conspiracy theories publicly without having checked the factual basis for them,” wrote the authors of the final committee report. “In other instances, Lane proclaimed conspiracy based on little more than inference and innuendo. Lane’s conduct resulted in public misperception about the assassination of Dr. King and must be condemned.” | But Mr. Lane also came under criticism from the committee for providing evidence about the King assassination that they regarded as unsubstantiated: “In many instances, the committee found that Lane was willing to advocate conspiracy theories publicly without having checked the factual basis for them,” wrote the authors of the final committee report. “In other instances, Lane proclaimed conspiracy based on little more than inference and innuendo. Lane’s conduct resulted in public misperception about the assassination of Dr. King and must be condemned.” |
| Mr. Lane was undeterred. “It seems clear,” he wrote in 1992, “that the people of this nation have a different agenda from the politics of suppression, disinformation, perjury, and subornation of perjury readily embraced by their leaders.” | Mr. Lane was undeterred. “It seems clear,” he wrote in 1992, “that the people of this nation have a different agenda from the politics of suppression, disinformation, perjury, and subornation of perjury readily embraced by their leaders.” |
| Mark Lane was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 24, 1927. He was the middle of three children of Harry Lane, an accountant, and Betty Lane, a secretary. He served in the army after World War II in Vienna and returned to Brooklyn to earn an undergraduate degree and, in 1951, a law degree at Brooklyn College. | Mark Lane was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 24, 1927. He was the middle of three children of Harry Lane, an accountant, and Betty Lane, a secretary. He served in the army after World War II in Vienna and returned to Brooklyn to earn an undergraduate degree and, in 1951, a law degree at Brooklyn College. |
| In the 1970s, Mr. Lane moved to Charlottesville, where he practiced law. | In the 1970s, Mr. Lane moved to Charlottesville, where he practiced law. |
| His first two marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, the former Partricia Erdner; three daughters, Anne Marie Lane, Christina Bel and Vita O’Shea; and four grandchildren. | |
| A man with a strong personality and a yen for visibility and risk, Mr. Lane consistently cultivated and attracted high-profile clients. In the 1960s he worked with Jim Garrison, the district attorney in New Orleans who was investigating the Kennedy assassination in a case that Oliver Stone featured in the 1991 movie “JFK.” | A man with a strong personality and a yen for visibility and risk, Mr. Lane consistently cultivated and attracted high-profile clients. In the 1960s he worked with Jim Garrison, the district attorney in New Orleans who was investigating the Kennedy assassination in a case that Oliver Stone featured in the 1991 movie “JFK.” |
| In late 1970s he represented Jim Jones, the head of the California-based People’s Temple. He was in Jonestown, Guyana, on Nov. 18, 1978, the day that Representative Leo Ryan was killed and when more than 900 other people died of cyanide poisoning. Mr. Lane survived by fleeing into the jungle. In 1979 he published “The Strongest Poison” about Jones and the killings. | In late 1970s he represented Jim Jones, the head of the California-based People’s Temple. He was in Jonestown, Guyana, on Nov. 18, 1978, the day that Representative Leo Ryan was killed and when more than 900 other people died of cyanide poisoning. Mr. Lane survived by fleeing into the jungle. In 1979 he published “The Strongest Poison” about Jones and the killings. |
| In the mid-1980s Mr. Lane successfully defended the far right Liberty Lobby and its publication, The Spotlight, in a defamation case brought by E. Howard Hunt, the C.I.A. agent and Watergate co-conspirator. Mr. Lane’s passion about the Kennedy assassination never seemed to wane, His final book about the Kennedy assassination, “Last Word: My Indictment of the C.I.A. in the Murder of JFK” was published in 2011. | In the mid-1980s Mr. Lane successfully defended the far right Liberty Lobby and its publication, The Spotlight, in a defamation case brought by E. Howard Hunt, the C.I.A. agent and Watergate co-conspirator. Mr. Lane’s passion about the Kennedy assassination never seemed to wane, His final book about the Kennedy assassination, “Last Word: My Indictment of the C.I.A. in the Murder of JFK” was published in 2011. |
| His autobiography, “Citizen Lane,” was published in 2012, with an introduction by the actor Martin Sheen. A documentary of the same name, written and directed by the actress Pauley Perrette, came out in 2013. | His autobiography, “Citizen Lane,” was published in 2012, with an introduction by the actor Martin Sheen. A documentary of the same name, written and directed by the actress Pauley Perrette, came out in 2013. |
| “I’ve earned all of the friends I have in the world — Bertrand Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dick Gregory, just as an example of them,’’ Mr. Lane says in the film, “but more than that, I’ve earned every one of my enemies, every one of them, and I’m proud of that.” | “I’ve earned all of the friends I have in the world — Bertrand Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dick Gregory, just as an example of them,’’ Mr. Lane says in the film, “but more than that, I’ve earned every one of my enemies, every one of them, and I’m proud of that.” |