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1974 Hearings Conducted by Supervisor Baxter Ward One of the most persistent critics of the manner in which ballistics evidence was presented at the trial. of Sirhan was Los Angeles newsman Baxter Ward. In 1971, Ward often devoted a sizeable portion of his program on KHJ television to highlighting apparent discrepancies in trial testimony of various eyewitnesses, ‘ giving sizeable coverage to trial critics such as Theodore Charach and others critical of criminalist DeWayne Wolfer. In 1972, Ward was elected to the County Board of Supervisors and in 1974 commenced his own hearirg: to investigate ballistics evidence by virtue of his chairmansui:p of the Coroner's Department of Los Angeles County. Prior to the May 1974 hearing, Ward asked his fellow supervisors for subpoena power to compel District Attorney Joseph Busch and L.A.P.D. criminalist Wolfer to appear before his hearing. Prior to the jhearing date in May, a series of Board of Supervisors meetirss “uiiéers.) revealed a growing feud between Ward and Busch. Ward statec”™Kos quarrel with Busch was based on the belief -that the District Attorney should "remove the cloud presently hanging over law enforcement in the Kennedy case by initiating a total review of the ballistics evidence, including refiring of the gun used by Sirhan." Additionally, Ward stated to Busch, "I remind him that I made this same basic proposal back in 1971 when the -bullet controversy first developed. In fact, it was my persistence in this matter in a three month broadcast series in 1971 tnat led to the total estrangement between Mr. Busch and me." Ward insisted that his hearing was to deal with doubts raised by certain criminoligists that bullets used as evidence in the Sirhan murder trial did not match up. Busch, who descrifec the proposed hearing into the bullet dispute as "ridiculous", stated that he would not appear at the hearing and cited government code sections in the Los Angeles County Charter challenging the authority of a Supervisor to conduct legislative hearings- into essentially a criminal case. Additionally, he felt that Supervisor Ward was using the issue of the Sirhan case as publicity to capture publie notoriety during his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor that spring. Mac Donell Affidavit In addition to the original affidavit of William Harper of December, 1970, Ward's hearings were to highlight the affidavit and personal testimony of criminalist Herbert Mac Donell, director of the Laboratory of Forensic Science in Corning, New York. Mac Donell had examined the same 1970 photograph taken by Harper of the bullets removed from Senator Kennedy's neck and victim Weisel. Ted Charach had delivered these photographs to Mac Donell in 1973. Essentially Mae Donell made two conclusions. ~31- wp Ee ae a a