Bernard Fensterwald

Bernard "Bud" Fensterwald Jr. (August 2, 1921 – April 2, 1991) was an American lawyer who defended James Earl Ray and James W. McCord Jr. Other notable clients included Mitch WerBell, Richard Case Nagell and the widow of John Paisley.

Early life Fensterwald was born on August 2, 1921, in Nashville, Tennessee. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Committee to Investigate Assassinations In 1968-1969, Fensterwald and Richard E. Sprague founded a private sector "Committee to Investigate Assassinations," which primarily concerned itself with the Kennedy assassination. In 1973, in honor of the 10th anniversary of JFK's death, Fensterwald held what was, according to Peter Dale Scott, the first commemorative conference on assassination of a kind that would become common on the tail end of the 20th century; better known are the organizations and events and followed in the wake of Fensterwald’s successful effort, such as the Coalition on Political Assassination (COPA), the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), and the Assassination Symposium on Kennedy (ASK) conferences.

In the late 1970s, he was Congressman Thomas N. Downing's favorite to become chief counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations but withdrew himself from consideration after objection from Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez. In 1984, Fensterwald and James Lesar (with whom Fensterwald had represented James Earl Ray ) founded the Assassination and Archives Research Center (AARC).

Counsel to Watergate 'Plumber' James McCord One of Fensterwald's more notable cases was his unsuccessful defense of Watergate criminal James McCord. He was also connected to other characters on the fringes of Watergate. John Paisley, who was the CIA liaison to the White House Plumbers, was Fensterwald's friend and neighbor. When Paisley died under suspicious circumstances, his widow hired Fensterwald to investigate.

Personal life and death Fensterwald had a wife, Patricia, and a son, Bernard. He died of a heart attack in Alexandria, Virginia, aged 69.