GV expert doubts Sirhan killed RFK

One of the lead stories on ABC’s “Good Morning America” last week featured Green Valley resident Robert Joling’s startling statement about Sirhan Sirhan’s conviction for the 1968 RFK assassination.

“Not only didn’t he do it, but he couldn’t have done it,” Joling said.

Neither crackpot conspiracy theorists nor fame-seeking opportunists, retired attorney, judge and forensics expert Joling and world recognized forensic audio research specialist and colleague Philip Van Praag of Tucson, both respected scientists, collaborated on “An Open and Shut Case” on how a ‘Rush to Judgment’ led to failed justice in the Robert F. Kennedy assassination.

They believe Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots.

The prepublication author’s review copy of the book, available at www.anopenandshutcase.com. is a compilation of nearly 40 years of study of the event from Joling and other experts. Van Praag’s analysis further convinced Joling that the LAPD, Sirhan’s attorney, and most of the LAPD investigation criminalists essentially blew it, ignoring overwhelming evidence of the so-called “second shooter.”

The most fascinating facts in the treatise center around the distance from Kennedy and the number and direction of the bullets in the firearms investigation. Joling doesn’t dispute, for example, that Sirhan was there to shoot the senator, but he does provide arguments that seem to prove Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots.

GMA’s Diane Sawyer asked the question, “Will most Americans care after 40 years?” after pointing out that both authors believe the case warrants a new investigation, if for no other reason than to assure that justice finally is done.

Robert Joling is regarded as the leading and most knowledgeable investigator into the RFK assassination of June 5, 1968, and as a past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and founder of the Forensic Science Foundation, he has lectured at universities across America, published numerous scientific articles in the field, and has appeared on “The Today Show,” “David Susskind,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” “Discovery Times” and “Discovery History.”

Paul Schrade, the first of the five other gunshot victims, enlisted his assistance in 1975 after petitioning the court to re-examine the firearms evidence.

As an expert in audio research, Van Praag’s discoveries led to the Discovery Times Channel documentary in which both authors appeared in June 2007.

In an analysis of an audio recording of the actual assassination by journalist Stan Pruszynski, who inadvertently left his cassette recorder on, Van Praag further substantiated Joling’s belief all along that 13 shots were fired, even though Sirhan’s gun was an eight-shot revolver.

The authors cite reports from L.A. County Coroner Thomas Noguchi, who did the autopsy, and noted criminalist William Harper, as affirmation that the direction of the fatal shots and the distance from Kennedy’s head contradict findings presented in the trial from L.A. Crime Lab head man DeWayne Wolfer, about whom the Appellate Court of California stated, “We conclude that … Wolfer negligently presented false demonstrative evidence in support of his ballistics testimony…” and “We conclude further that while Wolfer’s acoustical testimony was false…his testimony on qualifications as an expert on anatomy was also false and borders on perjurious.”

The authors meticulously present overwhelming proof that Kennedy was shot from behind, even though Sirhan was clearly in front of the senator when wrestled down atop the steam table in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel.

“Sirhan pulled a gun and pointed it at Kennedy,” Joling said, “so he was guilty of attempted murder or assault with a deadly weapon no matter what, but there is no evidence anywhere that the bullets that struck Kennedy came from his gun.”

“Sirhan was never in a position to fire any shots from the rear of RFK. Kennedy received no frontal wounds,” he reiterates in the book.

Even though security guard Thane Cesar fired at least three shots in Kennedy’s direction behind him, then ran outside immediately carrying his pistol of exactly the same caliber and rifling angles as Sirhan’s, never confiscated and mysteriously sold, LAPD and crime lab personnel ignored, and in fact, dismissed testimony and information, jumping to conclusions, declaring it “an open and shut case,” Joling writes.

The book contains diagrams, transcripts, historic photos, interrogation dialogues, haunting recordings, and a wealth of other absorbing information that make for a fascinating trip back to that fateful year in American history when many of us thought perhaps the world would come apart.

Especially intriguing is a treatment of some of the inevitable conspiracy theories that came out, including witnesses who heard about threats from “the girl in the polka dot dress,” who allegedly triggered action by a hypno-programmed Sirhan, and although Joling doesn’t subscribe to any, he continues to wonder in light of statements in an interview from Thane Cesar such as, “…the Kennedys sold out the country…” and …”The time might be coming when the white man would have to use force and take things into his own hands…” why authorities would not follow up with a thorough investigation of this security guard.

“It would be an error,” he writes, “to draw any final conclusions about these responses or to make any sinister inferences based on incomplete information. However, what is totally inexplicable was the inability or unwillingness of the Los Angeles authorities to confront the issue concerning this guard.”

The authors cite many other reputable sources who question the way evidence was handled and presented, as well as the shabby assistance Sirhan received from defense attorney Grant Cooper, who no doubt now, Joling writes, regrets he didn’t call for independent forensic firearms analysis.

“If anything is clear about this case,” he continues, “it is that further examination is necessary and that questioning will continue until there are satisfactory answers.”

Joling called for a new investigation on the GMA broadcast, but cautioned, “It should not rely on all the old alleged facts, and should be independently conducted by qualified forensic experts.”

Should we care after 40 years, and why?

Although Joling admits that Sirhan might likely have received a life sentence for his attempt anyway, it still doesn’t make it right, he said.

“If he was convicted erroneously of murder, then let’s get the right person.”

“If justice is going to be done,” Joling declared, “then if you make mistakes, admit them for history’s sake and to reinstate confidence in the justice system.”

Mike Touzeau is a freelancer writer.