Scientists Cast Doubt on Kennedy Bullet Analysis

[Space Tycoon]

Multiple Shooters Possible, Study Says

By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A03

In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald alone shot the two bullets that struck and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.

Scientists originally saw no evidence of a second assassin based on analysis of the bullets that killed President John F. Kennedy. (Associated Press)

The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. They reached no conclusion about whether more than one gunman was involved, but urged that authorities conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the assassination in Dallas.

"Given the significance and impact of the JFK assassination, it is scientifically desirable for the evidentiary fragments to be re-analyzed," the researchers said.

Tobin was the FBI lab's chief metallurgy expert for more than two decades. He analyzed metal evidence in major cases that included the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island.

After retiring, he attracted national attention by questioning the FBI science used in prosecutions for decades to match bullets to crime suspects through their lead content. The questions he and others raised prompted a National Academy of Sciences review that in 2003 concluded that the FBI's bullet lead analysis was flawed. The FBI agreed and generally ended the use of that type of analysis.

Using new guidelines set forth by the National Academy of Sciences for proper bullet analysis, Tobin and his colleagues at Texas A&M re-analyzed the bullet evidence provided to the 1976 House Select Committee on Assassinations to support the conclusion that only one shooter, Oswald, fired the shots that killed Kennedy.

Now-deceased University of California at Irvine chemist Vincent P. Guinn. told the committee that he used bullet lead analysis to conclude that the five bullet fragments recovered from the Kennedy assassination scene came from just two bullets, which were traced to the same batch of bullets Oswald owned. Guinn's conclusions were consistent with the 1960s Warren Commission Report that found Oswald had acted alone. The House assassinations committee, however, concluded that Oswald probably was part of a conspiracy and that it was possible a second shooter fired one shot that missed the president.

Tobin, Spiegelman and James said they bought the same brand and lot of bullets used by Oswald and analyzed their lead using the new standards. The bullets from that batch are still on the market as collectors' items.

They found that the scientific and statistical assumptions Guinn used -- and the government accepted at the time -- to conclude that the fragments came from just two bullets fired from Oswald's gun were wrong.

"This finding means that the bullet fragments from the assassination that match could have come from three or more separate bullets," the researchers said. "If the assassination fragments are derived from three or more separate bullets, then a second assassin is likely," the researchers said. If the five fragments came from three or more bullets, that would mean a second gunman's bullet would have had to strike the president, the researchers explained.

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[UNCLEagent]

I have always been fascinated by this mystery. I find myself going back and forth on whether it was a conspiracy - or one lone gunman.

A wonderful episode of Quantum Leap explored this. Scott Bakula was sent back into time, into the motorcade. He was overcome with grief that history repeated itself - Kennedy was still assasinated and his mission was a bust. Only, he discovered his mission wasn't to save JFK - it was to save Jackie.

Through it all, he discovered there was no conspiracy, no gunmen in the knoll - just one deranged Oswald.

"Why all the theories? Why the conspiracy talk?" he asked.

His answer was that maybe it was all too powerful, all too much for anybody to accept that one lone person - a nobody - could bring so much horror and grief into the hearts of so many. We rationalize that there just has to be some 'big' out-there to account for all this hurt.

[DarkJedi]

I remember that episode. It was a season finale of one of the years. Quantam Leap effing rocked too!

As for the sentiment described in the episode, very nice but I don't agree with it. Seems like there was at least 2 gunmen at the very least with the wounds inflicted.

Also, if Oswald was such a great shot and alone, seriously, why didn't he shoot when the presidential car was heading his way instead of after making the turn?

Heh, btw, I'm not asking you that question, Unc...Just throwing it out there hypothetically as to why I think there was at least one more shooter and it was planned far ahead of time.

I remember watching the Peter Jennings special a few years back trying to credibly explain why it was just Oswald and just him alone. I didn't buy that special either.

Isn't Woody Harrelson's dad in jail over the shooting? Was he one of the guys off the train? Or is that an urban legend?

[Nostromo]

Space is pretty close to this project. N

http://www.munchkyn.com/xf-rvws/musings.html

[Space Tycoon]

"I can kill you any time I please... but not today." :anismirk:




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