Exhumation ruling nears in Oswald investigation

Lawyers battling over whether to exhume the body thought to be that of Lee Harvey Oswald for autopsy and identification rested their cases Monday and the judge said he will probably decide the case by next week. Michael Eddowes, a British author and lawyer, contends there is "persuasive and powerful evidence" that a Soviet agent assumed Oswald's identify after Oswald defected to Russian in 1959 and that either the agent, or no one at all, was buried in the plot. With permission from Marina Oswald Porter, Oswald's widow, he tried to exhume the body last month, but Oswald's brother, Robert, won a temporary court order barring exhumation. The hearing will determine whether the order will be made permanent.