CRS-10 Section 13 provides a penalty of a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty days, or both for violations of Section 989a. Article 781a of the Texas Penal Code (Vernon 1961) as in force in 1963 contained the following provision: "Any person, who for himself or as an officer, agent, or employee of any other person, or of any corporation or partnership, (a) shall inter, cremate, or otherwise finally dispose of the dead body of a human being, or permit the same to be done, or shall remove said body from the primary registration district in which the death occurred or the body was found;... shall be deemed guility of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall for the first offense be fined not less than five dollars ($5.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00), and for each subsequent offense not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100.00), or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than sixty days, or be both fined and imprisoned." (Emphasis supplied) It may be noted that a 1973 amendatory act deleted this pro vision. Rule 38a of the Texas Sanitary Code, as in force in 1963 (Vernon's Ann. Civ. Stat. Art. 4477 (1951)), provided in part that "(a) The State Department of Health shall provide a permit for the burial, cremation, entombing, removal, transportation by common carrier or other disposition of dead human bodies, which shall be known as the burialtransit permit... (c) When a death or stillbirth occurs or a dead body is found within this State, no permit shall be issued until a certificate of death or stillbirth has been filed in accordance with the requirements of the Vital Statistics Law and the regulations of the State Department of CRS-11 Health... (e) The State Department of Health shall regulate the disposal, transportation, interment, and disinterment of dead bodies, to such extent as may be reasonable and necessary for the protection of the public health and safety." (Emphasis supplied) Additional requirements of the Sanitary Code which may have relevance here should be noted. Rule 40a included the requirement that "[t]he person in charge of interment or of removal of the body from the district for disposition shall be responsible for obtaining and filing the certificate and shall supply on such certificate over his signature the data relating to the disposition of the body." In his testimony, Clinton J. Hill, Special Agent of the Secret Service testified before the Commission regarding the obtaining of a casket. He stated: "I was requested by Mr. O'Donnell, one of the Presidential assistants, to obtain a casket, because they wanted to return to Washington immediately. I contacted the administrator of the hospital [Parkland] and asked him to take me where I could telephone the nearest mortuary, which I did, requested that their best available casket be brought to the emergency entrance in my name immediately... The casket did arrive from the O'Neal Mortuary, Inc., in their own hearse, which we then wheeled into the emergency room." Hearings, Volume II, at 142. Rule 42a of the Texas Sanitary Code includes the provision that "[e]very person, firm, or corporation selling a casket, coffin, or burial box, at retail, and not having charge of the disposition of the body, shall inclose within the casket, coffin or burial box a notice furnished by the state registrar calling attention to the requirements of the law, a blank certificate of death, and the rules and CRS-12 regulations of the State Department of Health, concerning the burial or other disposition of a dead body." This law was in effect in 1963. Rule 55a of the Sanitary Code adds that "each local registrar is hereby charged with the strict and thorough enforcement of the provisions of this Act in his registration district, under the supervision and direction of the state registrar. And he shall make an immediate report to the state registrar of any violation of this law coming to his knowledge, by observation or upon complaint of any person, or otherwise." This provision was also in force in 1963. CONCLUSIONS Based upon the accounts included in the Warren Commission Report of the facts surrounding the removal of the President's body from Dallas and available Texas laws in force in 1963, the following conclusions may be drawn: (1) Upon determination that President Kennedy was legally dead Mrs. Kennedy acquired a common law "quasi-property" right in his remains; (2) This right remained subject to the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction in which the death occurred in this case Dallas, Texas; (3) There was less than full compliance with a number of state laws, and in light of the substance of those statutes it may be presumed that state regulations, Dallas municipal ordinances, and hospital regulations may also have been disregarded; (4) Specifically, Texas law would have required (a) an inquest (b) in all likelihood an autopsy (c) authorization for the transportation of the body out of the county and state, and (d) the supplying of vital statistics. 42-733 () - 79 - 45 CRS-13 As indicated by the testimony of Mr. O'Donnell, some efforts were made by local authorities to obtain compliance with standard procedures for homicide cases. These efforts were thwarted by the decision of members of the President's staff and others that it was imperative, given the uncertain motive for the slaying, Mrs. Kennedy's well-being and other factors, that the body and the Vice President return to Washington at the earliest possible moment. The decision to leave despite the protestations of local authorities was made amidst the most unusual of circumstances, and no judgment as to the wisdom or propriety of that decision is made here. Ken M Bonharde Kent M. Ronhovde SUBJECT: Government Acquisition of Evidence Pertaining to the This will respond to your inquiry of December 4, 1978 for information on steps taken by the Congress in 1965 to allow the United States to preserve evidence acquired by the Warren Commission in the course of its investigation of the death of President John F. Kennedy, and the authority of the Government to acquire such material in the event of future assassinations. The 1965 Statute Public Law 89-318 (79 Stat. 1185) was enacted by the 89th Congress to provide "for the acquisition and preservation by the United States of certain items of evidence pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy." That Act, of November 2, 1965, provided as follows: ...That it is hereby declared that the national interest requires that the United States acquire all right, title, and interest, in and to, certain items of evidence, to be designated by the Attorney General pursuant to section 2 of this Act, which were considered by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (hereinafter referred to as "items"), and requires that those items be preserved by the United States. |