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.
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WAY, YOU'D HAVE TO CONTORT YOURSELF TO DO THIS. IT IS NOT
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