[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

conspirators. Lane sarcastically added that “Those dangers were to be a little mitigated
by the incompetence of the Commission, but the assassins could not have known that.” 479
In his examination of the forensic evidence, Lane helped blaze the trail of
conspiracy theorists with criticisms of the “single bullet” or “magic bullet” theory. Lane
noted how the bullet supposed retrieved from Governor Connally’s stretcher was “almost
undeformed and quite unflattened” despite allegedly having caused Kennedy’s back and
neck wounds and all of Connally’s wounds. 480 Lane also seized upon contradictions in
witness testimony used to bolster the case against Oswald. He blasted Howard Brennan,
who supplied a description of the alleged assassin that supposedly fit the description of
Oswald. According to Lane, Brennan “admitted he lied to federal and local police
authorities, “was grossly in error [in his testimony],” “was unable to identify two
witnesses he swore he saw in the fifth-floor windows of the Book Depository on
November 22,” and had “poor eyesight.” Nevertheless, Brennan was “a reliable witness”
for the Commission because his testimony was key to the case against Oswald. 481 Lane
also talked with another witness, Helen Markham, who claimed she saw Oswald killed
officer Tippit. He recorded the conversation in which she described the killer as “a short
man, somewhat on the heavy side, with slightly bushy hair” – hardly a description that fit
Oswald. 482 Lane shared his information with the Commission, but was “admonished and
479 Lane, 272.
480 Len, 76.
481 Lane, 97.
482 Lane, 180.
215