As I�m sure most of you know, Secret Service agents, Richard Johnsen and
James Rowley, who examined the bullet that was found on a stretcher in
the basement of Parkland hospital, refused to verify that it was the
same bullet that came back from the FBI labs. Lone nut advocates like
David Von Pein have argued that the reason for their refusal must have
been that they did not mark the bullet as was standard procedure in law
enforcement, and so could not be certain that it was the same bullet.
Of course, the totally unsupported presumption that these agents failed
to mark the bullet, breaking the chain of possession and rendering
themselves incapable of verification, makes little sense. By far, the
most logical explanation is that they did indeed, mark this important
evidence and refused to verify CE399 because their initials were nowhere
to be found on it.
Confirmation of that fact, came from an unlikely source - David Von
Pein, to whom I give much credit for reporting his discovery. This is a
copy of an email he received from Gerald Blaine, in response to his
request for information regarding this issue. From David�s website:
David,
Sorry I was late on this but my wife and I were in Europe for a couple
of weeks.
1. The bullet found on the stretcher was retrieved and marked by SA
Richard Johnsen and submitted as evidence. The bullet was later
identified as the bullet that went through Governor Connally. Jim Rowley
observed the bullet but did not have it in his possession. In 1963 the
Secret Service or any federal agent who found evidence marked it so that
there was a clean trail. The evidence went to the FBI after Dick
[Johnsen] handed it over to them.
Hope that this helps.
Regards
Jerry
(unquote)
Of course the statement, which Blaine later clarified as coming from
Clint Hill, who had spoken with Johnsen about this, clearly confirmed
the reason why Johnsen could not verify the FBI�s replacement for the
Tomlinson bullet. He couldn�t have been any clearer.
�The bullet found on the stretcher was retrieved and marked by SA
Richard Johnsen and submitted as evidence.�
Poor David must have been devastated. He frantically, sent off another
email, explaining to Blaine (a fanatical nutter himself), the
consequences of his claim that Johnsen initialed the bullet. Blaine
responded as best he could, promptly amending his earlier statement:
Dave,
Clint Hill talked to Dick [Johnsen] a month or two before he passed away
and Clint told me that Dick had marked the evidence. Sounds like he must
have put it in an envelope rather that initialing it [the bullet itself]...
(unquote)
So, within a day or so, Johnsen no longer marked the bullet. He must
have only marked the envelope. Needless to say, initialing an envelope
is not at all the same as marking the actual evidence. But this becomes
a moot question, due to the simple fact that Johnsen�s initials are
nowhere to be found on the envelope which contained the original bullet.
John Hunt confirmed that when he photographed the envelope.
http://www.jfklancer.com/hunt/mystery/fig1.jpg
David�s last, desperate attempt at damage control was to suggest that
Hunt overlooked the initials which must have been on the other side of
the envelope. Of course, the suggestion that Hunt was so stupid that he
didn�t bother to turn it over, is just ridiculous.
The simple fact is, that CE399 could not have been the same bullet that
Tomlinson found. It was also not the same bullet that wounded John
Connally, since DA Wade, officer Bobby Nolan, and even Connally himself,
confirmed that the actual bullet which fell from his leg, was picked up
by a nurse. She then, passed it on to Nolan, who delivered it to the DPD
the next morning.
The evidence for this is beyond overwhelming. Most of it can be found in
this article:
http://jfkhistory.com/bell/bellarticle/BellArticle.html
Robert Harris