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Robert F Kennedy Assassination — Part 3
Page 18
18 / 20
J 7,!
bullets and
the test
fired bullets
fired by
Wolfer! conceivably
might have
been sufficient
to match
up
the
bullets with
the Sirhan
weapon, or
at least
one weapon
alone, the
several twogun
advocates
always demanded
that the
gun itself
be test
fired.
It must
be remembered
that criminalists
Harper and
Macbonell
never actually
analyzed the
victim or
test fired
bullets with
a
comparison "microscope.
Their. process
of investigation
was
primarily
by
using
a Balliscan
camera and
photographs, the
photos
of which
were
then
subsequently given
to MacDonell
in 1973.
Even
during Supervisor
Ward's hearings in 197,
no testimony
was given
regarding
a classical
microscopic test
the traditional
ballistics
examination!. In
other words,
the orchestration
of doubt
con-
cerning the
Sirhan case,
and the
demand
that
the gun
itself be
test
fired, increased
in intensity
despite the
fact that
no comparison
microscopic
test
of
the victim
and evidence
bullets had
ever been
conducted by
anyone other
than criminalist
Dewayne Wolfer.
More-
over, despite
the fact
that petitioners
Paul Schrade
and CBS
requested such
microscopic examination
in their
August 1975
petition, public
opinion and
public demand
was
such
that the
test
firing of
the weapon
became the
prime
concern
and prime
objective
of the
petition filed
before the
Court, and
in the
public state-
ments concerning
the reopening
of the
Sirhan case.
It should
also be
emphasized that
the five
ballistics experts,
who were
able to
link bullets
H7, 52,
and 59
to having
been fired
from one
gun and
one gun alone, and
the seven
ballistics experts
who
identified the
gross
and
individual characteristics
present on
all
bullets the
evidence bullets,
the 1968
and 1975
test fired
bullets!, were
able to
base their
conclusions that
there was
no
evidence of
a second
gun almost
entirely on
evidence that
existed
in 1968.
Due to
the severe
leaded condition
of the
barrel, the
test
firing of
the weapon
in
1975,
and the
eight test
fired
bullets
recovered in
1975, actually
added
very
little
to the
actual identi-
fication of
the three
victim bullets
as having
been shot
by one
weapon. Five
of the
seven making
this conclusion!.
The 1975
test
firing did
establish similarities
in gross
and individual
charac-
teristics, although
not of
a sufficient
number to
positively link
all the
bullets with
the Sirhan
weapon itself.
Although Special
Counsel Kranz
has no
evidence of
any
tampering by
any individual,
it is
entirely possible,
and is
the
opinion of
Special Counsel
Kranz, that
the severe
leaded
barrel was
a condition
that distorted
the
possibility
of identification
of the
testfired bullets
as testified
by the
seven
experts!.
There is
the possibility
that over
the past
several years,
people with
either authorized
or unauthorized
access to
the exhibits
and the
weapon itself,
may have
attempted to
create doubt
about the
Sirhan
case by
attempts
to lead
the barrel
in various
ways. When
the
original
theory
of
two guns
are analyzed
for what
they were
I
_ §B
_
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