by Schadenfreude » Thu 27 Mar 2008, 00:08:16
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'I') wonder why Rafer Johnson, RFK's bodyguard and the other people at the scene thought the shots came from Sirhan Sirhan and so wrestled him to ground, if the shots were actually fired by somebody else standing ten feet away somewhere behind RFK.
According to the the forensics investigator on MSNBC today, the murder weapon (or one of them) was just a couple of inches behind Kennedy's head. He was saying that this evidence was "indisputable" and can be verified by any serious investigator.
I'm not up to speed on the details of the RFK assassination but I'm aware that incongruities exist. And I was surprised to learn that this latest evidence was presented at a conference of criminal forensics investigators.
New evidence challenges official picture of Kennedy shooting$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Guardian UK', '"')Sirhan was apprehended at the scene with literally a smoking gun," said acoustic forensic expert Philip Van Praag of PVP Designs, who has carried out the new analysis. "At the beginning many people looked upon this as an open-and-shut case. It was one man, Sirhan Sirhan, who was observed by a number of people, who aimed and fired a gun in the direction of Kennedy's entourage."
Close range
But the lone gunman explanation has always looked shaky. The autopsy of Kennedy's body suggested that all four shots that hit him came from behind, and powder marks on his skin showed they must have been from close range.
But Sirhan was in front of Kennedy when he fired, and after shooting two shots was overcome by hotel staff, who pinned him to a table. Also, Sirhan fired eight shots in total, yet 14 were found lodged around the room and in the victims.
"There is no doubt in our minds that no fewer than 14 shots were fired in the pantry on that evening and that Sirhan did not in fact kill Senator Kennedy," said Robert Joling, a forensic scientist who has been involved with the Kennedy case for nearly 40 years. He and Van Praag have published a book on the killing this week entitled "An Open and Shut Case".
The inconsistencies in the case have bred numerous conspiracy theories, including the involvement of the CIA and the idea that Sirhan - who claims not to remember the shooting and pleaded insanity at his trial - was a "Manchurian Candidate" assassin who was hypnotically programmed to kill the senator.
Audio recording
Now Van Praag has added new weight to the 'two shooters' theory. He reanalysed the only audio recording of the shooting, which was made by an independent journalist, Stanislaw Pruszynski. "At the time Pruszynski was not even aware that his recorder was still on," said Van Praag.
The recording quality is poor, but it is possible to make out 13 shots over the course of just over 5 seconds, before what Van Praag describes as "blood-curdling screams" obscure the sound. That is more than the eight rounds that Sirhan's cheap Iver Johnson Cadet 55 revolver carried...
