Tuesday, 08 October 2013 23:29

Sherry Fiester, Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination

Written by William LeBlanc

Sherry Fiester [uses] established science-based protocols to determine events and causalities, not to search for manufactured support of an a priori conclusion, write LeBlanc and Dragoo.


"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived, and dishonest-but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."

– John F. Kennedy

The Oxford dictionary describes myth as "a widely held but false belief or idea." thefreedictionary.com states a myth is "a belief or set of beliefs, often unproven or false, that have accrued around a person, phenomenon, or institution." Cambridge dictionary describes myth as "a commonly believed but false idea." Enemy of the Truth suggests the Kennedy assassination contains myths that lack historical or scientific sustenance. The author, Sherry Fiester addresses these unproven but widely accepted beliefs concerning the Kennedy assassination with reproducible, contemporary forensic information and techniques. She also provides possible explanations as to how the myths may have originated.

Fiester make clear that what one person makes as their personal "truth" may be in opposition to another's "truth." For example, when several people witness a traffic accident they may have differing accounts concerning some details. If the accident was caught on film, all parties may be surprised to find their version of the "truth" as to what occurred is slightly different from the reality caught on film. The author states, "Philosophies, knowledge, and experiential bias all shape the truth. Consequently, truth is often a matter of perspective-not irrefutable fact." The author attempts to explain how bias can make people view singular events differently. Moreover, she describes how what is regarded as fact can change as technology and new information advance knowledge about a subject.

Each chapter is a stand-alone examination of a particular myth concerning the assassination. The chapter headings are the stated myth, followed by a detailed examination of how forensic information, research, and analysis can either confirm the statement or expose it as false. In each chapter, the author, a retired professional forensic investigator, proceeds from established forensic investigative research and/or protocol. Science, not speculation, leads to the correct analysis, dispelling the myth, which, as President Kennedy himself stated, is always the enemy of the truth.

Readers will appreciate the author's meticulous attention to detail in a book written in the language of the professional crime scene investigator, with each subject introduced in a manner to allow the reader complete understanding of the subject. With 233 citations supporting the information provided in Enemy of the Truth, Fiester provides many opportunities for confirmation of the research material presented.

The ballistics, blood spatter pattern interpretation, and trajectory reconstruction procedures used by the author are based on the most current techniques used in the field. Her conclusions are methodical, accurate, and what should be expected, especially when considering the crime scene investigation procedures used on and after that fateful day. It is regrettable such a poor job was done by the first responders in securing the scene, the detectives in their investigation of the scene, and the medical examination of the wounds received by President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Any Crime Scene Reconstructionist would have a difficult time accurately interpreting the information collected in this case. The author makes a valiant effort in painstakingly interpreting and using the available information to educate the reader so he can form his own opinion as to the number of shooters, how many shots were fired, and in determining the origin of the gunshots.

The author states that her objective was to filter long held, but questionable beliefs in the Kennedy assassination through contemporary, reliable, established scientific disciplines. To meet that objective she selected eight commonly held theories and provided forensic information that would allow the reader to determine if the questioned concept was forensically sound. The chapter titles reflect the myth addressed, not necessarily the scientific findings of the subject introduced. The abundant references reflect current research and supporting examples of her findings. The results of her work, presented in eight self-contained chapters, should be of importance to anyone with an interest in the Kennedy assassination.

Crime scene forensics can be a complicated subject. However, the author provides the reader with easily understood, accurate information. The book is so comprehensive in its approach, it is the opinion of reviewer LeBlanc that it can be used in the instruction of all new crime scene investigators nationwide.

 

Chapter 1: Dallas PD Followed Protocol

It may appear the author is contradicting herself when she first indicates the 1963 Dallas Police Department was comprised of men doing the best they could to solve crime and protect the community; then details the numerous instances in which their investigation of the assassination was inadequate. However, even the best of men, while possessing the best of intentions, make mistakes and use poor judgment. While some may assume the poor investigation was an intentional plan to cover the existence of a conspiracy, the author suggests alternatives: poor work habits, poor supervisory decisions, and confirmation bias. This last issue is quite important. Confirmation bias occurs when someone selectively focuses on evidence to support a pre-determined assumption, instead of integrating all evidence to form an impartial conclusion.

The author posits that the lack of adherence to Dallas Police Department and national protocols may have been due to poor work habits, confirmation bias, and poor supervisory decisions; assigning the responsibility of the poor crime scene investigation to the supervisors of the investigation. Taking the reader through the crime scene investigation of the Texas School Book Depository, she systematically details the individual standards in place in 1963, and reflects upon the actions of the Dallas Police Crime Unit referencing those standards. The documentation of errors is staggering.

The most basic investigative goal, to protect the scene from contamination, was woefully lacking in execution. Importantly, access to the scene was not limited to proper investigative personnel. Inexplicably, it appears there was no restriction, or documentation of persons who were present on the sixth floor during the active processing of the crime scene.

The author quotes an FBI affidavit by police photographer Robert Studebaker in which he describes who was on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository while he was working there on the day of the assassination:

There were literally dozens of news media representatives from radio and television stations, newspapers, and magazines on the sixth floorâĦas far as he knew there were no restrictions on newsmen and law enforcement officers from moving freely about the sixth floorâĦ.any of these individuals may have possibly handled the four cardboard boxes that were sent to the FBI Laboratory for examinationâĦ.on Saturday, November 23, newsman were all over the buildingâĦgenerally looking for and examining anything that might have been related to the shooting of President Kennedy and Governor John B. Connally (CE 3131, 26H807).

A successful crime scene search is orderly and systematic. This one was not. There is no information indicating who was responsible for documenting when, where, or what items were found. Frankie Kaiser's late discovery of Oswald's blue jacket and a clipboard purportedly used by Oswald reflects the failure of the Dallas Police Department to conduct a methodical and organized search of the Texas School Book Depository.

Crime scene photographs should depict the scene and evidence in an accurate manner. The author illustrates how some evidence was not photographed and other evidence moved and then replaced for the completion of staged photographs. Of note are the boxes in the sniper window, the shell casings, the brown paper bag that may have concealed the rifle as it was brought into the building, and a strip of wood from the window ledge believed to be the window used by the shooter. Photography and sketching of these items was either staged or omitted.

Both Deputy Sheriff Mooney and Detective Johnson testified that photographs shown to them were not representative of the shell casing locations as they observed them on the sixth floor the day of the assassination. Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney and news photographer Tom Alyea both stated they observed Fritz pick up the casings. Alyea says Fritz handed the casings to Studebaker who just threw the casings down in front of the window and photographed them.

Testimony and photographic evidence support the suggestion that the crime scene may have been recreated, photographed, and the photographs submitted under the guise of an un-altered scene. The author indicates 1963 national investigative standards required a chain of custody to form a continuous record documenting who collected and retained possession of the evidence. The author reveals multiple inconsistencies raising questions concerning the reliability of collected evidence and the professionalism of the department.

The author states:

Based on the testimony of Moody, Day, and Sims, it cannot be established by whom, when or where the casings were initially recovered from the Texas School Book Depository. Since the chain of custody for the casings is also suspect, we cannot positively state the casings entered into evidence are the same casings collected from the sixth floor (p 46).

Enemy of the Truth indicates fingerprinting evidence in 1963 relied on chemicals and powders. At the time of the assassination, chemical development of latent fingerprints on paper or other porous surfaces ordinarily included the use of silver nitrate, ninhydrin, or iodine. The included citations indicate silver nitrate, which the FBI used, had been in use since 1891. However, the official record indicates only powders were used to develop latent prints on the boxes collected from the sniper's nest. The DPD's success in processing the cardboard boxes was limited to one latent print and one palm print developed with black powder. Using the silver nitrate method, the FBI reported they developed 27 identifiable latent prints from the four cardboard boxes and collected them all as evidence.

The book relates Studebaker's limited, on-the-job photography training and seven weeks of hands-on experience, and Day's testimony regarding his fingerprint training. Startlingly, FBI experts found Studebaker's prints all over the scene. In other words, the DPD officer in charge of the scene did not put on gloves to avoid scene contamination; he used powder, not chemicals to lift prints, mishandled evidence, failed to properly photograph the scene, and staged some photographs.

Consistent with Fiester's claim of a lack of adherence to protocols, poor work habits, confirmation bias, and poor supervisory decisions; an unsupervised, untrained newbie was left to "develop latent fingerprints, photograph, and collect evidence in the homicide investigation of the President of the United States" (p 37).

 

Chapter 2: Ear Witnesses:

The author tells us spatial hearing or localization is the ability to recognize the source or location of a particular sound. Fiester asks,

Is it possible, for some witnesses (emphasis added) on that day in Dealey Plaza, that ability was faulty? (p. 58)

The book explains that with spatial hearing, we can usually determine the direction and distance of sounds correctly; however, there are times when direction can be easily misinterpreted. Echoes and reverberation outside result in difficulty in determining sound localization as exterior environments have surfaces that differ in absorption and sound reflective characteristics. Furthermore, the brain integrates visual and audible information to establish the origin of sounds. Therefore, errors in determining localization increase dramatically without correct visualization. In fact, the role vision plays in auditory localization is so strong it commonly overrides hearing when determining where a sound originated, even when the visual input is incorrect.

The author explains that gunshots produce several distinct and separate noises of varying intensities. She also describes how a shooter can manipulate the sound of gunshots through the environment selection, subsonic ammunition, suppressors, and muzzle flash protectors. Any of these techniques can influence the perception of a gunshot location source by changing sound characteristics. Additionally, wind, air temperature, and relative humidity can all affect correct assessment of localization.

The author is careful to state that making a determination of where a shooter was located based exclusively on witness hearing is not reliable:

Locating the source of gunshots within Dealey Plaza was complex. The sounds were likely distorted by echo or reverberation from the various reflective surfaces. Sound waves reached listeners in unanticipated and erratic manners. As a result, basing the location of possible shooters in Dealey Plaza solely) on the statements of ear witnesses is categorically unreliable. (p 84, emphasis added)

Acoustic characteristics in the Plaza served to confuse directionality of sound. Witnesses' ability to determine the number and source of gunshots would depend upon their perception of the received sound wave's angle, elevation, distance and reflection or absorption. The most significant influence is distance, so the further away the hearer was from the shooter, the less likely he was to identify the shooter's correct location. Witnesses named the Depository or the North "Grassy Knoll" but not the South. To disregard a shooter from the south end of the overpass, we must disregard Robert "Tosh" Plumlee. We must also disregard the wizardry of Mitch WerBell, the CIA/Military master arms developer who was responsible for early innovations in silencer/suppressor technology. Importantly, readers must remember the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

 

Chapter 3: Blood in Zapruder is Faked

Care must be taken to acknowledge that Enemy of the Truth does not question the authenticity of the Zapruder film in its entirety. The only frames of the film the author addresses are the frames containing blood spatter. The white area visible on Kennedy's right temple is identified as a bone avulsion, and is explained in detail in several chapters:

Since the brain is encased by the closed and inflexible structure of the skull, breaking the skull open is the only way temporary cavity pressure can be relieved. The fractured skull may, or may not, remain intact. If the scalp tears from the force of the temporary cavitation, bone fragments may be ejected from the skull. In this event, blood and tissue will forcefully exit from the opening created by the missing bone fragment. If a portion of the scalp adheres to the dislodged bone fragment, a bone avulsion is produced (p 96)

Avulsions are also described on pages 222 and 250. This is likely the injury Dr. Charles Baxter was referring to when he described the "temporal parietal plate of bone laid outward to the side." Dr. Malcolm Perry referenced that injury when he stated he observed "a large avulsive wound of the right parietal occipital area." Dr. Robert N. McClelland stated he observed "parietal bone protruded up through the scalp."

Although the author is a court certified expert in the field with over 30 years of experience, she is careful to provide a large number of collaborating references to support her analysis. Enemy of the Truth introduces both back spatter (blood exiting the entry wound) and forward spatter (blood expelled from skull openings created after initial penetration of the bullet to the head). Backspatter appears and disappears in milliseconds-and is documented in Zapruder in precisely the manner expected with a frontal shot circa Z-312/313. To support that claim, frames from videos taken at 10,000 frames per second of bullets impacting bloody targets are included for the reader to examine.

This chapter is a prime example of how the application of new technology and research can alter what is depicted as truth. Scientific journals, books, and research published since the early 1990s indicate the blood observed in the Zapruder film displays accurate characteristics of back spatter. Yet some claim it was "left in by forgers" or "painted in" to prove a rear shot. This is very unlikely as backspatter was not identified and analyzed before 1982, by which time all of the speculative shenanigans at Hawkeyeworks/NPIC referenced by writers like Costella, Lifton, Horne, etc. was in the can.

The stumbling block for many readers of the book is understanding the identifying characteristics of the individual spatter patterns, the directionality of the two patterns, and the inability to visualize the forward spatter in the Zapruder film. The author's explanations may not have been clear or detailed enough, as some readers appear to have misinterpreted that portion of the material.

Both patterns are created within a few milliseconds of each other, yet only one is readily observed. Back spatter is slow moving; conversely, forward spatter is very fast. The Midwest Forensics Resource Center, a National Institute of Justice sponsored facility at Iowa State University, studied the formation of bloodstain patterns by using a high-speed digital video (HSDV) camera. The research recordings were taken at 10,000 feet per second, meaning each frame represents 1/237000 of a second. The film shows a bullet captured within a sponge with both back and forward spatter. The emerging forward spatter is observed at a distance from the target equal to the existing back spatter, even though the projectile had not exited. Moreover, within 0.000100 of a second, forward spatter is projected away from the target at a greater distance than the back spatter. The misconception that forward spatter would only travel to the rear of the President is wrong and a clear indication the reader is not understanding the characteristics of the forward pattern correctly.

Points that are of particular note include visualization of the blood spatter, which is comprised of blood droplets that could be as small as the diameter of a 0.5 mm lead pencil.

  • Blood leaves both the entry and exit wounds moving in every conceivable direction. Since the skull had openings due to bone avulsions, expelled bone fragments, and fractures, blood exiting as forward spatter would have been deposited in a 360 degree, semi-hemispheric fashion. In other words, the blood and tissue deposited on the limousine hood and trunk, the motorcycle officers and the follow-up vehicle are all portions of the singular forward spatter pattern. The forward spatter is thus identified by the distance, volume, and particulate matter distributed in those areas. Of course, the easily observed white streak observed in the film that is believed to be a bone fragment is a portion of the forward spatter.
  • Research by Michael Sweet, a now deceased Canadian analyst, indicates forward spatter can travel up to 3.5 times the speed of the object striking the blood. This results in high-speed ammunition, traveling over 2000 feet per second, to discharge blood at speeds and travel distances that would diminish the density of the pattern, consequently making visualization more difficult.

 

Chapter 4: The Limo Stop

Enemy of the Truth indicates forensic research can explain the inconsistency in bystanders' observations concerning the limo stop by understanding how the brain identifies time. Fear induced distortion of time allows us to remember with specific detail what we experience. The perception of time is based on the quantity of data remembered; therefore, memory experiences inundated with detail are perceived as happening more slowly. The basis for believing the limousine stopped rests solely on witness statements; the Zapruder film, the Nix film and the Muchmore film all show the vehicle simply slowing.

The author stipulates the limo did not stop, technically. Witnesses report in their scores of a slowing of a dramatic nature. The author describes an identified psychological condition reported by professional first-responders in crisis of an uncanny slowing of the rollout of events-literally events happening in slow motion.

Enemy of the Truth does not state the limo came to a complete stop; but does offer a possible explanation of why others may-perhaps erroneously-believe it did. The author states this concerning time dilation:

Perhaps for those few witnesses during the extraordinary moments of the assassination of President Kennedy, the rest of the world did fade away. For those few bystanders in Dealey Plaza, time stood still (p. 123, emphasis added).

"For people in Dealey Plaza, observing the death of President Kennedy may have been one of those moments" (p.124, emphasis added)

If attention, arousal, or valance can be applied to the Kennedy assassination, it is possible eyewitnesses sustained time distortion (p.129, emphasis added).

Hearing gunshots, being unsure of their origin, and witnessing the homicide of another human being would certainly qualify as a life threatening, highly charged emotional event. That circumstance creates the perfect opportunity for time perception errors (p 130, emphasis added).

A paper by George Michael Evica, "The Surrounding Silence: The Terrible First Sound in Dealey Plaza" (1993) suggests the initial report was designed to freeze the action. The epileptic "seizure" and ambulance, the "sound of fireworks", the smoke and gunpowder smell at the Grassy Knoll, the magician was at work distracting. Brake lights and Greer's looking back until the headshot may indicate a slowing rather than a stop per se. Accounts in the record by a handful of researchers describe a version of Zapruder seen by them depicting a full limo stop. The reader will not see even that in the extant Zapruder.

The author simply concludes with the statement "Based upon research, Dealey Plaza witnesses may have experienced the extraordinary perception of slowed time; a credible explanation for erroneously believing the limousine stopped" (p 137).

 

Chapter 5: Ballistics Prove One Shooter

Here's one of three eye-catchers: The Firearm Analysis and Tool Mark Panel of the HSCA fired ammunition through the Mannlicher Carcano in anticipation of using the bullets as a standard for comparison identifications. Bullets the firearms panel fired from the rifle did not match either the FBI test cartridges of those found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository; nor did they match the bullet found on the stretcher at Parkland Hospital. The striking discovery was the test bullets fired by the HSCA panel through the Mannlicher Carcano rifle did not even match each other.

In 1977 Guinn told the HSCA antimony in Mannlicher Carcano ammunition was consistent, a conclusion used to pronounce the official version of events. Yet in two years Guinn found wide variance in antimony in individual Carcano bullets. Guinn fits somewhere between the White Knight and the Red Queen. His expertise allowed him to testify that the FBI spectrograph expert John Gallagher was inexperienced, and Mannlicher Carcano ammunition's "concentration range from bullet-to-bullet is tremendous"-Guinn and Gallagher two of the seven blind men used to determine the characteristics of the elephant.

In 2004, the Committee on Scientific Assessment of Bullet Lead Elemental Composition and Comparison in the report of Clifford Spiegelman found fragments could have come from three or more separate bullets. Stewart Wexler's work called Guinn's conclusions into question on a range of issues. In short, the ballistics "evidence" was an ad hoc solution to an a priori conclusion, not the result of an investigation in the sense of the professional.

 

Chapter 6: The Grassy Knoll Headshot

Thomas Noguchi showed us Robert F. Kennedy was killed, not by a patsy in front, but by a hidden killer behind. Fiester now presents the case that John F. Kennedy was not killed by a patsy from behind, but by a hidden shooter in front. Her thesis is a double-helix of interlocking observations: First, that a shot from the front entered at the right temple and blew out the right occipital, taking with it much of the right hemisphere.

To the lay person the overlay of observation is stunning: radial and concentric fracturing at the site of entry, appearance and disappearance of backspatter within milliseconds, a trail of metal fragments on the lateral x-ray from the entry, the two-inch forward movement in the initial milliseconds followed by the dramatic back and to the left movement similar to a billiard-shot response.

Contemporary shooting reconstruction indicates a series of steps to reconstruct a murder for the purpose of locating a shooter. Enemy of the Truth walks the reader through those steps in an easy to understand manner, allowing them to reach his own conclusions, long before the author actually states her position: The grassy knoll is mathematically and physically excluded from being the source of a shot entering at the right temple, causing massive damage to the head, but not traversing the mid-line of President Kennedy's skull.

The steps for determining the shooter position are as follows:

  • Determine the wound locations
  • Determine the direction the bullet was travelling when striking the President
  • Determine possible angles of trajectory
  • Determine Kennedy's location and position within the Plaza
  • Extend those angles into Dealey Plaza

Each of the steps are explained in detail. As throughout the book, the author is not stating to the reader "just trust me: this is the answer, after all, I am the expert." Conversely, the reader is provided with comprehensive instructions so the conclusions are understandable and the data upon which they are based is clear.

The author does not attempt to describe a straight-line trajectory from a single entry and exit wound. Instead, she identifies the entry wound as the right front quadrant of the head and the exit wound as the right rear quadrant. Not that she is saying the wounds were that large, but that the areas represent all possible entry and exit wound locations. In doing so, Enemy of the Truth presents a logical, systematic development of a trajectory cone, which presents possible locations for the origin of the head shot.

fiester Enemy ch.6

 

The Warren conclusion was a priori; its trajectory "analysis" was result-oriented, as was the cable program referenced in the text (dispatched on ctka.net by Jim DiEugenio and in detail in this work). The primary problem with the Warren Commission's trajectory procedure is that it does not identify the shooter's location; it merely measures the angle between the presumed location of the shooter and President Kennedy at the time of the head shot. The reenactment team did not perform a trajectory analysis nor did they truly re-create the shooting. They simply provided a measurement for a trajectory they falsely asserted to be true.

Enemy of the Truth lists five methods for determining the fatal shot was from the front of the President:

  1. Beveling
  2. Fracturing Sequencing
  3. Target Movement
  4. Blood Spatter Patterns
  5. Bullet Fragment Patterns

The author reminds us the Clark Panel Report found the majority of metallic fragments located in the front and top of the head. Secondly, the panel determined the second grouping of fragments is located below the badly fragmented frontal and parietal bones, just in front of the coronal suture. All indicating a single front shot based upon modern research, as bullet fragments are distributed in a conical shape, with the apex near the entry wound.

There are standardized procedures for trajectory reconstruction that provide an accurate method to define where shooters are located. However, neither the Warren Commission, nor the House Select Committee on Assassinations used those uniform processes for trajectory analysis. ARRB counsel Gunn deposing x-ray tech Custer:

Gunn: So, it's your opinion that the trauma to the head began at the front and moved towards the back of the head?

Custer: Yes, sir. Absolutely (Custer, 1997)

It is well worth repeating the author's comment concerning radial and concentric fracturing: (pp.196-7):

Kennedy's x-rays depict radial fractures that appear to originate in the frontal bone. Concentric fractures are located predominately near the front of the head. Kennedy's autopsy x-rays have distinct radial fractures propagating from the front of the head, with the preponderance of concentric fractures located at the front. This results in smaller fragments nearer the point of entry, enlarging in size as they move toward the exit wound. Current research indicates Kennedy's fracturing pattern corresponds with an entry wound located in the frontal bone, which correlates to a projectile striking the front of the head.

In addition, on page 218, she points out an appalling failing of both government "investigations".

There are standardized procedures for trajectory reconstruction that provide an accurate method to define where shooters are located. However, neither the Warren Commission, nor the House Select Committee on Assassinations used those uniform processes for trajectory analysis.

The chapter conclusion states:

Utilizing those recommended and recognized standards, the results indicate the shooter was likely near the south end of the triple overpass or the parking lot adjacent to that portion of the overpass. Addressing the location for the shooter, for that shot with proven scientific concepts, proves mathematically what areas are viable for locating a potential shooter, and it does not include the Grassy Knoll (p 223).

Followers of the methods of Sherlock Holmes of old books and cinema and new television will appreciate the removal of the impossible, the observation of the actual, and the summary analysis in determining the trajectory vector. The President at the moment of impact, say Z-312/313, is looking left X degrees, down Y degrees; this orientation is aligned on an axis to the Zapruder camera in the limo on Elm and a 35-degree range allowing the right-hemisphere shot centers on the juncture of the south end of the overpass and the adjacent parking lot.

Voila, a solution one hundred eighty degrees from the Warren (Dulles) Commission repeated ad nauseam by the Clark Panel, the HSCA, Humes at the ARRB, and various cherry pickers in print. Finally, a forensic expert proves conspiracy, something we have believed to be true for almost 50 years.

 

Chapter 7: Two Headshots

The author relies on several issues to support a single gunshot to the head from the front: the forward movement, the rear movement, blood patterns, beveling, skull fracture patterns, and the distribution of the bullet fragments.

The Itek Corporation report concluded Kennedy's head moved forward approximately 2.3 inches and his shoulder about 1.1 inches at Frames 312 and 313. Following that forward movement, Itek reported President Kennedy's head move rearward from Zapruder 314 to 321 (Itek, 1976) (p 232).

Current forensic wound ballistic research indicates the forward movement of a target follow by a rearward movement is consistent with a single gunshot. Research by Karger (2008), Radford, (2009) and Coupland (2011) prove initial transfer of energy causes the target to swell or move minutely into the force and against the line of fire.

Once the bullet enters the skull, if the design of the projectile limits penetration by distortion or fragmentation, the bullet immediately loses velocity. The loss of velocity results in the transfer of kinetic energy demonstrated by the instantaneous generation of temporary cavitation. The higher a projectile's velocity upon impact, the more kinetic energy is available to transfer to the target. The amount of kinetic energy transferred to a target increases with faster projectile deceleration. This initial transfer of energy causes the target to swell or move minutely into the force and against the line of fire. The greater the transferred energy, the more pronounced the forward movement (Karger, 2008; Coupland, 2011;l Radford, 2009) (p 245)

This phenomenon is documented in published scientific research and publically posted internet high-speed videos recording shooting of ballistic gelatin targets. The reaction of the gelatin targets, specifically the creation of the temporary cavity and the target movement is congruent with published forensic works addressing head wounds cited in Enemy of the Truth.

The book brings a credible explanation as to the contrasting movement of Kennedy's head and the trauma recorded on the Zapruder film. Once again demonstrating how new knowledge can be used to de-mythologize the assassination.

 

Chapter 8: The Single Bullet Theory

What do we know now that Arlen Specter didn't back in 1964? The answer is quite a bit. Enemy of the Truth opens the Single Bullet Theory chapter with this statement: "the remarkable flight of Warren Commission Exhibit 399 is mysterious and convoluted" (p 266). Yet the author's comprehensive analysis of this archaic explanation by the Warren Commission is likely one of the best available. Readers will find the most thorough destruction-in-detail of this essential element of the Big Lie behind the most significant murder of the Twentieth Century.

The Single Bullet Theory fails on multiple grounds expounded in the 67-page climactic chapter. The author has faulted Dallas Police for failure to observe forensic protocols, protect the crime scene, develop the evidence, document the chain of evidence through drawings, photographs, and written reports; all this is supremely crucial in the "Theory of Theories" in the Crime of the Century.

Readers may be familiar with the doubt about the authenticity of CE 399 per the previous work of Robert Harris, Jim DiEugenio and others. Pathologist Humes found the end of the back wound could be felt by his finger, and the President's physician, Adm. Burkley, located it at the third thoracic vertebra. Gerald Ford moved the wound by "altering" the draft of the Commission report from "entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder to the right of the spine" to "entered the back of his neck at a point slightly to the right of his spine." That subsequent wound movement was to conform to the already determined lone gunman, three bullets, two men, and seven wounds via the Magic Bullet.

The Single Bullet Theory, the hallucination Specter conjured to account for seven wounds in two men after Tague's cheek subtracted from the three shots allowed, is not merely dead; it is most sincerely dead. In addition, at root and at last, that is what the eclipse of the Republic is all about, a murder misrepresented.

The Warren Commission's trajectory for the SBT is a shallow construct parroted by the HSCA and supposedly "replicated" by a cable program-which showed a bullet exiting John Connally's chest (perhaps a "Fordism" for "throat") What difference does it make? As Harold Weisberg would say, "we're only talking about the President." Fiester does him proud.

 

Conclusion

Author Sherry Fiester is uniquely qualified to critique the crime scene investigation of the official entities over the course of the past fifty years. Her approach is that of the professional, the use of established science-based protocols to determine events and causalities; not to search for manufactured support of an a priori conclusion.

Her model is the exposure of eight identified myths in the spirit of the opening comment by the thirty-fifth President, that such are the "enemy of truth"-and truth, after all, is the only antidote for the existential shadow hanging over the Republic for the past half century.

Picture if you will the unspeakable evil of a government that would produce an intelligence operative replete with demonizable legend. Position him as patsy to conceal the Jackal-like elimination of the inconvenient temporary occupant of the White House and parade an endless procession of Stephen King clowns in official drag to insist upon the impossible. That one man with a defective weapon accomplished fantastic ballistic feats and the lack of any conspiracy dictates records will remain sealed in service to a national security defined in a world created by Lewis Carroll.

Contrast that fairytale with wound analysis, blood spatter analysis, and a trajectory analysis yielding the inconvenient conclusion: murder by person or persons unknown abetted by accessories in high places at every stage of the crime.

Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination was written by Sherry Fiester, a forensic specialists, and one of the few writers in the research community who are certified court experts providing insight based upon their unique field of expertise. Sherry Fiester: ally of the truth.

 

About the co-reviewer:

Phil Dragoo, veteran JFK researcher, consultant, and book reviewer, is a respected and influential social commentator, an independent thinker whose unique prose style and keen essays on power and corruption are considered by many in the community to be worthwhile reading.

Last modified on Wednesday, 02 November 2016 23:09
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