Lawsuit Prior to the publication of the book in 1992, both the publisher and the author contacted Hickey

to invite his participation in the book and offering him a chan ce to respond to the allegations. In 1995 Hickey sued St. Martin's Press over th e claims made in Mortal Error.[22][23] The suit was eventually dismissed in 1997 on the grounds that Hickey had waited too long after the book's initial publica tion to file against the publisher.[24] Hickey refiled suit when the paper-back edition was published, and later settled with St Martin's Press in 1998 on undis closed terms.[25] Hickey died in 2011.[26][27][28][29] JFK: The Smoking Gun Inspired by Mortal Error,[30] Australian investigator Colin McLaren decided to a pproach the shooting as a cold case investigation,[31] and treating Donahue's ex pert testimony as that of just one witness of many. After more than four years o f work, made far quicker and easier by the availability of documents such as the Warren Commission report and testimony as searchable files, he published a 90-m inute documentary and book, both titled JFK: The Smoking Gun. JFK: The Smoking Gun (documentary) The documentary aired on Australian and American television on November 3, 2013. [32][33][34] Directed by Malcolm Mcdonald and featuring actors Anne-Sophie Bozon and Larry Da y,[35] it features re-enactments, archival footage, and also new interviews with Menninger, with Donahue's daughter Colleen, and with witnesses to the shooting. A one-hour abridged version of this documentary aired in the UK on November 13, 2013, entitled JFK's Secret Killer: The Evidence.[36] A highlight of the program is when McLaren demonstrates one of Donahue's ballist ics tests as described in Mortal Error, using a plaster skull to trace the traje ctory of the head shot, and showing how this indicated to Donahue that the shot that struck Kennedy in the head came from exactly where Agent Hickey was positio ned. As further evidence for there being a second shooter, he notes Donahue's co nclusion that the calibre of the bullet that made the 6mm entry wound in Kennedy 's head was incompatible with Oswald's 6.5mm calibre Mannlicher-Carcano rifle bu t compatible with a 5.56mm bullet from an AR-15, and that the 30-40 bullet fragm ents found inside Kennedy's skull demonstrated that it was a different type of a mmunition to the bullet which travelled straight through the President and into Governor Connally, and again that while this shot behaved exactly like a full-ja cket Mannlicher-Carcano round, the head shot appears to behave exactly like an A R-15 round. He then produces the photograph of Agent Hickey holding up an AR-15 while standing inside the Secret Service follow-up car as it speeds behind the P residential limousine with Secret Service Agent Clint Hill on its rear,[37] the same photograph which was crucial to Donahue's decision to publish his work and which was used on the front cover of Menninger's book. Also investigating the leadup to the shooting, McLaren discusses the pressure th e Secret Service agents were under at the time of Kennedy's Texas trip, stating they "...had been working double-shifts" and "...the previous three days (to the assassination) had been brutal with no end in sight". He adds that several Secr et Service agents spent the early hours of November 22nd drinking until 5am, sug gesting this would have made them "...hungover from the alcohol and not at their best performance" and probably why Hickey, who hadn't been out drinking, an age nt of only four months service at the time and normally just a driver, was given the job of commanding the AR-15, "a role foreign to him", McLaren comments. Moving to events after the shooting, the documentary reconstructs scenes where e

yewitnesses gave statements to the Dallas police, with one saying he saw "a flas h of pink" from the Presidential motorcade, and how another, Jean Hill, saw "... the president grab his chest", then "...a few men in plain clothes shooting back ". McLaren suggests the pink flash could have been "a muzzle blast or the gunpow der itself" and asks why Hill's testimony wasn't followed up. Further reference is made to ten witnesses in Dealey Plaza who smelled gunpowder, with a 15mph bre eze from the south-west, heading towards Oswald, making it unlikely the gunpowde r had originated from the Texas School Book Depository. Other evidence of a cover-up put forward by McLaren states how an evasive Secret Service chief James Rowley admitted, at the Warren Commission, that AR-15s were no longer used by his organisation inside protection vehicles since the assassi nation, and also that classified Secret Service documents on the assassination w ere destroyed just one week prior to being handed over to the Assassination Reco rds Review Board in 1995. McLaren suggests the chaos of the aftermath of the ass assination, including threatening and interfering behaviour by Secret Service ag ents towards Parkland Memorial Hospital staff, involving the removal of Kennedy' s body without an autopsy having taken place, was "...evidence they knew one of their agents had shot JFK" and pointed to a cover-up. He further suggests that K ennedy's eventual autopsy with its "...overcrowding in the room, the Secret Serv ice's constant interference, the pressure cooker autopsy, lost photographs, fals ified x-rays...all point to conspiracy". Several scenes are dramatically reconst ructed, including the removal of the body from the Dallas hospital. JFK: The Smoking Gun (book) McLaren's book JFK: The Smoking Gun[38] (2013) is dedicated to Howard Donahue[30 ] but has a very different focus to both his documentary and to Menninger's book . Donahue's ballistics tests are not here repeated, but are simply cited as evid ence, and McLaren then describes going to the scene in Dallas to see with his ow n eyes whether they seemed convincing in that context.[39] As an investigator, McLaren focuses on the existing witness testimony, rather th an on his own ballistics or similar tests.[40] Rather than just dismiss the ball istics tests carried out for the Warren Commission as inexpert, their testimony to the commission, including their qualifications, is quoted and critiqued, [41] and also any cross-examination. He quotes many more witnesses than Donahue or Menninger as having believed that shots were fired at ground level, and observes a pattern of concealment of evide nce.[42] His conclusion, like those of Reppert and of Menninger, is that Donahue is correct in both the broad theory and the details. References ^ Jump up to: a b "Mortal error? Agent's accidental shot killed JFK, book as serts". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. February 23, 1992. Retrieved August 5, 2012. ^ Jump up to: a b Hunter, Stephen (February 23, 1992). "Author says friendly fire killed JFK". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ ISBN 978-1934572498 Jump up ^ Burnes, Brian (February 21, 1992). "Another JFK theory: An acciden t Kansas City man's book says fatal bullet was fired by a Secret Service agent." . Kansas City Star. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ "Agent's Error Killed Kennedy, Book Says". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . February 23, 1992. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ ...Reppert and Donahue agreed the next logical step would be to wr ite a book. (Mortal Error 1992 paperback edition p. 121) Jump up ^ In theory, at least, there was still the prospect of the book in c ollaboration with Reppert. In those heady days following the publication of the Sun article, both men had been in full, excited agreement that a book would be t he next logical step. (Mortal Error 1992 paperback edition p. 188) Jump up ^ Much to Howard's delight, Davis said he was very interested in the

theory and the possibility of doing a book. (Mortal Error 1992 paperback editio n p. 211) Jump up ^ Mortal Error 1992 paperback edition flyleaf ^ Jump up to: a b Mortal Error, ISBN 0-283-06136-7 Jump up ^ p. 146 Of course, Donahue's understanding of the fatal shot in no way precluded the possibility that Oswald was involved in some kind of conspirac y. ^ Jump up to: a b "TAKE 5: Author: Accidental shot killed JFK". Sanford Hera ld. November 15, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2013. "(the theory was) equally dis liked by both conspiracy theorists and supporters of the Warren Commission." Jump up ^ pp. 335 350 Jump up ^ pp. 351 361 Jump up ^ Bready, James (February 27, 1992). "The 'JFK' theory that's too si mple for Americans to believe". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2012. ^ Jump up to: a b Balducki, James (June 7, 1992). "New JFK assassination boo k just another theory". Observer-Reporter. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ Pietrusza, David (1996). Mysterious Deaths John F. Kennedy. Lucent Books. pp. 71 72. ISBN 1560062630. Jump up ^ Legall, Mark (March 28, 1992). "'Fumbling agent shot JFK' theory m isses the mark". Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ Gay, Verne (October 31, 2013). "'JFK, The Smoking Gun' review: Con spiracy theory documentary feels recycled". Newsday. Retrieved November 30, 2013 . Jump up ^ Rasmussen, Frederick N. (December 21, 1999). "Howard C. H. Donahue , 77, ballistics expert, studied Kennedy's death". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved Nove mber 30, 2013. Jump up ^ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-12-21/news/9912210051_1_dona hue-ballistics-expert-warren-commission retrieved 16 December 2013 According to his daughter, Colleen Donahue Lorenzen of Riderwood, Mr. Donahue was working on a related book at his death. "He had discovered a TV tape in a German archive th at showed the assassination from a different angle as well as a Secret Service a gent standing up in a car." Jump up ^ "Suit Filed over JFK Book". The News. August 23, 1996. Retrieved A ugust 5, 2012. Jump up ^ "JFK killing theory on trial for libel". Lawrence Journal-World. A ugust 23, 1996. Retrieved 5 August 2012. Jump up ^ O'Brien, Dennis (September 30, 1997). "Defamation suit involving b ook on JFK dismissed Judge notes time limit". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ "Retired agent paid undisclosed amount in JFK shooting case". Gett ysburg Times. February 4, 1998. Retrieved August 5, 2012. Jump up ^ Doyle, John (November 2, 2013). "Did a hungover Secret Service age nt accidentally shoot JFK?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 28, 2013. "H ickey died two years ago and isn t around to answer the charge." Jump up ^ Rule, Andrew (October 25, 2013). "Aussie out to show Secret Servic e blunder was to blame". Herald Sun. Retrieved November 29, 2013. "Hickey died i n 2011, which makes it easier to tell the story without the fear of a lawsuit." Jump up ^ Simkin, John. "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: George Hickey ". Spartacus Educational Publishers. Retrieved November 29, 2013. Jump up ^ Several sources state Hickey died in 2005, for example [1] and [2] (both accessed November 27, 2013); however these were both published subsequent to vandalism to Wikipedia which placed this then unsupported date in the articl e, and appear to have relied on Wikipedia without checking the article history. Others published subsequently may similarly rely on these two articles or simila r ones not available online. Several people named George Hickey did die in 2005, but this agent was not one of them. ^ Jump up to: a b To Howard Donohue, a man who epitomised the very reason we demand dedicated and precise forensic science at the forefront of unravelling c omplex crime. Despite his arduous 25-year study he was snubbed and ultimately si lenced by official suits and lawsuits. His ballistic expertise, his astute opini

ons and his skill live on through my story. McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: Th e Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 18-20). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition. Jump up ^ I carried the book in my cabin luggage when I winged my way homewa rd. By the time I arrived in Australia I had read it again and was charged with a desire to undertake a cold-case forensic study into the killing of the 35th Pr esident of the United States. McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 225-227). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition. Jump up ^ " JFK: The Smoking Gun, TV review: Australian detective concludes tha t Kennedy died from friendly fire". Daily News. Retrieved November 30, 2013. Jump up ^ "JFK: The Smoking Gun". Amazon. Retrieved November 30, 2013. Jump up ^ "JFK: The Smoking Gun Get the Books". reelz.com. Retrieved Novembe r 30, 2013. Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2945784/ retrieved 17 December 2013 Jump up ^ "JFK'S Secret Killer: The Evidence". Channel 5 Broadcasting Limite d. Retrieved November 30, 2013. Jump up ^ Mucha, Peter (November 13, 2013). "Shooting holes in theory that a Secret Service agent killed President Kennedy". philly.com (Interstate General Media). Retrieved November 30, 2013. Jump up ^ McLaren, Colin. JFK: The Smoking Gun. ISBN 978-0-7336-3044-6. Jump up ^ Oswald could not have fired the third and fatal shot from where he crouched. The line of the trajectory was all wrong. McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23) . JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2909-2910). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition. Jump up ^ Donahue was missing the purity of witness evidence. Here was a gre at ballistics theory but with no supportive evidence or, as detectives say, all m eat and no potatoes no forensic analysis of the testimonies to support his premis e. McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 219-225). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition. Jump up ^ Dr Light went on to say that Olivier s theory relating to JFK s head w ound and Connally s wrist wound was barely conceivable . McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3036-3037). Hachette Australia. Kindle E dition. Jump up ^ Leading a witness is prone to interjection from the judge. Strange ly, this was not the case at the Warren Commission, where leading questions were commonplace. McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Location s 3072-3073). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.