Mr. HUBERT. Had you been at that time consulted by the district
attorney with reference to your being a possible witness?
Mr. SORRELS. I do not recall that I had.
Now, here is something that will establish that. The district attorney,
Henry Wade, came to Washington--I don’t know whether it was in
connection with talking to the Commission or what--but I saw him out at
the airport, and he said to me----
Mr. HUBERT. What airport?
Mr. SORRELS. This was before the trial--Love Field, in Dallas.
He was coming to Washington. And he said to me, “I want to talk to you
when I get back about this case.”
And I said, “All right.”
And I did not hear anything more from Mr. Wade until the trial was
actually in progress. He asked me to come to his office, which I did.
Mr. HUBERT. That is Wade?
Mr. SORRELS. That is Henry Wade; yes, sir, the State district attorney
that prosecuted Ruby for the murder of Oswald.
And, at that time, I related to him the conversation I had had with
Ruby.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you relate to him in that interview approximately what
you have told us today about your interviews with Ruby?
Mr. SORRELS. Only the one up in the jail--I was talking about that.
I didn’t go into detail about this one where Captain Fritz was
interviewing him. That was only there at the jail.
Mr. HUBERT. Is there any reason why one was talked about and not the
other?
Mr. SORRELS. No; no particular reason, excepting that I just assumed
that Captain Fritz would be the one if there was any testimony as to
the second interview--would be the one to testify in that case.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Wade know that you were present at both?
Mr. SORRELS. I would not say positive, but it seems to me that it was
mentioned that I was present when we talked, but I am not positive on
that.
Mr. HUBERT. Did this interview with Wade occur before or after the
telephone conversation with Curry?
Mr. SORRELS. No; that was afterwards. That was after the trial started.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, now, which was afterwards?
Mr. SORRELS. The interview with Mr. Wade.
Mr. HUBERT. That came after the telephone conversation with Curry?
Mr. SORRELS. Yes, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Did Mr. Wade consider using you as a witness?
Mr. SORRELS. He said if he needed me, he would let me know--in other
words, would get in touch with me.
He said, “Now, the defense may subpoena you on this thing.”
And defense attorney--one of them was in on that case--did call me on
the telephone. They wanted me to meet with either Tonahill or Belli, or
maybe both of them. And I told them I was extremely busy.
He said, “How about having dinner with us?”
I said, “No; I don’t even have time to eat big dinners, I just grab a
sandwich,” because I didn’t want to have dinner with them.
They called me a second time, because there had been a delay from the
time they thought they were going to call me--they called me the second
time and that is when they said something about having dinner with them
later, and I said, no; I didn’t have time.
And at that time I told them I didn’t think I could do them any good. I
said I can tell you in a short time what I could testify to.
He said, “Over the phone?”