Clay Shaw Clay LaVerne Shaw ( March 17 , 1913 – August 15 , 1974 ) was a businessman in New Orleans , Louisiana . He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the assassination of President John F . Kennedy and was acquitted . Background . Shaw was honorably discharged from the United States Army as a major in 1946 . He served as secretary to the General Staff and was decorated by three nations : the United States with the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star , by France with the Croix de Guerre and named Chevalier de l ' Ordre du Merite , and by Belgium named Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Belgium . After World War II Shaw helped start the International Trade Mart in New Orleans which facilitated the sales of both domestic and imported goods . He was known locally for his efforts to preserve buildings in New Orleans ' historic French Quarter . Arrest . New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison prosecuted Clay Shaw on the charge that Shaw and a group of right - wing activists , including David Ferrie and Guy Banister , were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) in the John F . Kennedy assassination . Garrison arrested Shaw on March 1 , 1967 . Garrison believed that Clay Shaw was the man named as " Clay Bertrand " in the Warren Commission Report . Garrison said that Shaw used the alias " Clay Bertrand " among New Orleans ' gay society . The trial . During the trial , which took place in January – February 1969 , Garrison called insurance salesman Perry Russo as his main witness . Russo testified that he had attended a party at the apartment of anti - Castro activist David Ferrie . At the party , Russo said that Lee Harvey Oswald ( who Russo said was introduced to him as " Leon Oswald " ) , David Ferrie , and " Clem Bertrand " ( who Russo identified in the courtroom as Clay Shaw ) had discussed killing Kennedy . The conversation included plans for the " triangulation of crossfire " and alibis for the participants . Critics of Garrison argue that his own records indicate that Russo ' s story had evolved over time . A key source was the " Sciambra Memo , " which recorded Assistant D . A . Andrew Sciambra ' s first interview with Russo . The memo does not mention an " assassination party , " and it says that Russo met with Shaw on two occasions , neither of which occurred at the party . Sciambra blamed himself for leaving out the Shaw / Ferrie / Oswald party episode in his memo . Another Garrison witness , Charles Spiesel , said , under cross examination , that he had filed a lawsuit in 1964 against a psychiatrist and the City of New York . He testified that , over a period of several years , the police and others had hypnotized him and harassed him out of business . He also said that he regularly fingerprinted his children , lest they had been replaced with cloned lookalikes by the US Government . Spiesel had been called as a witness for his claim that he had attended a gathering where Clay Shaw was present and identified himself as " Clay Bertrand " . Land titles records showed the building where Spiesel claimed to have met Shaw was indeed owned by Shaw at the time of the alleged meeting . On March 1 , 1969 Shaw was acquitted less than one hour after the case went to the jury . Aftermath . Garrison later wrote a book about his investigation of Clay Shaw and the subsequent trial called " On the Trail of the Assassins " . In the book , Garrison states that Shaw had an " extensive international role as an employee of the CIA " . Shaw denied any such connections . In 1979 , Richard Helms , former director of the CIA , testified under oath that Clay Shaw had been a part - time contact of the Domestic Contact Service of the CIA , where Shaw volunteered information from his travels abroad , mostly to Latin America . By the mid - 1970s , 150 , 000 Americans ( businessmen , journalists , etc . ) had provided such information to the DCS . In 1979 , the House Select Committee on Assassinations stated in its Final Report that the Committee was " inclined to believe that Oswald was in Clinton [ Louisiana ] in late August , early September 1963 , and that he was in the company of David Ferrie , if not Clay Shaw , " and that witnesses in Clinton , Louisiana " established an association of an undetermined nature between Ferrie , Shaw and Oswald less than three months before the assassination " . Death . Shaw died on about 12 : 40 AM at his residence , 1022 St . Peter Street . The death certificate was signed by Dr . Hugh M . Batson , with the cause of death listed as metastatic lung cancer . Portrayals . Shaw was portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in Oliver Stone ' s 1991 film " JFK " . Jones received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role .