JFK Assassination Documents to be released this year

[Fiver]

The second contradiction to WC was by the other agent in the Limo, Kellerman. His original testimony was he heard one shot and then a " flurry" of shots and felt like he was in a shooting gallery. He felt confident that there was more than one shooter.

Kellerman's original report said "We were still traveling at the normal rate of speed of from 12 to 15 miles per hour when I heard a noise, similar to a firecracker, exploding in the area to the rear of the car, about 12:30 p.m. Immediately I heard what I firmly believe was the President's voice, "My God, I'm hit!" I turned around to find out what happened when two additional shots rang out, and the President slumped into Mrs. Kennedy's lap and Governor Connally fell_to Mrs. Connally's lap. I heard Mrs. Kennedy shout, "What are they doing to you?""

No mention of a "flurry" of shots. No comparison to a "shooting gallery". No speculation on number of shooters. And no one else in the car heard JFK say anything after he was shot in the throat.

By the time of Kellerman's Warren Commission testimony, "two" has become "a flurry", but Kellerman, on questioning, both said that it was two shots and that it was at least two shots. And they occur after Kellernman has turned forward, not while he was facing JFK, as he claimed in the initial report. Later on, Kellerman again says he heard a total of three shots, and that the Zparuder film showed evidence of only three Shots, but believed that "if President Kennedy had from all reports four wounds, Governor Connally three, there have got to be more than three shots, gentlemen."

Mr. SPECTER. The question which I had then started to ask you was whether you had any impression at the time of the second and third shots, which you described as a flurry of shots, as to the point of origin or source of those shots.
Mr. KELLERMAN. The only answer I can give to that is that they would have to come from the rear.
Mr. SPECTER. Well, is that the impression or reaction you had at the time of the flurry?
Mr. KELLERMAN. That is right, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you ever, since the time of the assassination to this date, had any contrary impression, reaction, or view that the shots came from the front of the President?
Mr. KELLERMAN. No.

At no time does Kellerman claim that there were multiple shooters or that he felt like they were in a "shooting gallery".

At least as late as 1981, Kellerman dismissed of the idea there was a Conspiracy in the death of JFK.

The only claims that Kellerman thought there was a Conspiracy come after his death from other people.

[Fiver]

If Kennedy were shot in the back of the head you would think the front of Kennedy would be splattered with blood meaning Connally and Kellerman..

Senator COOPER. One other question: You said the flurry of shots came in the car. You were leaning forward talking to the driver after the first shot. What made you aware of a flurry of shots?
Mr. KELLERMAN. Senator, between all the matter that was--between all the matter that was blown off from an injured person, this stuff all came over.
Senator COOPER. What was that?
Mr. KELLERMAN. Body matter; flesh.

Governor CONNALLY. So I merely doubled up, and then turned to my right again and began to--I just sat there, and Mrs. Connally pulled me over to her lap. She was sitting, of course, on the jump seat, so I reclined with my head in her lap, conscious all the time, and with my eyes open; and then, of course, the third shot sounded, and I heard the shot very clearly. I heard it hit him. I heard the shot hit something, and I assumed again--it never entered my mind that it ever hit anybody but the President. I heard it hit. It was a very loud noise, just that audible, very clear.
Immediately I could see on my clothes, my clothing, I could see on the interior of the car which, as I recall, was a pale blue, brain tissue, which I immediately recognized, and I recall very well, on my trousers there was one chunk of brain tissue as big as almost my thumb, thumbnail, and again I did not see the President at any time either after the first, second, or third shots, but I assumed always that it was he who was hit and no one else.

Mrs. CONNALLY. I just pulled him over into my arms because it would have been impossible to get us really both down with me sitting and me holding him. So that I looked out, I mean as he was in my arms, I put my head down over his head so that his head and my head were right together, and all I could see, too, were the people flashing by. I didn't look back any more. The third shot that I heard I felt, it felt like spent buckshot falling all over us, and then, of course, I too could see that it was the matter, brain tissue, or whatever, just human matter, all over the car and both of us.

[Patrick Differ]

I'm not an expert in thermodynamics or fluid dynamics but I have been to Dealy Plaza. I think what throws this into contention is a lack of trust in government and the fact that Oswald was assassinated by a Mob associate. Whether it was actually Oswald or someone else in the School Book depository we will never know. People who ran to the grassy knoll is another puzzle. But if you were to ambush someone you couldn't pick a better place. The knoll fence and angle lends itself to conspiracy because of the Zapruder film and because Parkland Doctors initially thought the neck and head were entrance wounds. They had seen many gunshots as this was the trauma unit.
in any case Oswald proclaimed his innocence, that he never owned or purchased a rifle. He admitted to owning a pistol and punching a police officer. He was not afforded counsel before being assassinated yet asked for representation repeatedly.
Without a trial and conviction there will be doubt.
The files of RFK and MLK will also be released in coming months.

[scottnapa]

I think that is a reasonable view from Ely. The Commission reached a conclusion based on all of the evidence it held - including much evidence which is now offered on these pages as proof of something else - and he is still satisfied with its honesty and accuracy, but accepts that evidence was withheld by agencies, probably to conceal their own errors. That is also my opinion.

Yes. I posted this because you and I had had a conversation earlier about whether the Warren Comission lawyers were investigators or not.
Politics accelerated the investigation. The Commission trusted the FBI and CIA. They were mislead by this trust.
Your answer is correct and I appreciate the response The assassination has an extraordinary level of bits that don't easily fit. That's why it is a compelling mystery.
At times the back and forth in the JFK threads into a variation of a Lechmere thread. I prefer a conversation to an argument.

[scottnapa]

[QUOTE=Fiver;n849764]

You repeating false statements does not make them true. The chain of custody on JFK's body was never broken.




Here you are mostly correct. Murder of JFK would only have been a federal crime if it took place on federal land. If he hadn't been murdered, Oswald would have been tried under Texas state law.

[/QUOTE
I am wondering how you interpret the chain of evidence.
I am refering to the body as evidence as it applies to a Texas trial. The body is evidence in a crime in Texas.
I am not saying there wasn't a person with the body, with the casket.None of that applies to my comment about an autopsy.
I am saying there is a very valid legal reason why DR. Rose demanded an autopsy.
This has nothing to do with switching caskets or body snatching. I am talking about TEXAS law
The WC recommend a change in federal law is proof of the validity of the this issue of legality and custody.