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Robert F Kennedy Assassination — Part 2

60 pages · May 11, 2026 · Document date: Jun 7, 1968 · Broad topic: Kennedy Assassination · Topic: Robert F Kennedy Assassination · 51 pages OCR'd
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Lowenstein also expressed his concern that Wolfer may never have actually test fired the Sirhan weapon and may never have matched up the bullets. Technically, Wolfer had testified that he had only taken one of the seven test fired bullets recovered from the water tank in 1968 and matched it with the evidence bullets. When asked by Kranz if Lowenstein agreed that three of the seven experts positively matched up the three victim bullets with one gun, and two more did so by inference, Lowenstein replied in the affirmative. Finally, Lowenstein expressed his opinion that the photographs taken by Lystrup for the Baxter Ward Hearings in 1974 would show that the gouge marks were not present at the time of the photographs, and therefore, such gouge marks must have been sub- stituted on the various bullets after May, 1974. However, this appears to be contradicted by a close analysis of the photomicrograph taken by DeWayne Wolfer in 1968, which shows the identifying characteristic of the so-called gouge mark.. Additionally, the Harper - Photographs taken in 1970, on close examination, also reveal the so-called gouge mark. In the several days following the release of the joint report of the ballistics experts, Special Counsel Kranz met with several of the critics and two-gun advocates. In essence, their position could be simply stated that there had been no proof that a second gun had not been used. Stated in another way, the experts had not, by stating there was no evidence of a second gun, positively stated that only one gun had been fired. In support of their attempt to ask the experts to prove a negative, the critics had cited the fact _ a that the victim bullets had not in themselves been identified as being fired from the Sirhan gun and "no other gun in the world." Additionally, the critics felt that Exhibit 55 (the three test bullets entered as exhibits at the trial) and Grand Jury 5B (the four Wolfer test-fired bullets) had not actually been matched spe- cifically with each other or identified with other evidence bullets taken from the victims at the crime scene. Additionally, Lowell Bradford issued a press release stating "the firearms evidence does not in and of itself establish a basis for a two-gun proposition; likewise, this same proposition, on the basis of other evidence is not precluded either." The other evidence suggested by Bradford: (a) "witness statements that another gun was being fired in the Ambassador; (b) bullet pathways contradictory to the direction from which Sirhan was firing; a (c) suspicion or speculation that more than eight bullets had been fired." Special Counsel Kranz met with Ted Charach in the days following the release of the joint report and Charach was convinced that the experts had totally contradicted DeWayne Wolfer. Charach felt that Wolfer had never actually fired the Sirhan weapon in the test firing, even though all the experts were able to identify similar. gross characteristics on all of the bullets, including the Wolfer test-fired bullets. Charach was critical of Wolfer for having testfired copper coated bullets, since the cooper had been easily destroyed and the bullets had not been easily identified. However, Sirhan himself had fired copper coated bullets at the particular crime, and it can be assumed that Wolfer was trying to get an analysis from similar ammunition. - 70 -
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