...nobody else has since "discerned" those markings.
The reason for that could be because Dhority might not have marked the bullet shell with his INITIALS. He might have used some other distinct marking which Dhority could easily identify if he ever had to I.D. the shell again.
But regardless of the type of mark Dhority used, he did identify HIS DISTINCT MARK on the shell in June of 1964. Spit on his identification if you like, but Dhority identified his marking on the shell casing nonetheless. And the CTers who like to complain about it aren't going to change that basic fact.
Barnes, on April 7, 1964, identified the same shell, so how is your "clear and distinct chain of possession" going from the Davis girl supposed to work?
Doesn't make any difference what Barnes did. The only part of the "chain" that really matters is the FIRST LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER who took control of the bullet shell. And that person was C.N. Dhority, who got it from the civilian witness (Virginia Davis) who found it in her side yard. It went straight from Davis to Dhority. And then Dhority marked it. It therefore makes no difference WHO ELSE might have handled the bullet shell AFTER Dhority, because Dhority will now ALWAYS be able to say "That's the exact shell I got from Virginia Davis", because he can see his mark on the shell.
The very same "chain of custody" argument can be made when discussing Oswald's C2766 Carcano rifle. Carl Day was the first law enforcement official to handle the rifle, and he etched his name into the stock of the weapon. So it doesn't make a bit of difference who else handled the weapon after Lt. Day handled it. It's always going to have the name "Day" scratched into the wooden stock, thereby confirming
forever and always the fact that it was
that exact rifle that was picked up off the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building by Lieutenant J.C. Day of the DPD on 11/22/63.
The same thing
should have happened with Bullet CE399, but unfortunately it did not. The first person connected officially with "law enforcement" to handle that bullet at Parkland Hospital was Secret Service Agent Richard Johnsen, and he should have marked the physical bullet itself before it ever left his sight on 11/22/63. But he didn't. He utilized a typewritten note instead, which he then stapled to an envelope which contained the actual bullet. And since Johnsen didn't etch his marking into the physical bullet itself, it opened the door for the conspiracy theorists to do just exactly what they have done for the last 50+ years---they get to claim that the weak chain of custody for CE399 must certainly indicate that somebody in officialdom did something of an underhanded nature with the bullet that was found on a stretcher at Parkland. Many CTers would still no doubt be crying foul about CE399 even if Richard Johnsen had marked the bullet, but the lack of an "RJ" on that piece of metal has made the screams of "It Was Planted" by the conspiracists an easier argument to make (although it's still far from being a
proven claim of fakery).
It would probably be better for conspiracists if they would start theorizing that civilian witnesses Virginia Davis and Barbara Davis "switched" the bullet shells to frame Oswald before police officers Doughty or Dhority came to the Davis apartment to collect shells #3 and #4. Because the CTers don't have a leg (or a shell) to stand on by continuing to pretend there's something fishy about the "chain of possession" when it comes to the marking of those two shells by members of the Dallas Police Department.
You never can tell---perhaps the two young Davis gals had a couple of spare cartridge casings from Smith & Wesson Revolver #V510210 under their beds on Nov. 22nd.
After all, I learned many years ago that in a JFK conspiracy theorist's world, virtually anything truly
is possible.
