Dan Rather's CBS Evening News 'Forensic Expert' Was Behind Kurt Cobain Murder Conspiracy

Wizbang ^ | 9/10/04 | Kevin Aylward

[gopwinsin04]

Dan Rather came out swinging tonight, but so far it looks like he is just shadow boxing with himself.

We did learned the name of his forensics guy, Marcel Manley.

My mini google tells me that they guy is not that impressive. He has a few self published books that I found.

Mostly he is a 'handwriting expert' and he has no apparent skills at looking at the rest of the document.

I also found that he is apparently behind that story that Kurt Cobain's suicide note was bogus and that he was actually murdered.

Prediction: CBS is going to get nailed on this guy.

UPDATE: This is interesting..seems Matley also vouched for the credibility of the Vince Foster suicide note!

[GSWarrior]

Kerry was done the moment he did that silly "John Kerry, reporting for duty" salute at the convention.

[gopwinsin04]

More from wizbang: 'Because no one would ever scan a signature and paste it onto Word..never!'

[litany_of_lies]

"I also found that he is apparently behind that story that Kurt Cobain's suicide note was bogus and that he was actually murdered."

Geez, not even Courtney Love believes THAT.

[gopwinsin04]

Hillary's attack may have come earlier than expected! The Black Widow may have not wanted to wait until October..

[rdl6989]

The CBS news this evening really didn't even address the issue of whether the documents were real or fake. Rather just rambled on about the under-lie-ing message being more important than the validity of the documents carrying the message. What do you have to do to get people to answer yes or no when asked simply "Are these fake or not?"?

[gopwinsin04]

Turns out the guy is just a librarian with no real professional skills except shilling for the DNC--quelle suprise!

[GSWarrior]

Never say never. I've done it before.

[murdocj]

Screenshot of what Dan calls "the same superscript" on my site:

http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001564.html

They've got nothing. And they know it.

[gopwinsin04]

And the apostrophes on the memo are not available on ANY typrewriter at the time..case closed!

[hflynn]

The fact that he's a handwriting expert when the question is 'are the documents authentic' is what's important.

Wait a minute. He is authenticating photocopies. What's important is Rather has admitted he is basing CBS's story on photocopies. Any court of laws would dismiss photocopies as inadmissible because of the presumed possibility they were altered.

We also do not know how many times the documents were photocopied before whats the frequency Kenneth got his set of copies.

[counterpunch]

So, what, if he's in on Vince Foster, he's a Friend of Bill and Hill, and so we can conclude that these bogus documents are their entry in the "let's sink Kerry" effort?

Hmmmm...

No. This guy is most likely a DNC operative, but not necessarily -- and not likely -- the Clintons' personal clean-up crew.
If this was all part of some vast Clinton conspiracy to "sink Kerry" then this guy wouldn't be out there defending their "authenticity."

This is in fact quite the opposite -- it is a vast Democrat partisan conspiracy to save Kerry's already sinking swiftboat.

[DocRock]

"Mostly he is a 'handwriting expert' and he has no apparent skills at looking at the rest of the document."

I think it is funny that they would use a "handwriting expert" to authenticate typed documents. I watched the interview and caught that when Dan said it."

"I also found that he is apparently behind that story that Kurt Cobain's suicide note was bogus and that he was actually murdered."

Did he handwrite his suicide note, or was it typed like these bogus documents?

"UPDATE: This is interesting..seems Matley also vouched for the credibility of the Vince Foster suicide note!"

Repeat of question 2 above... Did Vince type or handwrite his suicide note? We all know how accurate he was on that case...

[DocRock]

If he authenticated the Vince Foster suicide note, this photo of Foster with the gun in his hand was probably enough to convince him the note was real. Only Vince was LEFT handed.

[Oztrich Boy]

Since the memos are typed, what good is a handwriting expert?

One of the 'Unsolved Mysteries'

[Mike Fieschko]

Any court of laws would dismiss photocopies as inadmissible because of the presumed possibility they were altered.

AKAIK, if the originals are unavailable, you can try to get copies introduced.

Otherwise, copies made from digital files, microfilm or microfiche would never be put in evidence.

The chain of custody is something no expert will be able to state an opinion about.

That's why the question 'who gave them to you, Dan?' is important.

[Paladin2]

That's why transparency copying was so great. Just make a copy of an original signature on "flimsy" film, cut the signature out and it can be placed on any document one happens to be copying. Don't need no stinkin' computer at all.

[hflynn]

AKAIK, if the originals are unavailable, you can try to get copies introduced.

Only if they are certified as being copies of the original document. Rather said this evening the photocopies are copies of photocopies which means they can never be introduced as evidence unless the originals were to be found. My guess is the originals were destroyed after being photocopied.

Otherwise, copies made from digital files, microfilm or microfiche would never be put in evidence.

This is not the situation we are dealing with as clearly explained in the Uniform Code of Evidence.

The chain of custody is something no expert will be able to state an opinion about.

Your confusing Chain of Custody with Provenance. Provenance is a word that refers to the place and time where some artifact or other object originated.

That's why the question 'who gave them to you, Dan?' is important.

A question Dan Rather journalist can not be made to answer inside or outside of court.

[Mike Fieschko]

Rather said this evening the photocopies are copies of photocopies which means they can never be introduced as evidence unless the originals were to be found.

The transcript says:

DOCUMENT AND HANDWRITING EXAMINER MARCEL MATLEY ANALYZED THE DOCUMENTS FOR CBS NEWS.

[snip]

THE DOCUMENTS BEING ANALYZED OUTSIDE OF CBS HAVE BEEN PHOTOCOPIED, FAXED, SCANNED AND DOWNLOADED.... AND ARE FAR REMOVED FROM THE DOCUMENTS CBS STARTED WITH.

I looked and didn't see anything about whether the document this fellow examined were copies, copies of copies, or originals. Is there something else.

Transcript is here

[Samwise]

Why? What is going on? Do they think we are really this stupid?

Are they inoculating Kerry? Are some damning documents about to surface about Kerry? Are they afraid they are going to come out? Could they be preparing a bogus documents defense? More of the same. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Using fake documents to trash Bush just make no sense to me.