ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET- GORDON NOVEL

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Records Related to the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00342239
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: June 6, 2025
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2025
• Publication Date: July 13, 1976

104-10312-10069 171 UNCLASSIFIED �4TERNAL COfl V 'DENTIAL 1 ONLY SECRET ISUBJECT: (Optional) Gordon Novel ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET FROM: New Orleans Resident Office EXTENSION NO. N0-113-76 DATE 13 July 1976 TO: (Officer designation, room number, and building) DATE � RECEIVED FORWARDED OFFICER'S INITIALS COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.) Ed Watts, DCD Deputy Chief of Operations 2. Office of General Counsel (John Greaney): 7 D 07 Hqs 0 USE PREVIOUS EDITIONS SECRET CONFIDENTIAL John, Here's more on Novel. There's still no sign that I will be subpoenaed as a witness in his' trial, but I'll continue to send you copies of press items for your information until the trial is -over. INTERNAL USE ONLY , Peter Houck UNCLASSIFIED _ Judge Won't Remise Self fr Novel Trial By J. DOUGLAS MURPHY* , Criminal District .Court Judge Mat- thew S. Braniff Friday refused to recuse himself from the trial of .Gordon. Novel, the former Jim Garrison-Kennedy assas- sination probe figure who was charged May 27 with conspiring to set a fire on Mardi Gras in .New Oileans'-,Central Business District.' . Later. Judge Bernard J.' Bagert also denied the motion to have Braniff put off the case, giving defense attorney John Francis Meyer until Monday to take writs to the state Supreme Court. -�:2 Novel was arrested by federal author7 ities in February on charges of possess- ing a "destructive device" in connection with an alleged plot to firebomb several buildings in the CBD during Mardi Gras. At the time, the defendant was develop- ing plans for a high-rise complex for real estate man John A. Langford, allegedly to be built on the site of one of the fire- bombing targets. . ,�- . � Novel and Langford, 420 Bellaire Drive, have been charged in state court with conspiring to firebomb the Federa- tion of Churches building, 330 St. Charles Ave., on Mardi Gras. . - The case; allotted to Braniff's court, has been colored with 'political and spy- story overtones. Novel has claimed to have ties to the CIA, maintaining that enemies of the intelligence agency have made the case against him; his attorney,.: in the motion for recusal, Friday brought the Garrison investigation up again. Meyer; in the written motion, asked � that Judge Braniff recuse himself be- cause the judge-Set a' $50,000 bond for � Novel during the Garrison probe, and, according to Meyer, stated from the bench that Novel -fled the jurisdiction (of the court) at the time of the... probe." Meyer said it is a "well-known fact" that Novel was residing in Ohio at the time he was wanted to testify during the Garrison investigation, and further stated his client had been advised by a former chief aide to then-U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy not to return to Louisi- ana because the Justice Department "could not protect his civil rights" here. - � Meyer also claimed Novel has been working for a number of years to furnish information "which. caused the reopen- ing of the Kennedy assassination probe;". that Novel's information is in direct con- flict with the theories of Garrison (for whom Novel worked as chief of security) �and that Novel had accused Garrison and the judges involved in the probe � including Braniff � of "political and criminal fraud." The motion also maintained that a U.S. Senate select subcommittee, headed by Sen. Richard Schweiker of Pennsylva- nia, is awaiting the release of Novel to testify concerning KGB (Soviet intelli- gence) and Cuban agents "who furnished funds and misinformation" to Garrison, "and that the Hon. Mathew S. Braniff, as one of the judges involved in the former probe of the assassination of President Kennedy, may well be called upon to testify in said hearings and may be prejudiced against the defendant herein for that reason." Schweiker's office, contacted late Friday, said the work of the subcommit- tee that looked into Kennedy's death has been over for some time, and its report released. There are no apparent plans to call either Novel or Braniff to testify about anything, a woman at the senator's office said. Novel, of 1718 Lakeshore Drive, re- mains in Parish Prison awaiting trial. ; 10 July 1976 , - New Orleans Times-Picayune