User:Feoffer/sandbox Thomas Edward Beckham

Thomas Edward Beckham (1942?-when?), also known as Tommy Beckham, Mark Evans, and Eggleston Zimmerman was a country music singer, an operator of diploma mills and independent churches, as well as a person who claimed to insider knowledge of the Kennedy assassination.

Early life
Beckham was born ...

Jim Garrison investigation
On December 29, 1967, Beckham was one of three individuals subpoenaed by Jim Garrison's investigation in the Kennedy assassination.

In January 1968, Beckham was hospitalized after a car accident;  Three weeks later, newspapers covered the treatment Beckham's baby child at the same hospital.

On January 31, 1968, a district court judge, granting a request from Louisiana, ordered Beckham to appear before the New Orleans grand jury. Omaha patrolman James Hauger announced his resignation from the police force to act as Beckham's bodyguard. That day, Beckham was arrested for charges of contempt after he failed to appear in court in the matter. Prosecutors granted Beckham a two-week delay so he could confer with counsel before his grand jury appearance.

On February 12, Beckham announced plans to run for Congress; Press reported on how Beckham, wearing priest attire, Beckham gave a sermon to a small local group. On February 15, 1968, Beckham testified before a New Orleans grand jury in the Jim Garrison prosecution, explaining he knew nothing about the Kennedy assassination.

Ongoing
On February 19, 1968, local press reported that Cecil Stapleton, one of Beckham's friends, was suffering from headaches after being in the car accident with Beckham and Hauger. On February 23, 1968, Beckham filed to compete for the Republican nomination to the US House.

In September 1968, Beckham pleaded no contest to the charge of operating an unlicensed private correspondence school after his American Academy of Professional Arts, an accused diploma mill, sold a degree to an illiterate Californian. Earlier in the day, Beckham had forfeited a $1,000 bond for failure to appear;  He later entered the court in the company of a police officer. Beckham was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

In November, a warrant was issued for Beckham's arrest on a charge of writing bad checks.

In 1972, Thomas Edward and wife Connie Diane Beckham were charged with attemped assault and battery with attempt to kill after allegedly trying to run over a Sherrif's investigator who was trying to arrest them. Beckham pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault and battery; he was fined $200. Charges against his wife were dropped.

In July 1977, Beckham was interviewed about the Kennedy assassination by representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations while an inmate in city jail of the Mobile, Alabama.

Beckham faced fraud charges in Arkansas for allegedly posing as a naturopathic physician; Charges were dropped.

In 1980, a public notice in Mississippi called Beckman to appear as defendent at an upcoming civil court case.

Personal life
Married Nettie in 1956? https://www.newspapers.com/image/3090274/ Married Connie Diane by 1972

Discography

 * Gentleman Jim (Reeves) / It's Love  (December 1964)
 * It's Love / From A Jack To A King (1967)
 * That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine / Gang's House
 * Material Witness (Album)
 * Material Witness (Album)