Cool Justice: RFK Jr. points to forensic evidence of second gunman in his father

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Cool Justice: RFK Jr. points to forensic evidence of second gunman in his father’s assassination

Buried on page 271 of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book on the Skakel murder case in Greenwich is a quick, but telling reference to his father’s assassination.

As part of my summer reading I highlighted the passage. I had a visceral sense it was important.

Kennedy family members rarely have spoken publicly about the assassinations of either President John Kennedy or U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, much less criticized the official findings. The passage is noteworthy for the simple fact it is memorialized in a book. It is not just a comment in an interview.

This angle deserves serious attention, and so it wasn’t shoehorned into the column published Aug. 5 on the Greenwich murder case, “COOL JUSTICE: RFK Jr. attacks prosecutors, cops, courts for willful misconduct as he asserts cousin Skakel’s innocence.” www.countytimes.com/articles/2016/08/05/opinion/doc57a4c5e193ae3223250821.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Some of Kennedy’s claims and his book investigating the murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich in 1975 have been panned by the state Judicial Department and other authors who chronicled the case. A state Supreme Court ruling on whether Skakel will face a retrial or be sent back to prison is expected this fall. A senior judge ruled in 2013 that Skakel did not receive a fair trial when he was convicted of the Moxley murder in 2002. Skakel was freed on bond after serving 11 years of a sentence of 20 years to life in jail.

That covers a lot of ground, and the next court decision will be big news. It seems to me the “footnote” on page 271 also is big news.

Following are two paragraphs from Kennedy’s book, “Framed, Why Michael Skakel Spent Over A Decade In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit,” leading up to the clincher paragraph on the RFK assassination:

“I sympathize deeply with Dorthy Moxley [Martha’s mother]. I have seen up-close the agony of a mother’s grief over the loss of her child. my mother lost her husband to murder and two of her sons to violent, untimely deaths in the bosom of their youth. I was with her when my father died. I stood beside her 29 years later as my little brother Michael died in her arms.

“My mother told us that we needed to let go of our impulse for revenge and allow the cycle of violence to end with our family. This, she said, was the lesson of the New Testament, which swapped the savage eye-for-an-eye tribalism of the Old Testament for the ethical mandate that we turn the other cheek. But forgiveness wasn’t just ethics. It was salutary. Revenge and resentments, my mother said, are corrosive. Indulging them is like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die. By opposing the death penalty for Sirhan, we diluted these poisonous passions.

“And what if, God forbid, the object of our revenge turns out to be innocent? For several decades, my father’s close friend Paul Schrade, who took one of Sirhan’s bullets, has argued that Sirhan Sirhan did not fire the shot that killed my father. Recent forensic evidence supports him. How would we have felt now, if our family had demanded his execution?”

Like most Americans, I had not paid much attention to the forensic details regarding the RFK murder. What kind of evidence was RFK Jr. referring to? What is the significance of his dropping this tidbit toward the end of a book on another subject?

Robert F. Kennedy was shot fatally just after midnight on June 5, 1968 in the back and in the back of the head at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He had been celebrating his California primary win in his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. Kennedy had become a vigorous opponent of the Vietnam War and an advocate for civil rights, unions and racial justice. His death came just two months after the murder of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The renowned forensic pathologist and medical school professor, Dr. Cyril Wecht, assisted Los Angeles Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi in efforts to secure the Kennedy body and perform the autopsy. I reached out to Wecht this week to talk about the new Kennedy statement and the evidence cited by Paul Schrade and others.

Regarding Robert Kennedy Jr.’s statement in the new book, Wecht commented: “I think it’s commendable. I wish he had done it sooner.”

Wecht said he has performed 17,000 autopsies and consulted on about 30,000 postmortem examinations.

He offered the following analysis of the RFK autopsy evidence:

“This is a hard fact. The shot that killed Robert Kennedy entered just behind the right ear. It had a slightly upward and forward trajectory. It was fired from one to one and a half inches away. There is no subjectivity to this. It’s in the official autopsy.

“Sirhan was about six feet away, in front,” Wecht continued.

“Defense attorney Grant Cooper never consulted a forensic pathologist or a ballistics expert. This evidence was not presented at trial.”

Wecht noted that audio of the shooting �" discovered in 2004 by CNN International senior writer Brad Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAV1pm3wBW0 at the California State Archives and tested by electrical engineer and forensic expert Philip Van Praag �" revealed as many as 13 shots or more were fired by two separate guns. Sirhan’s gun held only eight bullets. Besides Kennedy, five others were shot and wounded. In this reading of the evidence, Sirhan was grabbed by hotel staff after the first two shots and his subsequent shots were not in line with Kennedy. He had no chance to reload.

Other narratives supporting the official government version suggest Kennedy turned away from Sirhan at close range in the crowded kitchen pantry, accounting for the shots from behind.

What remains of any official records today was dredged up largely by the efforts over decades of one of the victims who, like Kennedy, faced Sirhan. This victim, Paul Schrade, survived a shot to the top of his forehead. Schrade fell before Kennedy, and Kennedy asked if Schrade was all right.

Schrade, 91, is a retired union organizer in California. Schrade walked picket lines with striking farm workers and Kennedy in 1965. Kennedy and became friends and Schrade worked on the 1968 campaign. Schrade was with Kennedy celebrating his victory in the California primary at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

In February of this year, Schrade spoke directly to Sirhan, the man who shot him in the forehead 48 years ago.

“Sirhan, I forgive you,” Schrade said.

The scene was Sirhan’s 15th parole hearing, in San Diego. Schrade defied parole officials who warned him not to address Sirhan.

“The evidence clearly shows you were not the gunman who shot Robert Kennedy,” Schrade continued. “There is clear evidence of a second gunman in that kitchen pantry who shot Robert Kennedy. One of the bullets �" the fatal bullet �" struck Bob in the back of the head. Two bullets struck Bob literally in his back. A fourth bullet struck the back of his coat’s upper right seam and passed harmlessly through his coat. I believe all four of those bullets were fired from a second gunman standing behind Bob. You were never behind Bob, nor was Bob’s back ever exposed to you.”

Schrade brought with him a 2012 letter by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to examine the audio recording. Schrade had made a similar request of Holder, including exhibits with his plea.

This Kennedy letter has generated scant media coverage. Kennedy told Holder he agreed with the analysis of a former U.S. Attorney who said the new evidence is conclusive and requires a new investigation.

Fernando Faura, a veteran journalist and author of the recently published book “Polka Dot File on the Robert F. Kennedy Killing,” said he was not surprised that the late senator’s son is speaking out.

“Now we have a generation that is a lot more bold, a lot more expressive” Faura said. “Robert Kennedy’s son is no different. I’m sure he feels support from the public, because the public doesn’t believe the official story.”

Asked about the significance of Kennedy’s new statement in the book, Schrade told me, “He’s been very supportive. Nobody else from the family was interested in pursuing this.” Schrade also said several new documentaries are in the works. He also elaborated on his statement to the parole board.

“We have conclusive evidence from Los Angeles Police witnesses that Sirhan fired his first two gunshots with his gun two to six feet in front of Kennedy and missed Kennedy,” Schrade told me. “His first gunshot hit me in the front of my head as I walked behind Kennedy. Sirhan was immediately captured in a neck hold, pushed over a steam table and piled on by several men. He had his back to Kennedy with his gun now directed away from Kennedy. That was when the second gunman fired four gunshots within one inch of the back of Kennedy’s head and back, according to the autopsy report.”

Sirhan was denied parole for the 15th time on Feb. 11, 2016. He told the parole board he had no memory of the assassination. A jury found in 1969 that he acted alone.

A Readers Guide to the RFK Assassination http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/1048-readers-guide-to-rfk-assassination-books-videos-archives has been published by The Justice Integrity Project, a Washington, D.C. research group founded in 2010 to focus on abuses in the U.S. legal system. The comprehensive list features books, videos, documents and websites documenting legal irregularities, suppression of documents and witness intimidation, as well as narratives supporting the official government story.