Sherry Fiester is a forensics expert who has turned her attention to the known facts in the murder of President Kennedy. I was honored and pleased when she asked me to read and review her book. Here's that review....
Enemy
of the Truth is a fascinating look at some of the “myths,” or perceived
truths, about the assassination of President John Kennedy. To the extent that “myths” – untruths – are held
or believed by society at large, these fallacies are “Enemies of the
Truth.” The book’s subtitle tells you
Sherry Fiester’s emphasis – a forensic look at the crime.
The
eight main chapters examine some of these “myths” and pretty much wipe ’em out. Fiester’s style may come across in places as
dry or dispassionate, but that’s to be expected when you’re reading about
technical stuff like parts of the human skull and bullet fragmentation. The actual subject matter will hold your
attention without the need for chatty narration.
The
first chapter examines the mistaken idea that the Dallas, TX police followed
correct procedures in investigating the shooting of the President. Compared to today’s standards such as digital
photography and DNA sampling, many of what the DPD should have done, according
to their own rules, seems pretty basic and straightforward. But even basic protocols were flubbed or
ignored, such as a complete photographic and drawn-to-scale survey of the Book
Depository’s sixth floor. Even the
so-called “sniper’s nest” and the rifle, when discovered, were not documented in
situ before they were moved.
Fiester
quotes extensively from the textbook protocols that in 1963 were required for a
professional and legally valid crime scene investigation. And in nearly every way, the behavior of the
investigators falls short. Everything
from the bullet casings (not photographed or marked to preserve
chain-of-evidence) to boxes by the window (moved and arranged several times by
ungloved hands) demonstrates a cascade of failures.
Now,
in this chapter Fiester lets pass two of the things I've always harped on. The first report of a rifle’s discovery on
the sixth floor described a Mauser, not the Mannlicher-Carcano which supposedly
belonged to Oswald. Does this mean that
there was a rifle switch-out? Also, in
her discussion of the “paper bag” that Oswald supposedly used to smuggle the
rifle into the building, she doesn't mention the well-documented fact that the
rifle and bag were too long to have been carried between Oswald’s palm and
armpit, as Warren Commissioners would have us believe.
Chapter
Two describes the science and research behind sound localization, and
demonstrates how easy it is for somebody to misplace the source of a
sound. You may honestly think that a
sound came from such-and-such a place – but several factors may act, singly or
in combination, to mislead your ears.
Examples are: your location
within a certain landscape; your distance from the sound; any refractive
surfaces; and even the position of your head.
All can influence your perceptions.
The
next chapter discusses the controversies surrounding a single frame of the
Zapruder film, Z313, which depicts a red cloud or mist in front of JFK’s
forehead. This scarlet fog appears ONLY in this one frame, and a few researchers have
held that this crimson haze appears and then vanishes much too quickly to be an
actual event caught by the camera. At
least one book cites this cloud as “proof” that the Zapruder film has been altered.
But
Fiester explains the facts behind a phenomenon called “backspatter,” about
which she knows as part of her expertise in forensics. The red flicker seen on frame Z313 is an
absolutely accurate depiction of backspatter, and what forensically you SHOULD
EXPECT TO SEE following a shot to the front of the head. Backspatter appears and dissipates in an
amount of time much briefer than a single Zapruder frame, and that’s why we see
it in mid-dissipation for only one frame.
It’s not a red blotch that was painted onto the film by forgers, as some
have said. It’s what is to be expected
as the result of a front headshot.
Chapter
Four talks about some witnesses’ claims that the President’s car slowed to a
crawl or stopped outright (perhaps to make it easier for an assassin to aim and
fire). This idea can be laid to rest
with some of the reasons explained by Fiester in this chapter. She explains some of the research behind the
mind’s perception of time and how, in crisis situations, the passage of time
can be felt to speed up or conversely “stand still,” despite the objective
passing of seconds, minutes, and hours.
Furthermore, none of the extant films depicting Dealey Plaza show a car
stop, or give any indication of having a car stop edited out. There are multiple video sources for various
parts of this crime.
The
next chapter dissects the myth, held by some since the day of the murder, that
“Ballistics Prove One Shooter.” Fiester
lays out some of the many problems facing somebody who wants to believe such a
thing – because science dispels the possibility. Examinations of various recovered bullet
fragments and casings don’t show them to have been fired from the same gun – or
even the same KIND of gun. Not even Neutron
Activation Analysis can match some of the fragments with each other or with the
nearly-whole bullet that supposedly passed through JFK and Governor
Connally. These inconclusive test
results were withheld from the Warren Commissioners at the time.
The
sixth chapter really rumbled my cage when it disallowed the Grassy Knoll as the
location of a shooter. Like many folks
who believe that this murder wasn’t undertaken by one man in the TSBD, I’ve
agreed with the various eye- and ear-witnesses that something was going on
behind the wooden fence atop the Grassy Knoll.
But Fiester first determines the location of JFK’s head in relation to
the limousine and thus the street and Plaza.
Working from there, she examines the locations of JFK’s wounds – all on
the right side of his head – and points out that a shot from the right would
have exited on the left. But the left
side of the President’s head, according to doctors and witnesses, was
undamaged. The fence atop the knoll was
almost perpendicular to the President, and therefore could not have been the
origin point for the fatal headshot. A
more likely location, as indicated by the wounds, would be the triple overpass
on the opposite side of Dealey Plaza from the infamous Knoll.
Grassy-Knollers
like me can always believe that a shooter was back there, but that he missed!
Next
Fiester tells me something else that I didn’t know – that the concept of
deducing bullet trajectory by examining the beveling (angle of chipping) in the
bone is an outdated idea that has been shown not to be accurate. Being a ballistics expert, she should
know! Evidently there have been so many
instances where the beveling angle does not match with known circumstances that
the whole doctrine of trajectory-by-beveling has been discarded. There have even been times when inner and
outer beveling has been encountered in the same wound!
In
presenting her case against the Grassy Knoll and for the Triple Overpass area,
Fiester jogged my memory and I flipped back to Chapter Two, in which she
described the unreliability of sound location by “ear witnesses.” However, here in Chapter Six, she quotes
several people who reported hearing shots that seemed to come from the Overpass
area. The effectiveness of this
testimony is somewhat diluted when you remember how in Chapter Two the author
showed how unreliable “ear witness” testimony can be.
Chapter
Seven talks about the common belief that there were two headshots, based on the
observation from the Zapruder film that JFK’s head moves slightly forward just
before jerking rapidly backward from the final bullet strike. Such a movement seems contrary to common
sense, but our forensics expert explains once again, that such a thing is
actually to be expected. Fiester quotes
several sources, ending up with the statement that “the forward movement of
Kennedy’s head followed by a rearward movement is consistent with a single
gunshot to the head from the front.” So,
the Zapruder film shows just what a forensic examination expects it to
show: a tiny forward motion and an
almost instantly dispersing backspatter.
The
final myth, Chapter Eight, “The Single Bullet Theory,” is to me a nearly
slam-dunk of a topic. But then, I’m one
of those “assassination nuts” with several dozen books in my library on the
topic. Some folks reading this book
might not know the doubtful origins of the “Magic Bullet,” Commission Exhibit
399. Or that the bullet fragments
removed from John Connally’s body weigh more than the amount missing from the
bullet. Or that the bullet now known as
CE399 was found in Parkland Hospital, on a stretcher known NOT to have been
occupied by Connally.
Anybody
who looks even a half-inch into this matter can see the unbelievability of
Senator Arlen Specter’s half-baked suggestion, “The Single Bullet Theory,”
which was introduced after the Commission found that Oswald’s rifle couldn’t
fire fast enough to have launched all of the bullets then known to have been
fired in Dealey Plaza. Just looking at
photos of the President’s shirt and suit jacket shows that the bullet hit him
in the back, towards the bottom of his right shoulder blade, and not in the
back of the neck, as required by the Single-Bullet Theory.
Fiester
then proceeds to decimate the “official” autopsy report for sloppiness and the
changes made to it. Connally’s wounds
are also enumerated, raising the possibility that his injuries alone might
require the action of more than one bullet.
And
it’s pretty sad to realize that various FBI and other investigators could not
even identify the bullet now known as CE399 as the bullet originally found at
Parkland Hospital.
Now,
the final part of the book, a section called “The Witnesses,” is for me a
delightful change-of-pace. In this
section Fiester tells of her meetings and interviews with various witnesses in
the JFK murder case. Unlike the rest of
the book, the writing here is not scientific and clinical; it’s warm and
engaging and sympathetic – a great way to balance the hard science in the
earlier chapters.
I
really enjoyed this section because Fiester is able to take off the analytical
scientist’s hat and talk to these folks as people. It’s refreshing to end the book with a
feeling for the personalities of the witnesses:
Marina Oswald; Bill Newman; Bobby Hargis; Robert Frazier; Beverly
Oliver; and Aubrey Rike.
Through
these personal encounters we get a more intimate feel for Fiester herself, her
empathy for the witnesses’ pain, and her frustration in confronting an
unresolved call to justice.
All
told, Enemy of the Truth told me plenty of things I didn't know about
the murder of JFK – and that surprised me!
This book is proof that not all of the questions about JFK’s death have
been answered. Some of the right
questions haven’t even been asked! But Enemy
of the Truth does a fine job of shattering some of the myths that have
stood in the way.
You can buy Sherry's fine book at her website.
