Dr. Lee discovers gunpowder

Ken Starr's Transparent Attempt To Manufacture Evidence Supporting Suicide: The Discovery of 'gunshot residue in soil'

About This Snippet

In his report on the Foster death, Kenneth Starr tells us that his chief forensic scientist, Dr. Henry Lee, discovered new evidence supporting the theory that Foster committed suicide.

This snippet takes a look at one small part of this new evidence . . . the discovery of "gunpowder-like" particles purported to have been found in the soil around the location where Foster's body was found.

Changing 'gunpowder-like' articles into 'gunshot residue' ...

Officer Peter Simonello at the Foster Death Scene October 1996

In his summary of conclusions, Kenneth Starr declares that the Foster death was a suicide and summarizes the evidence supporting this finding.

In his summary of conclusions, Starr tells us that gunshot residue was found in the soil where Foster's body was found, and and cites this as evidence that Foster committed suicide (Starr report page 110, emphasis added):

X. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

...The available evidence points clearly to suicide as the manner of death. That conclusion is based on the evidence gathered and the analyses performed during previous investigations, and the additional evidence gathered and analyses performed during the OIC investigation, including the evaluations of Dr. Lee, Dr. Blackbourne. Dr. Berman, and the various OIC investigators.
... Dr. Lee found gunshot residue in a sample of the soil from the place where Mr. Foster was found.

Since previous investigations were unable to find either the bullet or bone fragments at the scene, the discovery of gunshot residue at the scene is somewhat surprising, and deserves scrutiny.

Page 58 of the Starr report goes into more detail on the gunshot residue found in the soil taken from the death scene (emphasis added) ...

4. Surrounding Area

a. Gunshot Residue in Soil

As part of his examination, Dr. Lee went to Fort Marcy Park with OIC investigators and obtained soil and other materials from the berm on which Mr. Foster's body was found.[167] Dr. Lee examined the soil samples; he reported that "[a] few unburned and partially deformed gunpowder-like particles were recovered from the soil in the area where Vincent Foster's body was found."[168] It cannot be determined "whether these particles were deposited on the ground at the time of Mr. Foster's death or at any other period of time."[169]

The footnotes read

[167] Lee Report at 422. No intensive review of the area under and around Mr. Foster's body occurred on July 20 or during the 1993 Park Police investigation.
[168] Id. at 489.
[169] Id.

Starr attempts to mislead his readers

Note that while Starr claims that Dr. Lee found "gunshot residue" , Dr. Lee never reported that he had found "gunshot residue" ; Dr. Lee very clearly reported to Starr that "gunpowder-like particles" were found, not "gunshot residue".

This may seem to be a small change in wording, but it is very a significant one. It is significant because it is misleading.

Dr. Henry Lee did not know what the particles were, and called them "gunpowder-like". Had the particles been gunpowder, Dr. Lee would have called them "gunpowder particles". Had the particles been the droppings of rodents, Dr. Lee would have identified them as such. Since Dr. Lee was unable to determine what the particles actually were, he called them "gunpowder-like" particles.

Evidently, Starr thought the wording "gunpowder-like particles" was not forceful enough to support his theory and simply changed the description of the evidence. Instead of writing a factually correct statement:

... Dr. Lee found gunpowder-like particles in a sample of the soil from the place where Mr. Foster was found.

... Starr wrote this:

... Dr. Lee found gunshot residue in a sample of the soil from the place where Mr. Foster was found.

Starr made this substitution twice, choosing the misleading title

a. Gunshot Residue in Soil

... instead of the factually correct

a. Gunpowder-like Particles in Soil

Reminiscent of ancient alchemists who tried to change lead into gold, Kenneth Starr changed 'gunpowder-like' particles into 'gunshot residue' with a simple stroke of a pen.

"It Cannot be determined when these particles were deposited "

Assuming that the particles of an unknown substance were actually gunpowder, the time that these particles were deposited is key in their relevance to the Foster death -- if the particles were deposited either before or after the time of the Foster death, they are totally inconsequential to the Foster death investigation.

So . . . when were the particles deposited?

It turns out that Kenneth Starr has absolutely no idea when the particles of an unknown substance were deposited. Starr tells us this on page 59 of his report, where he writes:

"It cannot be determined whether these particles were deposited on the ground at the time of Mr. Foster's death or at any other period of time."

In other words, Starr is telling us that while he has absolutely no idea if the particles of an unknown substance are relevant to the Foster death or not, he has decided to mention them in his summary of conclusions as evidence supporting the theory that Foster committed suicide anyway.

This is a bizarre methodology at best . . . but lets continue and ask: what is the likelihood that the particles were deposited during the Foster death?

Dr. Henry Lee (on right), professional witness for the defense in the O.J. Simpson trial

Foster was found dead on July 20^th 1993. Dr. Henry Lee was hired by Starr in June of 1995¹. Therefore, at least twenty three months passed before Dr. Lee would have been able to examine the soil in Fort Marcy park and find the "gunpowder-like" particles.

Assuming that the "gunpowder-like" particles were actually deposited at the time of the Foster death, they lay on the soil for at least twenty three months before Dr. Lee discovered them (whatever they are).

At least twenty three months of rainfall falling on these "gunpowder-like" particles; at least twenty three months of tourists tramping over these "gunpowder-like" particles as they walked to view the Foster death scene at Ft. Marcy Park.

... and the "gunpowder-like" particles are supposed to have lain there, waiting for Dr. Lee to discover them.

Clearly, it is very, very unlikely that the particles of an unknown substance were deposited at the time of Foster's death. In fact, it is unreasonable to believe that the particles were deposited at the time of Foster's death and lay undisturbed for two years waiting for Dr. Lee to find them.

Speaking of laying undisturbed, it would be interesting to see if the area where the particles of an unknown substance were found was disturbed in the two years between the time of Foster's death and the time Dr. Lee discovered them.

No intensive review of the area under and around Mr. Foster's body ..

In footnote 167 (page 58), Starr informs his readers that ...

No intensive review of the area under and around Mr. Foster's body occurred on July 20 or during the 1993 Park Police investigation.

This footnote makes it sound as though the area where Foster's body lay undisturbed (at least by official investigators) for some time.

However, since Foster died on July 20^th 1993 and the Park Police investigation ended August 5^th 1993, Starr's statement that the area was undisturbed by official investigators applies to only to the sixteen days between July 20th 1993 and August 5^th 1993.

What about the two years between Foster's death and the time that Dr. Lee found the particles of unknown substance? Was the area where Foster's body was found undisturbed during this two year period?

Excerpt from Fiske Report

The official record tells us that the area was disturbed, and disturbed quite badly.

The Fiske report on the Foster death tells us that 14 months before Dr. Henry Lee was even hired by Starr, the area where the 'gunpowder-like' particles were found was dug up and hand sifted (from page 47 of the Fiske report, emphasis added):

On April 4, 1994, ... The area immediately beneath where Foster's body was found was searched by digging and hand sifting the soil and other debris. FBI Lab personnel excavated to a depth of approximately eighteen inches, searching the soil through various screening methods. No bone fragments or bullets were found.

Kenneth Starr knew that the soil around Foster's body was dug up and hand sifted, yet Kenneth Starr failed to inform you of that fact. Had Starr summarized all the facts regarding this new evidence, his summary of conclusions would read something like this:

X. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

...The available evidence points clearly to suicide as the manner of death. That conclusion is based on the evidence gathered and the analyses performed during previous investigations, and the additional evidence gathered and analyses performed during the OIC investigation, including the evaluations of Dr. Lee, Dr. Blackbourne. Dr. Berman, and the various OIC investigators.
... Dr. Lee found particles of an unknown substance in a sample of soil taken from the place where Mr. Foster's body was found. These particles were recovered from soil that had been excavated to a depth of 18 inches, hand sifted and then replaced a year or more before Dr. Lee found this new evidence. While there is no way to determine if these particles are in any way relevant to the death investigation (i.e. there is no way to determine if the particles were deposited at the time of the Foster death or sometime in the two years between the time of the death to the time that Dr. Lee found them), we believe this new evidence points clearly to suicide as the manner of death.

But Starr wasn't nearly this truthful in his summary of conclusions. Starr willfully omitted important facts about the discovery of this new evidence and spread the remainder out over his 114 page report. Kenneth Starr then worded his summary to mislead his readers into believing that these particles not only were relevant to the Foster death, but that their discovery somehow supports the official theory that Foster committed suicide.

Pretty bizarre investigative methodology, ain't it?

Another perspective ...

The image to the right shows a number of unburned gunpowder particles spread between a dime and a pen, as you can see gunpowder particles are quite small.

This image shows shows the area where Foster's body was found. Foster's feet lay in the area where the pencil is located. The pencil and paper may help the reader visualize the size of gunpowder particles relative to the size of the area that Dr. Lee examined to find the particles.

As you contemplate the images, think of the discovery of minute "gunpowder-like" particles in such a large area as a tribute to modern forensic science.

As you look at the images, contemplate the fact that Kenneth Starr cites the discovery of "[a] few unburned and partially deformed gunpowder-like particles . . .", found some 23 months after Foster's death in soil that had been previously dug up to a depth of 18 inches and hand sifted, as evidence that Foster committed suicide at Fort Marcy Park.

Keep in mind that Starr has absolutely no idea when these minute "gunpowder-like" particles were deposited and therefore had had no idea if the "gunpowder-lie" particles were relevant to the Foster death investigation, but decided to mention them as evidence supporting the theory that Foster committed suicide anyhow.

Summary

Even though Starr had no idea if the particles were relevant to the Foster death or not, Starr carefully worded his summary of conclusions to mislead his readers into believing that the particles not only were relevant to the Foster death, but that their discovery supports Starr's finding that Foster committed suicide.

The techniques used to pull off this deception include:

Calling the particles 'gunshot residue' even though Starr's forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee could not identify the particles as such.

Failing to mention in his summary that the 'gunpowder-like' particles were found at least two years after the Foster death.

Carefully wording his report to make is appear as though the area where the particles were found lay undisturbed when Starr knew that the soil where the "gunpowder-like" particles were found had been dug up, hand-sifted then replaced years before Dr. Lee made his discovery.

As Starr's chief forensic scientist said when he testified for the defense in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, "something wrong here".

1: Top forensic scientist reviewing Foster case, Star Tribune, 06-10-1995, pp 07A

jc huntington

revised 3/2000