06-14-2016, 03:44 PM
Asking a judge to take judicial notice (with reference to the overwhelming concern of Americans about unresolved questions of conspiracy: "They want to know if there is a pernicious force alive in this land, which is threatening to destroy our representative form of government by systematically orchestrating the cutting down of those Presidents or candidates for President who espouse political philosophies antithetical to theirs." - pg 184
To newsmen at a press conference:
VB: "Gentlemen, the time for us to keep looking for additional bullets in this case has passed. The time has come for us to start looking for the members of the firing squad that night."
Q: "Does all this mean that Sirhan is not guilty?"
VB: "No, not at all. Sirhan is as guilty as sin, and his conviction was a proper one. But just because Sirhan is guilty does not automatically exclude the possibility that more than one gun was fired at the assassination scene." - pg 191
"I think the court can take judicial notice that the whole tone, the whole tenor in this country at this particular moment is that there is a tremendous distrust, there is a tremendous suspicion, there is a tremendous skepticism about whether or not people like Oswald and Sirhan acted alone, and many, many people, many substantial people - I am not talking about conspiracy buffs who see a conspiracy behind every tree - many, many substantial people feel that Sirhan did not act alone, that he did act in concert." ...
"No one is going to say that they saw Mr. Owen pull the trigger and shoot Senator Kennedy. We intend to offer evidence from which a very strong inference could be drawn that possibly Mr. Owen was a co-conspirator in this case." ... "I have to say, as a prosecutor for eight years I find it extremely strange that the LAPD would not want this information [on the LAPD investigation of Mr. Owen] at this point ot be public. I find it very strange indeed. If Owen was not involved, as LAPD, I assume, has concluded, there is no conceivable reason under the moon why they shouldn't permit us to look at those records." (Despite a court order to produce them, the LAPD successfully refused to do so) - pg 248
Bugliosi, making an "offer of proof to the judge:
"There is some evidence in this case, and we will put the evidence on, which smacks of a possible cover-up. And I am not using the word cover-up because it's a word that's fashionable right now, but there are some strange things that happened in this case, and I will mention just a few of them to you. The most obvious thing is something that happened in this very courtroom about thirty minutes ago. An officer from the LAPD took the witness stand and testified that he could find no records on Jerry Owen over at the Los Angeles Police Department in response to a subpoena duces tecum. It is a matter of common knowledge, your Honor, that Jerry Owen was investigated by the LAPD. If the court will give us time we will present documentary evidence that he was investigated by the LAPD. A book was written by the chief detective in this case, I think the name of the book was Special Unit Senator, in which pages upon pages are devoted to Jerry Owen. And yet we have an officer from the LAPD taking the witness stand and searching for the records for an entire day and coming up with nothing on Jerry Owen. That's the first point..." - pg 253-254
VB asserted that it was not necessary to present "a tape recorded conversation between Owen and Sirhan in which Owen is saying, 'I want you to bump off Kennedy for me.' Conspiracies are proven bit by bit, speck by speck, brick by brick, until all of a sudden you have a mosaic. They are proven by circumstantial evidence. Conspiracies are conceived in shadowy recesses. They are not hatched on television in front of 5,000,000 witnesses." - pg 304
VB: "If Owen's story is just a silly Alice in Wonderland concoction to focus some cheap attention on himself, your Honor, and Powers lied on that witness stand, how come everyone is in fear in this case? Owen, I believe, testified that people are making death threats against him, which would be compatible with the notion that he was a lowly operative in the conspiracy, and people up above are the ones making the threats." - pg 305
"This young lad, Johnny Beckley, flees for his life. Bill Powers has to be brought into court with a crane. Jonn Christian, no one can find him. I don't think this is typical. I have handled many murder cases, but I have never seen a case where so many people are frightened. Are these things all meaningless? Are these people all cuckoo birds?" - pg 305
"Who knows where we might have been able to take this case if things had been different? But there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of now: this case [RFK's assassination] has to be reopened and re-examined, from top to bottom - and not by those law enforcement officials who gave us the original conclusions either." - pg 308
All references are from "The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - The Conspiracy and Coverup" by William Turner & Jonn Christian, paperback edition 2006.
To newsmen at a press conference:
VB: "Gentlemen, the time for us to keep looking for additional bullets in this case has passed. The time has come for us to start looking for the members of the firing squad that night."
Q: "Does all this mean that Sirhan is not guilty?"
VB: "No, not at all. Sirhan is as guilty as sin, and his conviction was a proper one. But just because Sirhan is guilty does not automatically exclude the possibility that more than one gun was fired at the assassination scene." - pg 191
"I think the court can take judicial notice that the whole tone, the whole tenor in this country at this particular moment is that there is a tremendous distrust, there is a tremendous suspicion, there is a tremendous skepticism about whether or not people like Oswald and Sirhan acted alone, and many, many people, many substantial people - I am not talking about conspiracy buffs who see a conspiracy behind every tree - many, many substantial people feel that Sirhan did not act alone, that he did act in concert." ...
"No one is going to say that they saw Mr. Owen pull the trigger and shoot Senator Kennedy. We intend to offer evidence from which a very strong inference could be drawn that possibly Mr. Owen was a co-conspirator in this case." ... "I have to say, as a prosecutor for eight years I find it extremely strange that the LAPD would not want this information [on the LAPD investigation of Mr. Owen] at this point ot be public. I find it very strange indeed. If Owen was not involved, as LAPD, I assume, has concluded, there is no conceivable reason under the moon why they shouldn't permit us to look at those records." (Despite a court order to produce them, the LAPD successfully refused to do so) - pg 248
Bugliosi, making an "offer of proof to the judge:
"There is some evidence in this case, and we will put the evidence on, which smacks of a possible cover-up. And I am not using the word cover-up because it's a word that's fashionable right now, but there are some strange things that happened in this case, and I will mention just a few of them to you. The most obvious thing is something that happened in this very courtroom about thirty minutes ago. An officer from the LAPD took the witness stand and testified that he could find no records on Jerry Owen over at the Los Angeles Police Department in response to a subpoena duces tecum. It is a matter of common knowledge, your Honor, that Jerry Owen was investigated by the LAPD. If the court will give us time we will present documentary evidence that he was investigated by the LAPD. A book was written by the chief detective in this case, I think the name of the book was Special Unit Senator, in which pages upon pages are devoted to Jerry Owen. And yet we have an officer from the LAPD taking the witness stand and searching for the records for an entire day and coming up with nothing on Jerry Owen. That's the first point..." - pg 253-254
VB asserted that it was not necessary to present "a tape recorded conversation between Owen and Sirhan in which Owen is saying, 'I want you to bump off Kennedy for me.' Conspiracies are proven bit by bit, speck by speck, brick by brick, until all of a sudden you have a mosaic. They are proven by circumstantial evidence. Conspiracies are conceived in shadowy recesses. They are not hatched on television in front of 5,000,000 witnesses." - pg 304
VB: "If Owen's story is just a silly Alice in Wonderland concoction to focus some cheap attention on himself, your Honor, and Powers lied on that witness stand, how come everyone is in fear in this case? Owen, I believe, testified that people are making death threats against him, which would be compatible with the notion that he was a lowly operative in the conspiracy, and people up above are the ones making the threats." - pg 305
"This young lad, Johnny Beckley, flees for his life. Bill Powers has to be brought into court with a crane. Jonn Christian, no one can find him. I don't think this is typical. I have handled many murder cases, but I have never seen a case where so many people are frightened. Are these things all meaningless? Are these people all cuckoo birds?" - pg 305
"Who knows where we might have been able to take this case if things had been different? But there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of now: this case [RFK's assassination] has to be reopened and re-examined, from top to bottom - and not by those law enforcement officials who gave us the original conclusions either." - pg 308
All references are from "The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - The Conspiracy and Coverup" by William Turner & Jonn Christian, paperback edition 2006.