Judge who inspired 'JFK' dies

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Jim Garrison, the flamboyant district attorney whose maverick theories about the assassination of President John Kennedy inspired a hit film, died yesterday aged 71.

He served 12 years as New Orleans district attorney and 12 years as a state appeal court judge, from which he stepped down last year when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

He had been ill for months, but the nature of his illness was not disclosed. His belief that Kennedy was the victim of a CIA plot and government cover-up formed the basis for three books and a trial against the businessman Clay Shaw, who was acquitted. His book On the Trail of the Assassins was the basis of Oliver Stone's film JFK.