LANE PROJECT REPORT, no. 3
9/28
RESEARCH FOR AFFIDAVITS
I think that before the affidavits are written, all of the research with the exception of taking the statements of Guyana residents should be done in the States. My reasons are as follows. The reference materials are there. It will be expensive and time consuming to bring them here. Some, like police reports, cannot readily be located unless the precise date and location of an event can be obtained. So, often the gathering of information must begin by a review of news clippings to tie an event down to one or two days, then by going to the Sheriff or Police Department to request the report. Sometimes such data may be obtained from our old files. There will be a lot of back-and-forth if some of this is done here and some done there. The existing media of communication would make that very difficult. So, I propose that we use our list of events, and from that extrapolate the requests for information and documentation that we will need, and sent the whole thing back to the States to do all of the investigations. I do realise [realize] that there will be a lot of labor and time going into this and if we have to send someone back to assist then we will just have to do so. The point I wish to emphasise [emphasize] is that our memories are not good and if we were to file affidavits that would be contradicted by official documents we would be in trouble on the lawsuit from the outset. Since the U.S. Government has endless funds for investigators and will follow all of this stuff up, we must do our homework first or we will be faced in court with some U.S. Attorney explaining in ever loving detail to the judge just how we are lying to him.
I should be ready with an “incident list” specifying investigation goals by the end of the month. I think that this should be talked over with Terri [Buford] by a phone patch to see just how it can best be worked out. By the way, one of the best persons to do investigating we have is Bonnie Beck. Guy Young might also do a very credible job. But should be used to working with Police and legal records and with newspaper files.
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