Critics of the official investigation have argued that Kennedy's wounds from the back and 13 to 14 shots fired when Sirhan's gun could fire just eight shots constitute overwhelming evidence that a second gunman administered the kill shots and escaped. Critics allege that authorities were complicit by seizing, secreting and ultimately losing such physical evidence such as woodwork panels, and ignoring or intimidating witnesses disputing the official story.
Los Angeles county coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, M.D., authored a 62-page autopsy report that found that the fatal shot killed Kennedy from behind. It said the fatal shot traveled upward, at nearly point blank range, and that two other shots wounded Kennedy. One other shot was said to have gone through his clothing. Bullets that wounded five others, including Schrade, were recovered during their surgeries. Thus, there were eight known wounds, three for Kennedy and five for others.
In February 1969, Noguchi's testimony was regarded as helpful to Sirhan's defense at trial but not enough to thwart Sirhan's conviction. Two weeks later, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors fired Noguchi on 64 counts of unprofessional behavior. Noguchi fought what are now widely regarded as trumped up charges, and was reinstated.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, M.D. and J.D., a medical school professor, consultant, former coroner for Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, and former official consultant appointed by Noguchi, has been writing and speaking about the RFK case for 45 years.
Wecht has asserted that the fatal shot that killed Kennedy "behind the ear was fired at a distance of approximately 1 to 1.5 inches away from his head and had a forward trajectory." Further, Wecht, a former president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists, has said repeatedly (and confirmed for this column) that "Sirhan's gun was never that close to RFK and was never positioned behind RFK."
Wecht co-signed an unsuccessful petition to Los Angeles county seeking a new grand jury investigation. Attached to the petition, submitted by Schrade as a victim, were 800 exhibits. Among the 50 individuals and organizations co-signing the petition were former RFK press secretary Frank Mankiewicz, film maker Oliver Stone, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a Harvard historian and White House aide to the late President Kennedy.
Official reaction was "carefully muted," as described in the 1997 book Shadow Play by William Klaber and Philip Melanson.
"This has been looked at a number of times before, and it hasn't resulted in anything different," said Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, "so I'm not going to comment on it."
What Can We Do?
Looking ahead, a number of human rights and legal reform groups are building on the compelling evidence that a cover up occurred in the murder of President Kennedy in 1963 and his brother Robert in 1968, among others. Those involved in the research include the new group Citizens Against Political Assassinations (CAPA) chaired by Wecht, our Justice Integrity Project, and such longstanding advocates as the Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC).
The purpose? Justice -- and a better understanding of why injustice continues to undermine public life today.
Correction: This column was updated to delete an erroneous reference to a request by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the late senator's third child, for a new investigation of the Pruszynski recording of the shooting.
(Article changed on February 29, 2016 at 11:26)
(Article changed on March 1, 2016 at 15:27)
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