PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY IN THE JFK ASSASSINATION

Michael T. Griffith

2002

@All Rights Reserved

What follows is a review of some of the physical evidence of conspiracy in the JFK Assassination. Many supporters of the Warren Commission's lone-gunman theory claim "all the physical evidence supports the single-assassin scenario." This is simply incorrect.

What would constitute evidence of conspiracy? Any evidence that shots came from locations other than the southeast sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository Building would constitute evidence of conspiracy. The lone-gunman theory says Oswald fired all the shots from that window. Any evidence that refutes the single-bullet theory would constitute proof of conspiracy, since there can be no lone-gunman scenario without the single-bullet theory. The single-bullet theory says that a single bullet, supposedly Commission Exhibit (CE) 399, caused all the non-fatal wounds to Kennedy and Connally, that it pierced through both men, smashing and shattering bone en route, and yet emerged with no damage to its nose, with its lands and grooves intact, with all or virtually all of its substance remaining, and with only some deformation to its base. If this theory is wrong, then Kennedy and Connally were hit by separate bullets, which would mean at least four shots were fired and that two gunmen were involved. What else would constitute evidence of conspiracy? What follows is only a partial list, but here are some other things that would constitute evidence of conspiracy:

* Evidence that more than one man was in the sixth-floor sniper's nest.

* Evidence that more than three shots were fired, since the lone-gunman theory allows for only three shots.

* Evidence that Kennedy was struck by ammunition different than the kind of ammunition Oswald supposedly used.

With this understood, let us now examine some of the physical evidence that President Kennedy's assassination was the result of a conspiracy.

There is a hole on the back of the coat and a corresponding hole on the back of the shirt. The hole in the back of the coat is 5.375 inches below the top of the collar. The hole in the back of the shirt is 5.75 inches below the top of the collar. These holes show the back wound was too low for the single-bullet theory to be possible. As mentioned, if the single-bullet theory is false, there can be no lone-gunman scenario. To explain the location of these holes, Warren Commission apologists can only theorize that both the coat and the shirt were bunched at the same time, and not just bunched simultaneously, but bunched in nearly perfect, millimeter-for-millimeter correspondence with each other, even though Kennedy wore a tailor-made shirt and was sitting with much of his back against the seat, thus pressing the shirt down and holding it in place. The location of the holes in the coat and shirt corresponds to the location for the back wound that's recorded in the death certificate and that's shown in the autopsy face sheet. It also corresponds to where several witnesses said the wound was located.

There are slits in the front of Kennedy's shirt, just below the collar band. According to the single-bullet theory, CE 399, sometimes referred to as the "magic bullet," made these slits when it allegedly exited the president's throat. But testimony from one of the doctors who treated the president at Parkland Hospital in Dallas suggests the slits were made by the nurses as they cut away Kennedy's clothing. When former Senate investigator Harold Weisberg examined high-quality photos of the shirt at the National Archives, he found evidence that confirmed the conclusion that the slits were made by the emergency room nurses--he could see the zigzag mark of a cutting blade on the left side of the slits:

Dr. David Mantik, a radiation oncologist and physicist, examined the president's clothing, including the shirt, at the National Archives. He noted there was no fabric missing from the slits and that the shape of the slits was much more compatible with a scalpel than with a bullet. The fact that no fabric is missing from the slits is important, because bullets usually tear out at least some fabric when they rip through cloth. Dr. Mantik was kind enough to provide me with a summary of his findings with regard to the shirt slits:

There is a small nick in the knot of the president's necktie. The single-bullet theory requires that somehow this nick was made by CE 399 as it allegedly exited the throat, since the throat wound was supposedly behind the knot of the tie. However, photos of the tie clearly show the nick is obviously inward from either edge of the knot, and we now know there is no hole through the tie at any point. So no bullet exiting the throat could have created the nick. This means no bullet exited the throat. The nick was most likely made by the Parkland Hospital nurses as they hurriedly cut away Kennedy's clothing.

In response to this hard evidence, lone-gunman theorists can only speculate that both photos of the tie were taken after the tie was supposedly untied and then retied. But there is no evidence the necktie was untied and retied before the evidence photos of it were taken. The FBI, which had possession of the tie within hours after the assassination, has never even claimed this happened. And no one's even suggested the Dallas police untied the tie in the few hours they had it before they turned it over to the FBI. There is simply no evidence the tie was untied before the FBI photographed it.

Finally, as Stewart Galanor notes, the size of the bullet holes in Kennedy's clothes and the size of the wounds in his back and neck are inconsistent with a bullet traveling from back to front. If a bullet had gone from the back wound to the throat wound, it's highly doubtful it would have produced bullet holes that decreased in size--from 15 mm (rear coat hole) to 10 mm (rear shirt hole) and from 7 mm (back wound) to 5 mm (throat wound) (see Galanor, Cover-Up, New York: Kestrel Books, 1998, pp. 25-26).

The jacket of one of the fragments that were reportedly recovered from the limousine is peeled backward 180 degrees and folded almost flat. One edge of this folded section literally forms a razor edge. Firearms and ballistics expert Howard Donahue noted it was highly unlikely that such a sharp edge could have been fashioned as the bullet traveled through the skull and cranial tissue (Bonar Menninger, Mortal Error, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992, p. 75). It is more likely the fragment came from a bullet that struck the street. Several witnesses reported seeing a bullet strike the street while the limousine was near or beneath the oak tree on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza. Another possibility is that the fragment came from a bullet that struck something inside the limousine, such as the chrome above the windshield, and then fragmented, depositing the two fragments that were later reportedly found in the limousine.

According to the Clark Panel, the neck x-rays show bullet fragments in the neck. These fragments could not have come from the alleged magic bullet, CE 399, required by the single-bullet theory. Although some medical experts who have examined the x-rays disagree with the Clark Panel's finding, one of the x-ray technicians at the autopsy, Jerrol Custer, recalls seeing bullet fragments in the region of the neck on the x-rays that he examined on the night of the autopsy.

Dr. John Lattimer, who supports the lone-gunman theory, studied the x-rays and concluded the fragments in the neck were pieces of bone. If correct, this finding is problematic for the single-bullet theory. If the neck fragments are indeed pieces of bone, this means the bullet of the single-bullet theory cracked the first thoracic vertebra (T1) and at least grazed or brushed alongside the spinal cord. If so, it's extremely unlikely the bullet could have proceeded to create a small, neat "exit" wound in the throat, as required by the single-bullet hypothesis.

If a bullet from the back wound had struck T1 and grazed the spinal cord and then exited the throat, it almost certainly would have left a sizable, punched-out wound. The Dallas doctors and nurses who saw the throat wound said it was small (3-5 mm in diameter), relatively neat, and not punched-out--and that it had an abrasion collar, which is typical of entrance wounds.

The Clark Panel concluded the skull x-rays showed Kennedy's head was struck by a high-velocity bullet (by a bullet traveling at high velocity). Dr. Bob Artwohl referred to Kennedy's skull as having been hit by a high-velocity bullet in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This contradicts the lone-gunman theory, which says the head was struck by a bullet from the alleged murder weapon, which was a low-to-medium-velocity rifle. The FBI's renowned firearms expert Robert Frazier told the Warren Commission the alleged murder weapon had a low muzzle velocity (3 H 414).

Also, several forensic and ballistics experts have pointed out that the extensive bullet fragmentation seen on the skull x-rays is inconsistent with the type of fragmentation normally caused by a fully metal-jacketed (FMJ) bullet such as the kind Oswald allegedly used. In tests conducted by forensic pathologist Dr. John Nichols, FMJ bullets emerged in virtually perfect condition after penetrating several feet of tough Ponderosa pine wood. Dr. John Lattimer fired Carcano bullets through test skulls. X-rays of these test skulls revealed no bullet fragments, not even near the wound of entry in the rear top of the head (Michael Kurtz, Crime of the Century, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, p. 98).

The skull x-rays show a 6.5 mm object in the back of the head. Direct study and optical density measurements of this object have found it to be partly metal and partly ghosted image. Dr. Mantik closely studied the 6.5 mm object and then measured it with an optical densitometer. He discovered that only part of the object is metal. The 6.5 mm object must have been added to the anterior-posterior x-ray after the autopsy. Dr. Mantik proved through experiments that this could have been done, and done rather easily (see Mantik, "The JFK Assassination: Cause for Doubt," in James Fetzer, editor, Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK, Chicago: Catfeet Press, 1998, pp. 120-137).

The back-of-the-head fragment almost certainly did not come from the kind of ammunition that Oswald supposedly used. The lone-gunman theory requires one to believe that an FMJ bullet struck Kennedy's skull in the rear, that as the bullet was penetrating the skull a fragment peeled off it, and that this fragment somehow became embedded in the outer table of the skull 1 cm below the entry point. Forensic science simply knows of no case where an FMJ bullet has had a fragment shaved off it as it entered a skull, much less where such a fragment became embedded in the outer table of the skull 1 cm below the entry point. Not one of the bullets in the Warren Commission's wound ballistics tests behaved in this manner. The virtual certainty that the 6.5 mm object could not have come from an FMJ bullet was one of the principal reasons that Howard Donahue, who was a court-certified firearms expert, eventually rejected the theory that Oswald fired a bullet that struck Kennedy in the skull. Donahue consulted with several forensic pathologists on this issue. Not one of them had ever heard of an FMJ bullet behaving in the manner required by the lone-gunman theory:

The back-of-head fragment most likely was a ricochet fragment, quite possibly from the bullet that several witnesses saw strike the pavement behind the president's car while the car was beneath the oak tree. Donahue said Dr. Russell Fisher of the Clark Panel told him the panel felt the 6.5 mm object "looked like a ricochet fragment" (Menninger, Mortal Error, p. 65).

When the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) had outside experts examine the autopsy skull x-rays, the experts discovered a bullet fragment that had not been noted before. Dr. G. M. McDonnel discovered the fragment. He noted it was embedded in the galea, which is a layer located between the scalp and the skull, and that it was slightly to the left of the 6.5 mm object. This fragment is further evidence that Kennedy's head was struck by ricochet material from a bullet that struck the pavement. As absurd as the shearing explanation is for the 6.5 mm object, it's even more absurd for this second fragment, since this fragment is located to the left of the 6.5 mm object and is embedded in a different layer. Donahue argued this fragment must have come from the bullet that several witnesses saw strike the pavement. He concluded there was no other credible explanation for the fragment's presence and location:

There is a cluster of bullet fragments in the right-frontal region in the skull x-rays. This is evidence that a high-velocity, exploding bullet struck the head in that area. Wound ballistics expert Dr. Larry Sturdivan told the HSCA that one would "definitely" see a cloud of bullet fragments clustered near the point of impact of an exploding bullet:

Sturdivan said he didn't believe Kennedy was struck by exploding ammunition, but he was unaware that the original, unenhanced autopsy x-rays show a cloud of fragments in the area of the right temple, which, according to Sturdivan's own observation, would "definitely" indicate the impact of an exploding missile in that area.

It should be mentioned that the mortician who reassembled Kennedy's skull after the autopsy, Tom Robinson, said he saw a small hole in one of the temples, and that he believed it was in the right temple. He said he filled the hole with wax. Additionally, on the afternoon of the assassination, White House press secretary Malcolm Kilduff said in a televised press conference that a bullet had struck Kennedy in the right temple and had gone through his head. Specifically, he said a bullet had struck and gone through the head, and as he said this he pointed to his right temple, adding that he'd been told this by the president's personal physician, Dr. George Burkley. Journalist Seth Kantor was present at that news conference. He recorded in his notes that Kilduff said the bullet "entered right temple."

The available skull x-rays from the Warren Commission's wound ballistics tests, in which human skulls were shot with FMJ bullets, show fragmentation that is much different than the fragmentation seen on the autopsy skull x-rays. The fragmentation seen on the test-skull x-rays differs from the fragmentation seen on the autopsy x-rays in location, nature, and number. This is another indication that Kennedy's skull was hit by a different kind of ammunition than the kind Oswald supposedly used. Howard Roffman explains:

Autopsy photo F5, which shows Kennedy's back, is strong evidence that no bullet fired from the sixth-floor window could have caused the back wound and then exited Kennedy's throat, as required by the single-bullet theory. Not only does the photo show the wound to be much lower than where the Warren Commission represented it to be, but close examination of the wound reveals the tissue inside the wound is tunneled upward. (Note: There is more than one autopsy photo of the back at the National Archives, but only one of those pictures is in general circulation, namely, photo F5.)

The Warren Commission claimed the back wound was above the throat wound and that the bullet of the single-bullet theory traveled downward through the neck. The HSCA's forensic pathology panel proved both assertions false. The chairman of the pathology panel testified the autopsy photos of the back showed the wound was about two inches lower than where it appears in the Rydberg medical drawing published by the Warren Commission (1 HSCA 233; see also Figure II-13 in the HSCA's trajectory analysis report, 6 HSCA 42-43). The back wound was actually slightly below the throat wound and any bullet going from the back wound to the throat wound would have had to travel slightly upward through the neck.

No matter how far forward Kennedy would have leaned, and no matter how far forward he would have tilted his head, the trajectory through the neck would have been slightly upward, since the back wound was below the throat wound.

As mentioned, close examination of the back wound shows the tissue tunneled upward. Furthermore, the back wound's abrasion collar is larger at the lower margin and the lower margin of the skin is abraded upward, which indicates the bullet was traveling upward in relation to the body when it struck. The HSCA's forensic pathology panel reported the following concerning the back wound's appearance in the autopsy photos:

It is perhaps revealing that the HSCA's trajectory expert, Dr. Thomas Canning, was only able to make the single-bullet theory's vertical trajectory work in part by essentially ignoring the location and nature of the back wound documented by the committee's pathology panel (see 1 HSCA 190-192). Canning also admitted the trajectory through Kennedy's neck did not match up with the trajectory from Kennedy's neck to Connally's back, though he attributed this to "experimental error" and opined that the trajectories were within a "reasonable" margin of variance:

To be fair to Canning, it should be mentioned that after he testified at the HSCA's hearings, Canning wrote a letter to the HSCA's chief counsel, G. Robert Blakey, in which he complained that he had had trouble getting accurate, consistent information on the locations of the wounds:

Canning added that his study of the photographic record had revealed major discrepancies in the Warren Commission's findings:

An on-site laser trajectory analysis in Dealey Plaza conducted by acknowledged experts in wound ballistics and crime-scene investigation determined that one of the shots that struck Kennedy traced back to a second-floor window of the Dal-Tex Building. The reconstruction was featured in the 1998 documentary The Secret KGB/JFK Assassination Files.

None of the three shots attributed to the alleged lone gunman could have caused the curb mark. Nor could any of these shots have caused the cut on Tague's face. The Warren Commission had no credible explanation for the curb nick or the face cut. The commission conceded "the mark on the south curb of Main Street cannot be identified conclusively with any of the three shots fired" (Warren Commission Report, p. 117). The commission went on to speculate that the curb mark and Tague's cut were caused by a fragment from the missed shot or by a fragment from the bullet that struck Kennedy in the head (Warren Commission Report, p. 117).

The suggestion that the cut and the curb mark were caused by a missed shot from the sixth-floor window doesn't warrant serious discussion. Only an incredibly wild miss from the sixth-floor window could have struck the curb or caused a fragment to strike the curb and/or Tague. Even most Warren Commission defenders reject this theory, since nearly all of them now believe the first shot missed, and they agree this shot came prior to Z166, that is, before the limousine passed beneath the oak tree.

The Tague incident nearly ended up being suppressed. Incredibly, the FBI didn't even mention Tague's cut or the curb mark in its five-volume report on the assassination. Months later, in July 1964, when the Warren Commission asked the FBI about reports concerning the Tague incident, the Dallas FBI office falsely reported there was no mark on the curb. The office claimed, in an unsigned memo, that local FBI agents had searched the area of the curb in question, for ten feet in both directions, and had found no mark:

The Dallas FBI then suggested rain and/or street sweepers had erased the mark (21 H 473). Yet, when the Warren Commission finally sent some people to Dallas to investigate the matter, they had no trouble finding the curb mark.

Photos of the curb mark indicate it was patched fairly quickly after the assassination. In some of the photos of the curb scar, the scar is clearly darker than the rest of the curb. When Harold Weisberg examined the curb section at the National Archives, he had no trouble seeing that the curb nick had in fact been patched:

In 1983 a building materials scientist examined the curb mark. The scientist was Jose T. Fernandez, the chief engineer of the firm Construction Environment, Inc. Mr. Fernandez concluded the curb scar had probably been patched (see Weisberg, Never Again, pp. 376-377; and Weisberg, Case Open, New York: Carroll & Graf, 1994, pp. 163-165). Said Fernandez,

Oswald could not have patched the curb scar. So who patched it? The spectrographic plate from the curb mark was never examined by independent experts. The FBI, claiming a lack of space, destroyed the small spectrographic plate before independent experts could be allowed to study it.

A certified fingerprint expert has determined that convicted killer Malcolm "Mac" Wallace left a fingerprint in the sixth-floor sniper's nest on the day of the assassination. On the afternoon of the shooting, the authorities found a fingerprint in the sixth-floor window that they were never able to identify. It didn't belong to Oswald, and it didn't belong to any other employee in the building nor to any of the law enforcement personnel who searched the sixth floor. In 1998 fingerprint expert A. Nathan Darby identified the mystery print as belonging to convicted killer Mac Wallace. Darby found a 14-point match between the sixth-floor fingerprint and Wallace's fingerprint.

Darby is a certified Latent Print Examiner with impressive credentials and years of experience. In addition to his training and awards, Darby has testified as an expert witness on fingerprint identification in numerous court cases. Darby states in his notarized affidavit that he found fourteen matches between the previously unidentified fingerprint from the sixth-floor sniper's nest and a fingerprint card that contained the fingerprints of Mac Wallace. It should be pointed out that Darby did not know whose fingerprints were on the fingerprint card. He was asked to compare the fingerprints on the fingerprint card with the unidentified fingerprint from "Box A" from the sixth-floor window. Darby wasn't aware the fingerprint card bore Mac Wallace's fingerprints until after he'd made the identification.

Who was Mac Wallace? Wallace was convicted in a 1951 murder and was suspected in others. He was also linked to the 1961 death of U.S. Department of Agriculture investigator Henry Marshall. Marshall was reportedly close to connecting then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson to fraudulent activities involving businessman and convicted swindler and millionaire Billy Sol Estes. Estes was a key Johnson associate who funneled millions of dollars into a slush fund for LBJ.

Estes alleged in 1984 that LBJ ordered the killings of Marshall and President Kennedy, among others, and that Wallace carried them out. A grand jury decided that same year that Henry Marshall was murdered as a result of a conspiracy involving then-Vice President Johnson, his aide Clifton Carter, and Mac Wallace. No charges were possible since all three men were by then deceased.

A few fingerprint identifiers have challenged Darby's identification. However, none of them has the experience or credentials that Darby possesses. The FBI, after having the prints for a year, verbally informed an attorney associated with the Wallace fingerprint project that the bureau had not found a match between Wallace's print and the sixth-floor print. The FBI issued no report and did not disclose who had examined the prints or what was involved in the review process. The researchers involved with the Wallace fingerprint identification were wholly unimpressed with the FBI's belated, undocumented claim. Students of the JFK case are aware of the FBI's awful, abysmal track record in dealing with evidence relating to the assassination. Even way back in 1964 one of the members of the Warren Commission complained the FBI had already rushed to judgment and that it didn't want to consider any alternative views. Within days, even hours, after the shooting, the FBI became obsessed with proving the assassination was the work of one man acting alone. On more than one occasion, FBI officials have been caught giving out false information about evidence relating to the JFK case, such as when the Dallas FBI office falsely claimed the Tague curb scar had been obliterated by rains and/or street cleaners. The FBI's crime lab has been rocked by serious charges of fraud and evidence tampering. Some of these charges have come from a highly regarded scientist who worked in the FBI's crime lab. Much more could be said about the FBI's performance on matters pertaining to the Kennedy assassination. For now suffice it to say that any FBI challenge to the fingerprint evidence deserves to be viewed skeptically from the outset, given the bureau's miserable track record on the JFK case.

If the unidentified fingerprint from Box A from the sniper's nest is not Mac Wallace's fingerprint, then whose is it? If nothing else, the Box A fingerprint suggests a second person was in the sniper's nest. The print must have been placed on the box no more than 24 hours before it was lifted by the police. As mentioned, the print didn't belong to Oswald, nor to any of his fellow employees, nor to any of the police personnel who searched the sixth-floor window. It should be mentioned that several witnesses in Dealey Plaza reported seeing two men in the sixth-floor window shortly before the motorcade arrived in the plaza, and that another witness saw someone moving boxes around in the window a few minutes after the shooting. This could not have been Oswald, since a policeman and a building manager saw Oswald in the second-floor lunchroom calmly standing near a soda machine less than two minutes after the shots were fired.

Based on an analysis of the Dillard and Powell photos of the sixth-floor window, the HSCA's photographic evidence panel concluded someone was moving boxes in the window less than two minutes after the shots were fired. Said the panel, "There is an apparent rearranging of boxes within 2 minutes after the last shot was fired at President Kennedy" (6 HSCA 109). The panel went into more detail in its report:

Lone-gunman theorists and also some conspiracy theorists, including Stewart Galanor, reject the panel's finding. They argue that the Powell and Dillard photos simply show different boxes in the room, that because of the photos' perspectives they only seem to show box movement when in fact they're merely showing different boxes. Dale Myers argues his computer simulation proves the HSCA's conclusions about the photos are in error. Others argue the apparent box-movement effect in the Dillard and Powell photos has been duplicated in a reenactment, confirming the theory that the photos merely show different boxes seen from two different perspectives. Dr. Robert Hunt considered this argument and rejected it, although he spoke before the reported reenactment was performed. Said Dr. Hunt,

An interesting footnote to the panel's finding of box movement in the window is the fact that in 1968 an FBI document came to light that says a witness at a window on an upper floor of a nearby building in Dealey Plaza told a Dallas attorney she saw "some boxes moving" in the sixth-floor window after the shooting. Additionally, law clerk Lillian Mooneyham, looking at the sixth-floor window from a nearby building, saw a man in the window three to five minutes after the assassination. Although Mrs. Mooneyham reported this to the FBI, she was not called as a witness by the Warren Commission.

Acoustical experts retained by the HSCA determined the Dallas police dictabelt recording (1) was made in Dealey Plaza during the assassination by a police motorcycle that had its radio mike stuck in the "on" position, (2) that it contained sound impulses that were caused by four shots, and (3) that one of the shots came from the grassy knoll, which was to the right and in front of the limousine during the shooting. The HSCA Report says the following on this issue:

According to the lone-gunman theory, only three shots were fired. But the HSCA's acoustical experts determined the police dictabelt recording contained sound impulses that were caused by four shots, and that one of those shots came from the grassy knoll.

Defenders of the lone-gunman theory cite a critique of the HSCA's acoustical evidence that was done by a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel. The HSCA's acoustical experts argued that the NAS panel did not refute their findings and that it failed to deal with evidence that supported those findings. Other experts, such as Dr. David Scheim and Dr. D. B. Thomas, have noted several omissions and errors in the NAS panel's arguments. Dr. Scheim, who holds a Ph.D. in math from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has said the following:

Joseph Milteer was a wealthy, well-connected right-wing extremist. Milteer was a leader in the right-wing National States Rights Party and a regional director for the radical Constitution Party. He associated with leaders and members of the Ku Klux Klan. A few months before the assassination, Milteer contacted anti-Castro Cubans in the Miami area about purchasing guns. On November 9, 1963, less than three weeks before the assassination, Milteer told a Miami police informant that a hit on Kennedy was in the works. The informant's name was William Somersett. The room where Milteer met Somersett was wired for sound by the police and thus Milteer's words were captured on tape. The Milteer tape is available online and is included in several documentaries on the assassination. When Milteer met with the informant after the assassination, he said everything had gone according to plan and that he knew beforehand that Kennedy was going to be killed. The HSCA Report says the following about the Milteer threat: 

Lone-gunman theorists have strongly challenged both Milteer and the informant Somersett. They dismiss Milteer's statements as demented, over-heated speculation, noting that Milteer believed Kennedy had fifteen look-alikes for security purposes. They also point to a few discrepancies between Somersett's initial debriefing with the Miami Police Department's Intelligence Unit and his later statement to the FBI. For example, Somersett told the FBI that Milteer called him from Dallas on the morning of the assassination and said Kennedy probably wouldn't leave there alive. Yet Somersett said nothing about this in his initial debriefing with the Miami police, and there is evidence Milteer was in fact in Georgia at the time of the assassination. Lone-gunman theorists also note that an FBI official and a Secret Service official said Somersett was unreliable. They fail to mention that the FBI sought to discredit virtually any informant who had information that pointed to conspiracy in the assassination, even if the informant had a good record for reliability. The Secret Service official whom Warren Commission apologists cite didn't attack Somersett until 1967, when Somersett was cooperating with Jim Garrison's investigation. Other law enforcement officials who dealt with Somersett believed he was reliable. And, some lone-gunman theorists claim Milteer specified that Jack Brown would kill Kennedy and/or that the assassination would happen in Washington, D.C. The Milteer tape proves both claims to be incorrect. Milteer only suggested Brown could kill Kennedy--he didn't say Brown would positively be the man to do it. Nor did Milteer say the shooting would occur in D.C. Somersett discussed this issue in his 11/26/63 interview with the Miami Police Department's Intelligence Unit:

Furthermore, it should be noted that a Secret Service report (CE 762) documents that the Secret Service received information from an FBI source that reinforced Milteer's taped prediction and that supported Somersett's account. The report dealt with information that the Secret Service received from the FBI just seven days before the assassination. According to the report, an unnamed contact in the Ku Klux Klan said that during his travels around the country his sources had told him "that a militant group of the National States Rights Party plans to assassinate the President and other high-level officials" (see also Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much, New York: Carroll & Graf/Richard Gallen, 1992, pp. 550-551). As mentioned, Milteer was a leader in the National States Rights Party and was involved with other radical groups. He was certainly in a position to hear about a plot by radical right-wing militants to kill Kennedy, and the tape of his November 9 meeting with Somersett records that he was certain a hit on Kennedy was "in the working."

Among the files released by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) between 1994 and 1996 was an FBI evidence envelope (FBI Field Office Dallas 89-43-1A-122). Although the envelope was empty, the cover indicates it had contained a 7.65 mm rifle shell that had been found in Dealey Plaza after the shooting. The envelope is dated 2 December 1963, so the shell was found sometime between 11/22/63 and 12/2/63. Nothing was known about the discovery of this shell until the FBI evidence envelope was released along with other assassination-related files. The discovery of a fourth bullet shell in Dealey Plaza supports the acoustical evidence and the eyewitness reports that more than three shots were fired.

Three bullet shells, or cartridge cases, were reportedly found near the sixth-floor sniper's window, from which Oswald allegedly fired at President Kennedy. These cases are Commission Exhibits 543, 544, and 545. According to the lone-gunman theory, these three shells were expended when Oswald supposedly fired three shots from the window. In other words, these three shells allegedly once contained and were used to fire the three shots of the lone-assassin scenario.

However, there is strong evidence that CE 543 was not, and could not have been, fired from Oswald's rifle on the day of the assassination. The only marks linking CE 543 to Oswald's rifle are marks from the rifle's magazine follower. According to Dr. Michael Kurtz and others, the case couldn't have received these marks from the magazine follower on the day of the assassination, because the last bullet in the clip must have been the unfired missile in the rifle's chamber (Kurtz, Crime of the Century, pp. 50-51). Dr. Kurtz also notes that CE 543 "lacks the characteristic indentation on the side made by the firing chamber of Oswald's rifle" (Crime of the Century, p. 51). Dr. E. Forrest Chapman studied the shell casings in 1973 and concluded (1) that CE 543 had most likely been dry loaded into a rifle, (2) that it had not been fired from the alleged murder weapon at the time of the shooting, and (3) that the indentation on the base of the case was characteristic only of a case that had been fired empty. Says Dr. Kurtz,

Case 545 doesn't show any markings from the firing pin of Oswald's rifle. Therefore, the evidence proves only that both cases were loaded into the firing chamber of the alleged murder weapon, that Case 544 was ejected through the rifle's bolt action, but that Case 545 was not (Kurtz, Crime of the Century, pp. 51-52).

The Warren Commission would not commit itself on what caused the dent in the chrome above the windshield. The commission suggested the dent might have been present before the assassination, but the commission also made the implausible argument that either of the two fragments recovered from the limousine could have caused the dent (Warren Commission Report, p. 77).  But fragments from the head shot would have had a difficult time even striking the windshield, much less the chrome above the rearview mirror. It should be noted the dent in the chrome was several inches above and to the right of the damage to the windshield. Dr. Canning, the HSCA's trajectory expert, observed that the vertical trajectory of fragments coming from the head did not line up with the damage to the windshield, although he felt the "directional" (horizontal) trajectory was in "reasonable" alignment. Canning said he didn’t attempt to do an exact study on this issue but that he noted that the trajectory of the head-shot fragments and the windshield damage did not match in their slope alignment, that is, their vertical trajectories didn't line up (2 HSCA 200). If the rear head shot came from the sixth-floor window, the bullet would have been traveling at a downward angle of about 16 degrees. So it's no wonder Canning noted the vertical trajectory of the head-shot fragments to the windshield damage didn't line up. The vertical trajectory from the head shot to the dent in the chrome would have been even further out of alignment.

Perhaps realizing the implausibility of attributing the dent to either of the two head-shot fragments that were found in the limousine, the chief of the Secret Service, James Rowley, claimed the dent was made two years before the assassination, in November1961, during routine maintenance. However, as veteran researcher Tony Marsh has shown, photos of the limousine taken prior to the shooting prove there was no dent in the chrome before the assassination (see Marsh, "Best Witness: JFK's Limousine," The Assassination Chronicles, vol. 1, issue 4, Winter 1995). Marsh suggests the damage to the windshield and to the chrome above the mirror was made by a shot that was fired after the fatal head shot. Says Marsh,

This is a plausible theory. In any event, it's virtually certain the dent in the chrome could not have been caused by either of the head-shot fragments and therefore must have been made by an extra bullet or by a fragment from an extra bullet. And it's highly unlikely that the damage to the windshield could have been caused by either of the head-shot fragments. This damage, like the chrome dent, clearly indicates more than three shots were fired.

The Zapruder film indicates at least four shots were fired, at approximately the following frames in the film: frames 140-155, frames 186-190, frames 224-238, frames 312-313. There are at least four noticeable blur episodes in the film. In a simulation to test the reaction of people holding cameras during gunfire, in each and every case the subjects jiggled their cameras upon hearing gunfire, even when they knew it was coming.

Robert Harris and Dr. Michael Stroscio have identified a fifth blur episode. Harris makes a strong case that a shot was fired at about frame 285 (or Z285). Harris points to several apparent reactions to gunfire by people in the film at about this time.

Nearly all researchers agree the Zapruder film shows indications of a shot prior to Z166. This shot most likely came at around Z140-145.

There is also nearly unanimous agreement that a shot was fired at around Z223-238. Some researchers argue two shots were fired during this time span, and they may be correct. In any event, there's no doubt at least one shot occurred during this period. At Z224 Connally's lapel flips up and his jacket inflates. Warren Commission apologists maintain this pinpoints the moment of impact for the alleged magic bullet of the single-bullet theory. At Z237-238 Connally's right shoulder suddenly drops by some 19 degrees, in only 1/18th of a second. At this same moment, his hair becomes disheveled and a pained expression appears on his face.

And, of course, there's the head shot at Z312-313. No one denies a shot occurred here. The question concerns the origin of the shot. As an explosion occurs in the right-front part of Kennedy's skull, his head and upper body snap violently backward and to the left. Naturally, this suggests a shot from the right front. Dr. Kurtz surveyed World War II footage of men being shot with rifles and noted that their bodies always fell in the same direction the bullet was traveling, so that if they were shot from the front, for example, their heads or bodies moved backward. Execution films show the same pattern of reaction.

Lone-gunman theorists have offered two theories to explain the backward head snap in the Zapruder film. One theory is that it was caused by a jet effect, that the right-frontal explosion seen in the film pushed Kennedy backward and to the left. The other theory is that the movement was the result of a neuromuscular reaction. Both theories are patently implausible. Even Dr. Sturdivan, who accepts the lone-gunman theory, implicitly rejected the jet-effect theory when he testified before the HSCA, noting that only minimal propulsion would have come from the right-frontal explosion, and that the minimal propulsion would have pushed Kennedy directly to his left, not backward and to the left. Physicists and engineers have noted the jet-effect theory is implausible. As for the neuromuscular reaction theory, Dr. Robert Zacharko, a professor of neuroscience, says the theory is invalid and that it's based on a flawed understanding of how the brain works. Clearly, the most logical, common-sense explanation for the backward head snap would seem to be that it was caused by a shot from the front.

But could any bullet's impact have propelled Kennedy's body so forcefully? Experts are divided on this question, though most answer the question in the negative. Some researchers suggest the Zapruder film has been altered and that in the original version the backward head snap was not nearly as rapid. Eyewitness accounts seem to support this suggestion. Whatever the case, no one doubts that a bullet struck Kennedy's head at Z312.

So, that gives us three shots. But what about the Z186-190 shot? Nearly all lone-gunman theorists now deny a shot was fired during this period. They must do so because they've committed themselves to the view that the alleged magic-bullet hit occurred at Z223-224. Since they also acknowledge shots at Z140-160 and Z312-313, they can't allow for another shot, no matter how persuasive the evidence for it might be. They can only allow for three shots, and a Z186-190 shot would constitute a fourth shot.

As a matter of fact, there are pretty clear indications in the Zapruder film that a shot was fired at about Z186-190. We now know that at one point the Warren Commission itself intended to conclude that a shot was fired at around Z190. The commission only changed its mind when it realized the view from the sixth-floor window would have been blocked or obscured from Z166-210. The HSCA's photographic evidence panel concluded a shot was fired at about Z188:

Based on its jiggle or blur analysis of the Zapruder film, the HSCA's photographic evidence panel determined that the strong blur episode between frames 189 and 197 indicated a shot was fired "between frames 181 and 192." After correlating this blur episode with other evidence, the panel concluded the shot was fired just before frame 190. Phil Willis said he snapped slide 5 of his slides in reaction to the sound of a shot. The HSCA confirmed the accuracy of Willis's recollection of the timing.

An early Secret Service analysis of the Zapruder film concluded a shot was fired at about Z199. Don Olson and Ralph Turner, in an article published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, note that Kennedy's reaction to being shot becomes noticeable at about Z200, just as the HSCA photographic evidence panel concluded (Olson and Turner, "Photographic Evidence and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy," Journal of Forensic Sciences, volume 16, October, 1971, p. 417).

Strong evidence that Kennedy was in fact hit at about Z190 comes not only from the fact that he seems to begin to react to being wounded at about Z200 but also from the fact that he is plainly and clearly reacting to a wound by Z224-225. The logical conclusion is that this reaction is a continuation of the reaction that begins at about Z200. According to the lone-gunman theory, Kennedy and Connally were hit by the same bullet at Z223-224. This is highly doubtful. However, even if this theory is correct, it is virtually certain that Kennedy's Z224-225 reaction could not possibly have been in response to a hit at Z224.

Kennedy is clearly reacting to a wound by Z224-225. In fact, we know from the 4/22/64 Warren Commission memorandum that when a group of wound ballistics experts, the autopsy doctors, and commission staffers reviewed the Zapruder film frame by frame, with the aid of enlargements, the consensus was that Kennedy "had been definitely hit by frames 224-225" (p. 1, emphasis added). It should be noted that this group included Dr. F. W. Light, the deputy chief of the Biophysics Division at Edgewood Arsenal, and Dr. Alfred G. Olivier, the chief of the Wound Ballistics Branch of the Biophysics Division at Edgewood Arsenal. The group further noted that the Z224-225 reaction may have begun as early as Z199, and also at around Z204-205:

What do we see in Z225? JFK is clearly in distress. His face is contorted and his hands are in front of his chest, right hand above left. Both his forearms are bent inward and his hands are moving up toward his throat or mouth--they are definitely moving upward. Again, it's virtually certain these movements could not have been in response to a Z223-224 hit. Humans just can't accomplish that much movement in a split-second, even involuntarily. Dr. Robert Piziali, an expert on injuries, admitted under cross examination at the 1992 American Bar Association mock Oswald trial that if Kennedy began to react to a wound at Z225, this would mean the bullet could have struck him no later than Z221. Dr. Piziali explained there would have been a delay of four frames between the bullet's impact and Kennedy's reaction to it with his right hand (see trial transcript in Harrison Livingstone, Killing the Truth, New York: Carroll & Graf, 1993, p. 224; cf. pp. 235-236). In other words, Kennedy could not have visibly reacted to a Z224 hit by Z224-225. Therefore, it is extremely probably, if not certain, that Kennedy's Z224-225 reaction (which goes on for several more frames) is a continuation of the reaction that begins at around Z200.

Some may ask, "Isn't there solid physical evidence that supports the lone-gunman position?" Let's take a quick look. Lone-gunman theorists can point out that the fragments from the limousine were positively identified as having been fired from Oswald's rifle. But what does this really prove? It doesn't prove who fired the rifle. It doesn't prove when the bullet that produced the fragments was fired. For that matter, there is some question about the origin of those fragments, partly because, amazingly, the FBI made no attempt to establish a legal chain of evidence for them until several weeks after the assassination. And what are we to make of the fragments in light of the very strong evidence that Kennedy's skull was not struck by the kind of ammunition that Oswald allegedly used? Also, several experts have concluded two bullets struck Kennedy's head, one from behind and one from the front. Dozens of bullet fragments were never recovered from Kennedy's skull. So even if we assume the fragments recovered from the limousine did in fact penetrate the president's skull, this doesn't prove there was only one head shot. As mentioned, the bullet fragmentation on the autopsy x-rays strongly indicates JFK's head was hit by frangible, high-velocity ammunition.

Similarly, Warren Commission supporters can point to the fact that the Dallas police reported that a palm print belonging to Oswald was lifted from the barrel of the alleged murder weapon. Does this prove Oswald fired that rifle during the assassination? No, it doesn't. In fact, according to the police, the print was on a part of the barrel that was beneath the rifle's wooden stock, which means the print could have only been placed on the barrel when the rifle was disassembled. Additionally, there are numerous disturbing questions about how and when the palm print was placed on the barrel or if it was actually lifted from the barrel at all. We now know even the Warren Commission had doubts about how the palm print came to be placed on the rifle. Incredibly, Lt. J. C. Day, the police crime lab technician who said he found and lifted the print, failed to take a single photograph of it before he allegedly lifted it, in violation of both common sense and standard procedure. The Dallas police said nothing about finding a palm print on the rifle until after Oswald was dead. When Lt. Day handed the rifle over to FBI Special Agent Vincent Drain, Drain said Day didn't even mention the finding of a palm print on the weapon. Lt. Day said part of the palm print was still visible on the barrel after he allegedly lifted it. But the FBI fingerprint expert who examined the rifle a few hours later said there was no trace of a print on the barrel and that the barrel didn't even look like it had been processed for prints. For some reason, the Dallas police didn't forward the palm print to the FBI along with the other evidence it turned over to the bureau until several days after the shooting. Why the delay? The police had no credible explanation. So what does the palm print really prove? Not much, if anything.

Warren Commission supporters also cite the fact that the handwriting on the envelope, money order, and order form used to purchase the alleged murder weapon has been identified by handwriting experts as Oswald's writing. But we now have ample proof that the handwriting could have been forged. For years lone-gunman theorists strained to explain the conspiratorial-sounding "Dear Mr. Hunt" note signed "Lee Harvey Oswald." Three highly regarded handwriting experts concluded the writing on the note was Oswald's. The HSCA's fingerprint experts couldn't reach a firm conclusion on the note, but they noted several similarities between the writing on the note and Oswald's writing. Oswald's own wife, Marina, identified the handwriting as her husband's handwriting. Yet, a few years ago a former Soviet KGB agent claimed the note was forged by the KGB to incriminate Howard Hunt, the ultra-conservative billionaire oil tycoon who made no secret of his hatred for JFK. If the handwriting for the "Dear Mr. Hunt" note could have been forged, the handwriting on the envelope, order form, and money order that were used to buy the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle most certainly could have been forged as well. Questions abound about who really ordered the rifle and who picked it up. The rifle was shipped to an "A. Hidell" at Oswald's post office box address. However, the FBI acknowledged in a 6/3/64 memo that Oswald had not listed any "Hidell" to receive mail from his post office box (CE 2585, Question 12), and there is no hard evidence that Oswald ever picked up the rifle from the post office (see Sylvia Meagher, Accessories After the Fact, New York: Vintage Books edition, 1992, pp. 49-50; cf. Mark Lane, Rush to Judgment, New York: Thunder's Mouth Press edition, 1992, pp. 137-141, 412-414). Furthermore, Oswald's time sheet shows he was at work when the money order was purchased.

I cite these these examples to show that often times physical evidence can't be considered in isolation from other evidence, that the meaning of physical evidence is not always clear or beyond dispute. Sometimes physical evidence is compelling and its meaning self-evident, but sometimes it isn't compelling and sometimes it's meaning is open to widely varying interpretation.

The physical evidence that lone-gunman theorists cite relates almost exclusively to Oswald's guilt as a gunman who shot and killed President Kennedy. Would proving that Oswald fired three shots and killed Kennedy prove he was the only gunman and/or that there was no conspiracy? No, it wouldn't.

As mentioned, some items of physical evidence are more impressive and telling than others. Are all of the items of physical evidence of conspiracy discussed herein of equal value? No, they aren't. For example, I think the evidence from the x-rays regarding the 6.5 mm object and the bullet fragmentation is much stronger than the evidence of box movement from the Dillard and Powell photos.

The case for conspiracy finds powerful support from eyewitness accounts, but it also finds very strong support from the physical evidence.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior College in Albany, New York, and two Associate in Applied Science degrees from the Community College of the Air Force. He is also a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical Training School in San Angelo, Texas. He has earned instructor certification from both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. He is the author of the book Compelling Evidence: A New Look at the Assassination of President Kennedy (Grand Prairie, TX: JFK-Lancer Productions and Publications, 1996). His articles on the assassination have appeared in several journals that deal with the subject. In addition, he is the author of four books on Mormonism and ancient texts.