From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ FORENSIC EXPERTS DOUBT FOSTER SUICIDE FINDING By Christopher Ruddy in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review January 18, 1995 Leading forensic and firearms experts have cast serious doubts on the official suicide ruling in the case of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr. in July 1993 - strongly suggesting that Foster might not have fired the gun that is said to have killed him. Based on the FBI's analysis of the death weapon's residue-emitting characteristics and on such residue found on Foster's hands, the experts concluded that if Foster fired the fatal shot, he would have had to have held the gun in a highly unusual position, with both hands on the forward part of the gun - neither hand being on the grip when it was fired. Earlier this month, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr convened a grand jury to review the Foster case. The Associated Press reported that Starr has been reviewing the "thoroughness and competence" of the investigation into Foster's death in a top-to-bottom review of the case. Such a review, according to law enforcement experts, should touch upon discrepancies involving the apparent suicide weapon. WRONG HAND Foster's body was found in Fort Marcy Park, Arlington, Va., with an antique 1913 Colt Army service revolver in his right hand. He had supposedly placed the gun's 4-inch barrel deep into his mouth and fired it using his right thumb and hand. This was suspicious in itself, according to some experts, since Foster was left-handed. Massad Ayoob, who heads the Lethal Force Institute, noted that holding a gun with neither hand on the hand-grip constitutes "an extremely unnatural and awkward grasp totally inconsistent with what both experience and logic show us to expect of a suicidal person." Ayoob, who has served as a forensics expert for the states of California and Michigan, said that gunpowder residue found on Foster's hands indicate he wasn't a "deliberate suicide." "It looks like someone faked it," he said, suggesting that a gun may have been placed in Foster's hands and then fired, in order to leave "gunpowder residue on his hands." This, he said, might lead relatively inexperienced investigators to conclude Foster had fired the gun himself. Ayoob conducted a detailed analysis of the shooting using a replica of the death weapon wielded by someone with hands comparable in size to those of the 6-foot-4-inch tall Foster. Ayoob concluded that not only would the gun have been difficult to fire according to the scenario suggested, but that Foster's hands would have interfered with the guns operation. With his hands pressed across the cylinder he would have inhibited its necessary rotation, and the fourth and fifth finger of his right hand would have likely prevented the hammer from striking the bullet. Dr. Richard Mason, who specializes in firearms forensics, and is the pathologist for Santa Cruz, Calif., is similarly bothered by the unusual residue deposits on the deceased's fingers. It "doesn't make any sense," he said. "I wonder if they came to erroneous conclusions." UNUSUAL MARKS Challenges to the findings on the part of experts have been prompted largely by their readings of the report of Special Counsel Robert Fiske and FBI findings in the case. When the apparent death weapon was fired in the FBI laboratory, soot and smoke-blast were emitted from the gap between the front of the cylinder (referred to as the front cylinder gap) and the gun's frame, as well as the muzzle. ________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | |<------ 4" ------>| | | _ ______|__ _| | | \\/\/______ \_____________/_| | | \ /| || | | | | // | || |_______________| | | _/ / / __ | | /_/ __/ /| | | / / / /_/ | __ | | /_/_/_/ /|_| / |<--Index Finger | | / / / /_/\ \/_/|_________/_| | | /\ / / /_/_ |\ | | | | /_\/ / | /| | \|_______________| | | \\/ | | |\ | \______%%% | | / |_| |_\| /\ | | / / | \ / \__ Second Fiinger | | / ____/ |___\ | | / /|||/ /| \ | | / | \\\__/// \___ Thumb | | / | \____/ | | | | / | | | | / | | | | / \ | | /| | / \__ Wrist | | |______|/ | |_________________________________________________________| ____________________________________________________________ | | | Based on residue deposits, Foster's hands were likely | | configured in a manner similar to this. Neither hand is | | on the hand grip making the gun unstable. The palms of | | the hands, pressed against the cylinder of the gun, would | | interfere with the cylinder's rotation. Foster's large | | hands would likely have put his two smallest fingers in | | jeopardy of the gun's hammer when it was fired. The thumb | | would have to depress the trigger in an unnatural movement.| |____________________________________________________________| This indicates that Foster pulled the trigger with his right thumb, his four right fingers, which are usually placed on the back of the hand grip to stabilize the revolver, were instead inexplicably wrapped around the cylinder and the top of the gun frame. A visible line of gunpowder residue was also found on Foster's left index finger, indicating that the left hand was also near, or on the gun's cylinder. Strangely, the FBI laboratory analysis omitted any mention of the heavy soot found on Foster's left index finger. FOUL PLAY Dr. Vincent Di Maio, medical examiner for San Antonio, Tex., is regarded as one of the nation's leading firearms forensics experts. He pointed out how difficult it would be to fire a weapon with both hands forward of the grip and trigger. "It would be such an awkward way, you'd have to contort yourself to do this. It is not consistent with suicide." Another expert who questioned the suicide scenario was Dr. Martin Fachler, who headed the U.S. Army's Wound Ballistics Laboratory in San Francisco for 10 years before retiring. "It's almost impossible to pull the trigger without some counter pressure," he said, referring to the need to brace the weapon against the force of the trigger pull. _________________________________________________________ | | | A TYPICAL SUICIDE GRIP | | | | _________ _ | | /______ \_____________/_| | | /\ /| | | | | | /_\ / | | |_______________| | | _ \\/ | | |_______%%% | | | \ / |\ |______| / | | Fingers _\ \ | \ / | | of right | \\ | \ \_______/ | | hand ---> _\ \\_| /|\ \ || | | | \\ \ | /\\__|_//<-- Trigger guard | | \ \\ \ | \_\__/ | | _\ \\_| | / \ | | | \\ \ | _/\ \___ Thumb | | \ \\_| | \ | | \ \ | \ | | \_|_____| \ | | \ | | \ | |_________________________________________________________| _________________________________________________________ | | | A typical suicide will fire a gun in this manner. The | | fingers grasp the gun's handgrip to stabilize the gun, | | and allow for a natural pull on the trigger. | |_________________________________________________________| Fachler said he could "not see how any person left to their own devices" would use the weapon in this manner. "If you ask is this an indication of foul play, I have to say yeah, maybe it is." Still another expert with similar misgivings was Robert Taubert, 33-year veteran of the FBI who conducted extensive research on weapons as a firearms expert with the FBI Swat Team. "I never heard of anyone gripping the gun like that," he said. Taubert reviewed both the FBI analysis and the review of that analysis conducted by Ayoob. In re-enacting the shooting as it supposedly occurred, he noted that he "had a lot of problems actuating the trigger" because of "the awkwardness of the grip." Taubert concluded that the both-hands-up-front scenario was "completely unnatural." Only someone who'd never seen a gun fired, even in a movie, might try to do it that way, he said. Vincent Scalise was yet another expert who found the gun residues, and the grip they implied, "not consistent with suicide." Scalise spent 35 years with the New York City Police Department, where he worked major homicide cases as a crime-scene expert. He was a consultant to the House Committee on Assassinations, which debunked a number of theories relating to the death of John F. Kennedy. All four forensic pathologists who served on Fiske's team were contacted about the gunpowder residue discrepancies. Calls were referred to the Independent Counsel's office or went unreturned. POLICE FAULTED Scalise faulted the U.S. Park Police, who handled the Foster investigation, for not following standard police procedure. which is to treat such a death as a homicide until established otherwise. The Park Police, an agency that investigates only around 35 deaths a year, has asserted that it followed such procedure. But Scalise said the testing of the gun and powder residue on the hands would be "critical" aspects of a homicide investigation. He added that, had he worked on a case involving the type of residues in the Foster death, he would have assumed that there was a "strong possibility that it was an actual homicide." The Park Police did not send the gun for testing until two days after they officially declared Foster's death a suicide, on Aug. 10, 1993. Homicide experts say that killers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in staging suicides, including the deliberate firing of a gun to leave powder marks on the victim's hand to fool investigators. "In some parts of the country, it's become a license to kill," said Vernon Geberth. Geberth, author of the authoritative police text Practical Homicide Investigation, said experienced investigators look for "inconsistencies" with what one would expect from a typical suicide. In the Foster case, not only does the powder residue not fit, but there are a number of other inconsistencies involving the gun alone: no fingerprints were found on it; the fired bullet was never found; the gun could not be positively identified by Foster's family; no matching ammunition was found for the gun in either of the victim's two homes; and no visible blood or blowback material was found on the gun. LAPSES CITED The then-Republican minority report to the Senate Banking Committee report on its Whitewater hearings noted "variances" in Park Police procedures, assigning blame for them on "interference by staff from the White House." Among the lapses in police procedure noted in that minority report and by law enforcement experts: (*) Failure to retain as evidence Foster's beeper, turning it over to the White House within hours of his death. (A Park Police officer in an interview in January 1994 said Foster's beeper was found in his car, but the Fiske report stated it was found on his body. (*) Similar failure to retain other critical evidence such as personal belongings and papers found at Fort Marcy Park the day after his death, returning this evidence to the White House. (*) Failure to conduct a standard canvass of residences surrounding Fort Marcy Park and failure to interview individuals who frequent the park. (*) Failure to immediately secure Foster's office as a crime scene. (*) Delay in testing of the gun, and failure to conduct a vacuum sweep of Foster's clothing and shoes. ------------------------------------------- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review January 25, 1995 FOSTER'S DEATH SITE STONGLY DISPUTED by Christopher Ruddy As irregularities in the investigations of the death of Deputy White House Cousel Vincent W. Foster Jr. come to light, doubts are mounting over the location where U.S. Park Police say his body was found in Fort Marcy Park, Arlington, VA., July 20, 1993. A park maintenance worker who was asked by a passer-by who discovered the body to call 911 has disputed key parts of the 911 transcript. That document shows the worker locating the body at what was subsequently designated the official location in the report of Special Counsel Robert Fiske. The worker, Francis Swann, who never saw the body, was asked to make the call by a man driving a white utility van. According to official reports, Swann and a co-worker were standing in the parking lot of a parkway maintenance facility, which is some two miles from the park, when the unidentified man drove up asking that they report the body to authorities. Neither of the men noted the license plates of the van. Swann says he immediately went to a pay phone and made two calls. First he called Fairfax County's 911 service. Then he made a call to U.S. Park Police. DISPUTED 911 In two separate interviews conducted with Swann, he reviewed transcripts of those calls. Both times he categorically denied statements attributed to him in the first of the two calls, to Fairfax's 911, that quote him as identifying the location of the body near a "last cannon." Following is an excerpt from the Fairfax 911 transcript: Swann: There's ah, have ah, this is a body, this guy told me there was body laying up there by the last cannon. 911 Dispatcher: Last what? Swann: Huh? Dispatcher: There's a body laying near what? Swann: There's a man lying up there by the last cannon gun. Dispatcher: Cannon. Swann: Yes, they have a cannon up there. Those big guns. In both interviews, Swann emphatically denied that he could have used the term "last cannon", since he believed there was but one cannon in the park. "He (the van's driver) said a cannon. There's nothing but one cannon up there," Swann insisted. "Just one." There are actually two cannons in the park but Swann was unaware of the second one, which is in the northeast corner of the park obscured by brush and hilly terrain. Several of the officials who came to the park the evening of Foster's death were also unaware of that second cannon. Swann was unaware the official Park Police located the body in front of that second or "last" cannon. Swann is a veteran Park Service employee whose tenure dates back to the Kennedy administration, when he was assigned to maintenance at the White House. His recollection is important because it contradicts the police claim that Foster's body was lying 10 feed directly in front of the second cannon. A growing number of observers dispute that. They position the body some 200 fee away in the general area of the "first" cannon - the only one most visitors to the park are aware of. According to Fairfax County Police spokesman Warren Carmichael, the 911 tape in question was transcribed and given to the Fiske investigators. A copy of that transcript shows it was transcribed March 9, 1994, shortly after Fiske began his probe. An FBI report says agents took possession of the original tape April 21. KEY WORK MISSING In a Park Police memo of July 20, 1993, labeled "Sequence of calls and transmissions," a Park Police sergeant notes that at 6:03 pm., minutes after Swann called Fairfax 911, a park service employee (Swann) called the Park Police "to say a white contractor-type van pulled into Turkey Run (maintenance facility) and a w/m (white male) advised them of a dead body by the last cannon in Fort Marcy." Bua a careful read of the Park Police 911 transcript of Swann's call to that department shows that Swann, consistent with his recollection, had NEVER REFERRED to any "last" cannon, nor had he referred to a cannon in any way that indicated there was more than one. This is the pertinent part of the police transcript: Swann: He (the van driver) said you got a dead body down there at the the Fort Marcys (sic) Police: OK, did he (the van driver) say it was in the parking lot or back in the woods or - Swann: He said it was back up there by the cannon. Swann's recollection is also buttressed by the statements of numerous Fairfax County rescue workers interviewed by Fiske's staff. None of them said that, when they arrived at Fort Marcy Park that night, they were directed to a "last" or "second" cannon - even though the 911 dispatch reads to that effect today. For example, paramedic George Gonzalez stated in his deposition to Senate Banking Committee investigators, "the report (911 dispatch) was it (the body) was at the first cannon, excuse me, the report was that it was at a cannon." Another rescue worker, Richard Arthur, said he reviewed the 911 dispatch after he returned to his McLean fire house. He described as "weird" the fact that the 911 dispatch didn't identify a specific cannon, and gave no other details as to the body's placement. CW CHANGES LOCATION Swann's statements draw the focus back on the van driver, an enigmatic figure whom the Fiske report names as the first person to discover the body. In that report, he is designated "CW", or confidential witness. CW is also important because, if foul play was involved, police normally treat the person discovering the body as a suspect. In the Fiske report, CW is key to corroborating the Park Police's placement of Foster's body directly in front of the "second" cannon's barrel. But since the report was issued, on June 30, 1994, CW has been saying something quite different. "I'm going to say this," said CW in a taped telephone interview conducted by Reed Irvine, "I still recall him (Foster) being to the right of the cannon, not directly in front of it." Irvine is chairman of the conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media. On the tape, which was made available to the Tribune-Review, CW was insistent that the body was not where the police said it was. Though not disputing it was near the "second" cannon, he said it was on a slope close to a maple tree to the right of the cannon. CW told Irvine that FBI agents working under Fiske had persuaded him that the body was found on a slope directly in front of the cannon. CW altered his account when confronted by Irvine with the fact that the area directly in front of the second cannon is a well-worn dirt path - inconsistent with the heavy foliage under and around Foster's body, as originally described by CW and other witnesses, and recorded on Polaroid photos. An FBI analysis found no soil on Foster's shoes and clothing, stongly supporting the conclusion that the body could not have been in front of the second cannon, where the soil is almost totally exposed and bare. Greg Howland, a National Park Service historian for Fort Marcy Park, said that the dirt path on which Foster's body was said to have been found has for years been bare, shaded ground, etched by root. Howland's description of that dirt path is consistent with a Gannett news report, as well as the statements of other knowledgeable persons. In his FBI statement, CW denies the dirt path even existed. CW AND FBI CW first came forward as a critical witness to G. Gordon Liddy, who hosts a popular syndicated radio talk show on Virgina's WJFK. Liddy says he first verified CW's credibility as best he could and then helped publicize CW's version of events. CW told Liddy that when he discovered the body there was no gun in either hand. Officials say the body was found with a 1913 Colt revolver in the right hand. Liddy said that once he began publicizing CW's account, FBI agents contacted him, asking to meet his witness. Liddy said that he persuaded CW - who intimated Foster had been murdered and that there was a high-level cover-up - to meet with the agents. Apparently Fiske's staff was anxious to accept CW's account at face value, because the FBI agents working under Fiske never bothered to have park worker Swann, who made the 911 call, positively identify CW. According to Swann, FBI agents never showed him a photo or a lineup to ensure they had the right witness, even though it was Swann who placed the critical 911 call. Swann said he believed his co-worker, Chuck Stough, had identified CW. Stough refused to comment on this, stating, "I was informed by the FBI I can't disclose information." In an FBI report of Stough's identification of CW, he states only that CW "could have been him". The identification by Fiske's staff of CW appears to have been something of an afterthought - since CW was presented to Stough June 22, 1994, just a week before the report was released and over two months after Fiske had been treating CW as a credible witness. A number of homicide experts said the failure of Fiske's investigators to have the identification made by Swann, who was the actual 911 caller, was an indicator of a less-than-thorough investigation. "It's not enough," said Vernon Geberth, referring to the FBI's interviewing of Swann's co-worker rather than him. "It's only common sense, you don't interview just one when two were present," he said, explaining that "you want the witness, the person who called 911 and said there was a dead body, to ID the man. It's basic police work." Gebert, a former lieutenant commander in the New York City Police department who investigated over 5,000 homocides, stressed that "it's important to take each point to its ultimate conclusion. Apparently it wasn't done here." Experts say that a positive identification and thorough investigation of CW should have been routine - especially since his testimony had major discrepancies. CW BADGERED? CW himself has taken exception to his testimony as represented in the Fiske report - but only after the report had been out a few weeks and evidence began to emerge that he, like the Park Police, seemed to have given the wrong location of the body. "He was absolutely furious," when he read the Fiske report, said Liddy about CW. And, although he says his life is in danger, CW has embarked on a bold, if anonymous, campaign to criticize the report, appearing on radio, television and before print journalists. CW has said that FBI agents badgered him to change his testimony, asking him as many as 25 times if the gun he failed to see might have been hidden by foliage. The Fiske report states, "CW has further stated that the natural foliage in the area made it difficult to see Foster's hands." Liddy, a former FBI special agent and supervisor whose program draws a large number of Washington law-enforcement professionals, feels that the FBI investigation was far below bureau standards. Liddy, based on information he obtained from sources in the bureau, has been critical of the assigning of senior FBI agents Larry Monroe and William Colombell to the case, pointing out that neither has substantive homicide experience. Susan Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, provided no information on either agent's homicide experience, stating that because both agents had been assigned to the Independent Counsel's office, she could not comment. FISKE FAULTED Dismissing any suggestion that Colombell might have mishandled a witness, a ranking FBI source added: "He is known as a cracerjack investigator, a very successful agent and field supervisor." He said Colombell has had a "distinguised" career, and approximately five years ago had been promoted from the Baltimore office to Headquarters. Several former and current FBI sources rejected criticism of the two agents, both of whom are highly regarded, suggesting that higher bureau officials erred in allowing Fiske's staff to put the agents before the Senate Banking Committee, where the agents drew several conclusions about Foster's death. These conclusions, sources said, should have been offered by Fiske or his attorneys. "It gave the appearance we were covering these things up," said another bureau source, who explained that bureau policy is not to draw conclusions, but the pass evidence to prosecutors. Sources criticized Fiske and his staff for not giving the agents subpoena power and for not having them thoroughly investigate such essential matters as Foster's whereabouts on the day he died, possible motives for his suicide, and trace evidence on his clothing. As for CW's complaints about badgering, several FBI sources expressed doubts, since he had gone through his witness statement line by line with the agents involved, and then signed it. Irvine, who had championed CW, now finds his credibility "very dubious", and wonders as do several experienced investigators, if CW is merely an innocent bystander or has deliberatly been misleading federal investigators, for example, on the body's location. Irvine questions CW's account on how he found Foster's body. CW said he entered the park to urinate and came upon the body - but to get to that site, he would have had to walk through 600 feet of heavily wooded park where there are many areas of seclusion. The Western Journalism Center assisted in the preparation of this report. For more information call 916-852-1200. ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)