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od Wolfer stated *' -t one of the factors t' * made the actual identification of th\ ennedy death bullet, Peox_4's 48, impossible was that the bullet had flattened out as it. fragmented in the brain. As such, the bullet exploded in a fragmented and enlarged manner, causing it to look larger and flat. It was this particular problem, as reported in Robert Houghton's book (Special Unit Senator), that first gave criminalist William Harper a Treeling that there were possible discrepancies in the ballistics evidence. In the book Special Unit Senator, Houghton had mistakenly described this death buliet as being .?¢ inches in diameter when in reality it should have been described as .12 millimeters in diameter. Harper felt that the transcription in the book stating .12 inches meant that a bullet of that size would be too large to have come from a .22 caliber revolver, and it was this statement that first gave Harper his interest in re-examining the ballistics evidence. It was de- termined, however, that Houghton's reference in the book concerned very enlarged photographs of the fragment from People's 493, thus causing the misconception of the actual diameter of the bullet. Even defense counsel, Grant Cooper, had commented at trial on the large nature of the bullet fragment in the photograph, (People's 49), of the bullet, (People's 48), and had been assured by prose- cution attorneys that the fragment had been blown up several hundred times to account for the seemingly large diameter of the fragment. Additionally, while under cross examination by the several lawyers, Wolfer essentially repeated tha eamea Factimanu ha had ia nt i Net pee Gk te ee waaew det Gh Dd At Nr ct er a aw How earlier. given before the Grand Jury in 1968 and before the trial court in 1969, explaining the nature of ballistics and firearms identification. Since the purpose of this hearing was to serve as a guideline for the seven ballistics experts being assembled, Wolfer described how he had earlier reached the conclusion that the Sirhan gun and "no other gun in the world" had fired the evidence bullets. Before the Grand Jury in 1968, Wolfer had testified that in order to read the markings on a bullet fired from a particular gun, and in order to determine which particular gun fired the bullet, it was necessary to check the specific barrel or rifling of the gun or revolver. This was because there are imperfections that scratch the bullet as the bullet crosses the imperfections within the barrel of the gun or revolver. Additionally, testified Wolfer, tnese imperfections produce in the bullet a series of valleys and ridges called lands and grooves. When a comparison test is made by taking an evidence bullet and a test bullet placed under a comparison microscope (two microscopes with one eye piece), it is possible to identify the particular lands and grooves and markings on the bullets. It is through this test mechanism that one can identify whether certain bullets have been fired from a certain barrel of a gun or revolver. - 58 -