[BONUS] The Trial of Scott Enyart

On the night of Robert Kennedy’s murder, a young photographer named Scott Enyart had his film confiscated by the LAPD. When Enyart sued the city more than twenty years later, Bill Klaber was there.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Trial is commencing
on this case, which I will tell you is a
simple case about missing rare camera negatives of Jamie Scott Nyard.
It's nineteen ninety six. I'm seated in the gallery of
a courtroom to witness the trial Scott Enyart versus the

(00:20):
City of Los Angeles. Mister Enyart will testify then, in
June nineteen sixty eight, he went to the Ambassador Hotel
to take pictures of the victory speech of Robert F.
Kennedy in Los Angeles. We will show the failure of
the defendants to return mister Enyard's camera negatives. Enyard is

(00:44):
suing the city because he says the LABD took his
film the night Kennedy was murdered and never returned his negatives.
We will prove that mister Enyard's had mister Enyard's been
available to use in the investigation and trial of her
hand be Sir hand. Many many questions that legas today

(01:05):
would have been answered about whether or not someone else
may have shot off guns. At the same time, we
will present evidence that the LAPD and officers willfully and
intentionally recklessly manipulated the evidence, including mister Enyard's camera film.

(01:26):
You will see the secrecy and hiding at the expenses
mister Nyard was to keep LAPD from being embarrassed for
doing a one sided job and hiding evidence of one
of the three political assassinations of the century. God, I
totally object this. This is far beyond this COVID of
photographications inappropriate. This is not the We're not founding on

(01:55):
Bill Klaiber and today on the RFKA tapes, A mysterious
case of got Enyart and it's missing photographs. How long
have you worked with a professional camera stot. I've been
using a camera for about two years prior to what
happened here. I first heard the name Scott Enyart in
nineteen seventy three sitting in a movie theater watching a

(02:17):
documentary called The Second Gun. And about a year after
I had taken them, I finally got a number of
prints back, which I considered an incomplete set. A young
Enyart was on the screen telling the story of his
missing photographs. I feel there are some missing from it.
I took a thirty six exposure roll and I got
twenty six prints back. The film then cut to some

(02:37):
of the photos that were returned to Enyart, corresponding audio
from the night played. Underneath. There were photos of Kennedy
giving a speech, Kennedy leaving the stage thanks to all
of you, and I've gone to Chicago and my plan there.
Then suddenly the screen went dark. Kennedy has been shut
except for the sound of a camera shutter and chaos.

(02:58):
I was near the centert. The empty frames were placeholders
for Enyard's missing photos. It was a cinematic device, and
a good one, meant to represent what is not known
about the murder of Robert Kennedy. This film introduced Scott
Enyard into the Robert Kennedy assassination folklore. From that time forward,
some version of Enyard's story was featured in nearly every

(03:21):
book and documentary on the case, including mine, Scott, tell
Me what happened the night in pastor who I was
photographing Robert Kennedy's speech. I was about five feet from
the podium In nineteen ninety two, I interviewed Nyard from
my radio documentary, the original RFKA Tapes. As I got

(03:42):
into the pantry, I was about ten feet behind him,
continuing to take pictures as he shook hands with people,
and all of a sudden I saw him dropped from
the frame. He fell, and I continued taking pictures. I
backed up, I jumped up on a table. Everyone from
me had been shot and fell. I jumped up to
get out of the way. Continued taking pictures for a
wow once I realized what happened, particularly when Ethel Kennedy

(04:02):
came into the room nine months pregnant. Kneel's down next
to her husband and says, please leave us alone. I
couldn't take pictures anymore. And you're said that soon after
Kennedy was shot, officers from the LAPD took his camera
and they told me that mine later on, that my
photographs are going to be used in the trial. Sir hand,
sir hand. They gave me back the photographic prints of

(04:23):
the speech and then everything after I left the pantry,
but they took all the pictures that I actually took
in the pantry. Those were missing. Do you think you
might have caught some of that A man with a
second gun or well, you would have seen whatever took
place behind Robert Kennedy. And then you're told me that
after the LAPD released their case files in nineteen eighty eight,

(04:44):
he asked for the return of his film. I get
a letter back from the California State Archives saying we
can only conclude that your photographs were among the two thousand,
four hundred photographs destroyed by the LAPD three weeks before
Sir Hand's trial in a hospital and cinerator supervised by
two police officers, and with that Yard sued the City

(05:04):
of Los Angeles for two million dollars. But just before
the trial began, attorneys for the city found photo negatives
in the State Archives that they thought were en Yards.
Yard was invited to check them out. It doesn't have
any pictures from the pantry and I did not use

(05:26):
Ilford film. The negatives were shot on black and white
film stock called Ilford. Ilford was sold in bulk and
hand rolled before being loaded into a camera. Niard said
he didn't use bulkloaded film. A bulkloaded film has many disadvantages,
and so as a result of friends who used it
in watching their bad results, I've not used so I

(05:47):
always used Kodak. The judge ordered that the bulkloaded film
from the State Archives be brought to Los Angeles to
be examined by experts, but then as the film was
being transported, the courier said it was stolen. This reinforced
my feeling that something very wrong was going on here.

(06:08):
On the second day of the trial, and Yard's lawyers
played his original l abd interview from the night of
the murder. Why Arta again, from what side the divisions got? Understand?
You took some pictures days? All right now, I was
about right here. He left this way, Yes, he left

(06:29):
this way. I left this way, I asked her about here.
And you're just showing detectives his movements the night of
the shooting using a floor plan of the Ambassador Hotel.
This is done always here shooting. If we can hear
a Yard drawing on the floor plan using on there's

(06:50):
good division here and it goes out because in my case,
and here was a bar. All right about here was
this table. I got upon table and was about I
to picture down. He took some pictures. I'm not exactly
sure that I could tell. I can only tell other

(07:11):
pictures for me. Listening in the courtroom, it was difficult
to tell where Enyard actually was, but Enyard's lawyer said
Enyard climbed onto a steam table in the kitchen pantry
a perfect vantage point from which to photograph the murder scene. Well,
what's important is that when you listen to the tape
and you can clearly hear a young man describing me

(07:33):
in the room while the murders of place. The room
was the pantry, and they called a witness to prove
it it was massing, And thought Senator Kennedy on the
kitchen's boarder, this is Ted shirek, a journalist who made
that documentary I mentioned earlier he had also been in

(07:54):
the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel the knight of Kennedy's murder.
And I thought, a young man taking photograph. Where was
the young man that was taking photographs? He was on
a table inside. He was in my land. Are you
able to dantify the person who saw on the table pictures?

(08:18):
I certainly have be able tighter to by that or
who is that person? Scott? Then Scott and you'rt took
the stand and you're told the jury his story. I
followed Kennedy directly in with his supporters, and when we

(08:41):
walked into the pantry that he followed Kennedy into the
pantry and then jumped up on the steam table. When
the shooting began. I didn't use steam table at the
time when I first spoke the police, but I've since
learned that that's what it's called. Yes, the table in
the corner that I jumped up on, and that's when
I started taking pictures. And Enyarts lawyers were ready with

(09:04):
more than just words blown up photograph. They had a photograph.
This photograph was taken by I assumed the second photographer
entered the pantry from the other side. His lawyers introduced
a photo of the chaos and the pantry taken by
another photographer, and in the background of the photo is

(09:26):
a man standing on a steam table, slightly out of focus,
holding a camera. According to Enyart, the man in the
photo was him. I am on the table where I
said I was taking pictures, aiming down, going back and
forth between the struggle for the gun and Kennedy on
the floor. Mister Nyard identifies himself where he was standing

(09:51):
at the time he is taking picture. Mister Nyard did
not receive back his negatives or the majority of his photos.
No photo werelogged in the police files under his name.
He has dropped from the list on the pantry witnesses
are all of these occurrences just coincidence. I don't think so.

(10:11):
I think what we see here is a consistence and
deliberate attempt to erase Scott Anyart and his photographs from
the record of this case. Mister Miller, you may begin, Yes,
thank you, your honor and yours. Lawyer seemed to have
proof that Enyart took photos of the assassination of Robert Kennedy,

(10:35):
but now it was the attorney for the city skip
Miller's turn. This is an interesting case. Contrary to all
the discussion, it really isn't about the assassination. It isn't
about conspiracies, It isn't about willfulness and intentional manipulation of evidence.
It's about it. It's kind of a mystery, Italy. It
reminds me of a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The question is

(10:56):
what happened to mister Enyard's photographs. He was at the hotel,
no question about it. He did take photographs. Was mister
Nyard in the pantry area where Senator Kennedy was shot?
We intend to show that he was not in the
pantry area. Don't believe me. Listen to the witnesses. I'm
just telling him. Please, Miller said that Enyart was lying.

(11:22):
He said there were no photographs of the shooting in
the pantry because Enyard had not been in the pantry.
That's after the break. Before the break, Scott Enyart to

(11:49):
the City of Los Angeles over missing photographs. He said
he took the night Robert Kennedy was murdered. His legal
team produced testimony and even a photograph supporting Enyart's claim,
but then the city's attorney, Skip Miller called a witness,
Harry Harry James Benson h R R Y J A
M E S D E N S O N, and

(12:12):
tell us what your profession is. I'm a photojournalist. How
long have you been in that line of work? Well,
my life really since it was about sixteen years old.
Benson had photographed everyone from the Beatles to Muhammad Ali,
and he had followed Kennedy into the pantry that night.
I saw him walking through the pantry. He's a good
bit ahead of me, maybe five yards maybe, I don't know,

(12:33):
maybe six And it was then a girl screamed, I
come around, and I could. I could see Kennedy falling.
It was just awful. Just mayhem. What did you do next?
After the mayhem? Broke Lucy. Well, these things are going
through your mind. That listens an historical event, and I'm

(12:53):
a newest photographer. This is why I'm here. That's so
I've got to do them the doctor work. What did
you start taking pictures after the shooting? Yes? I did.
Did you take pictures from a particular valence point? Yes,
there was a place to keep plates warm, and I
climbed on top of that of this and it was
it was not a bad view because I looked down now,

(13:17):
Millerhans Benson. The photograph that Scott and You're testified was
of him on the steam table with a camera. Benson
glances at Oh, that's me. That's me in the moment
of crisis, no question. I mean that's me. And the
other people have said, hey that somebody on TV has
said it is you, But that's me, all right, Okay.

(13:39):
I didn't really want to get involved, you know, I mean,
but I feel I had to because it's the light
thing to do, all right, some individual saying it was
me because I thought was funny, and then it made
me a bit kind of yeah, how dave it? See it?
Somebody's me, you know, the city of Los Angeles. Then
called another witness, someone who had been very close to Nyard. Well,

(14:03):
we first met and when I was about eight years old.
Were you good friends or just acquaintances in the neighborhood.
How would you describe the relationship? I thought we were
best of friends. This is Brent Gold, a friend of Nyard's.
He was with Nyark that night in nineteen sixty eight.
They were just fifteen years old. Tell us which way

(14:26):
you went at the end of the speech. The entrance
to the embassy room is probably over here somewhere. We
simply I simply walked in this direction out to the front.
All right, now, tell me tell us, please, which way
Scott Nyard went after the speech? We were together each other.

(14:49):
You said you made your way out toward the lobby,
and then you heard the screams and so forth. Did
you ever see Scott Nyark in the pantry area of
the hotel after the shooting? I don't recall seeing there
until this lawsuits file. Did mister Ennyard ever say to
you hate Brett. I actually got a picture of the

(15:10):
shooting and the actual assassination. No, he never said that.
Did he tell you that he was a witness to history? No?
Not at all. Twenty years later, Gold saw Enyard on
television talking about the mysterious lost photos he said he

(15:31):
had taken in the pantry, and I called him. I
registered my concern. I said, I'm a fearful right year
of going to beginning yourself in trouble because I knew
where we were. I knew we were both outside in
the lobby area. Kennedy was shot and he wasn't in
the panther. And what did he say? He said, that

(15:52):
wasn't his recollection of the event? All right thereafter? Did
you have contact with mister Ennyard? Later on? He invited
me to the house and she wanted to talk about
pictures in the lawsuit. And at one point he told me,

(16:13):
I mean it seemed that he was indicating, you know
how well it was. There was a quote I wrote
it in my notes, which is he said, I would
never ask you to lie. What happened next he began

(16:34):
telling me about how hard things had been with him
and medically and financially. And what did you say to
him when he started telling you about how hard things
he had been. I was just listening sympathetically. I felt
very badly for him. We were talking about his photographs
and the lawsuit, and that I would probably be contacted

(16:56):
by the city attorneys. Did you say anything back to him?
I told him I would tell the city exactly what
I knew. And is that what you've done? Yes, the
Morning Eastern en your in morning sterne Yard. Would you

(17:17):
look at Exhibit five to thirty three when Miller cross
examined scott enyart, the trial took an unexpected turn. Well,
not that unexpected. This was la after all. All right,
I'd like to just briefly show you some of the
changes from your manuscript. By the way, that was the
title Witnessed History, wasn't it guns Correct? This story outline
for a television movie or a theatrical movie. Was intended

(17:42):
to be an autobiography of you. Correct? It was to
be a story of a fifteen year old boy. In
nineteen sixty eight, against the background of an assassination. Scott
end had written a screenplay about a fifteen year old boy.
Said in nineteen sixty eight title witness to History. Well,

(18:02):
you were the model for the stories at a fair statement, Yes,
definitely interested And was it intended to be a combination
of fact and fiction? No? In other words, this work
for television was intended to be fact and not fiction.
Is that correct? That's what I was hoping. Yes, not
fri Yes, great, think a look at the win please.

(18:29):
At page three, it says, working as a photographer assistant
to Tom Kelly and Santa Monica Boulevard, Scott wandered across
the street to watch the Doors rehearse at their studio,
often bumping into Jim Morrison and his frequent trips to
the leader story. It's true, and Jim Morrison as the

(18:51):
deceased singer who was with the groom the doors in
a sentence to live. The next sentence, just across Seattle,
no One after the buyer broke out of the topless
fire called the phone booth and causing a dozen naked
girls to run into the street. The doors used to
such things just pept out a person that also facial.

(19:12):
That's true. You're an a kind of clear recollection of
the chapter is development, but it's entertaining that it's totally irrelevant.
I'm not going to ask somebody. Okay, let's go to
the next page. I ask some hard questions about factum
and fiction. Miller then read from the part of Enyard's
outline about the night Robert Kennedy was murdered. Around the

(19:33):
middle of the page, there's a reference to you quote
chasing police as Sir Hannah is taken from the hotel. Yes,
this is all facial correct. I was following leased and
I used were chasing as they were moving as fast
as they could because they were trying to get a
certain hand out of the building. Excruit me as possible.

(19:56):
Scott then helps wounded victims and ambulances arrived. When you
were helping wounded victims, that's in my nature, that's in
your nature. That was that something you were doing, because
you certainly didn't tell us that the rec examinations and
I wasn't asked, oh yes, or any art you In
your screenplay for movies and television it says that you

(20:19):
were escorting Kennedy to the ambulance as the hotel or
roughs in the chaos. This isn't fashionable. This suspicion, is it?
You never told us about escorting Kennedy to the ambulance
when you were destiny any more objection? It was compoundful.
This was written for movies and television. Correct, No, this

(20:41):
was written to lamp facts and what happened to me
that am your statements that were truthful and what I mentioned.
Sitting there watching, I was squirming in my seat, and
your seemed to have no idea of what territory to
defend and what territory to surrender. And he got stuck
on everything in a story being absolutely factual when clearly

(21:05):
it wasn't. It just made him look silly, and it
got worse and worse. This is a letter to June
in nineteen ninety one. Recognize that letter, don't you hust
right here? Yes? I do this letter to Chris Scene,
who's an agent. That's correct, And in fact she became

(21:26):
your agent. Correct, that's correct, your agent for purposes of
representing you and attempting to sell your story to the movies,
television books, whatever. This is after the lawsuit was filed. Correct. Yes,
At the top of the second page of your letter
to Christine Foster, quote my multimillion dollar lawsuit against the LAPD,

(21:51):
the FBI in the state of California, which already has
received newspaper and television coverage. Will I add to the
public interest in the television book? You see that in
the closing arguments, and your attorney made a final plea
to the jury. I argue to find for planet and

(22:12):
to order the city to compensate him for the loss
of use. The LAPD has put planets through a degrading process.
Try to make him out as a profit here, you
know daddy's ussel. All we ask is for justice, the
fair award that gives the LAPD the right message. Can't

(22:35):
abuse and oppress the citizens and get away that without
paying the consequences. She reminded the jury that whether there
was a conspiracy or not, Scott and Your's role of
film was lost forever. Okay, all right, all right, so yeah, jury,

(22:55):
I I understand you haven't heard it? Is that correct?
Where have your honor? All right? We the jury and
pup the title action by the following special vertical. The
question he submitted to us, question number one, were any
of the defendants negligence? Answered? Yes? Was such negligence the
cause of the damage to the place. The jury found
in favor of Scott Enyart, and they placed a price

(23:17):
on that lost film. They awarded him four hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. Betters for what I thought about Scott
Enyard's story, I didn't believe it, and it turned out
for good reason. Months later, as I was packing up
my research material on the RFK case, I came across
a tape of an older interview with Enyart in which

(23:39):
he spoke about the film he had handed over to
the LAPD. Remember Enyart said that he had used Kodak,
not Ilford bookloaded film. How many reals did you get
them on? How many photographs would you estimate to missing? Well,
the fumus was hand roll was backwall, so there were
probably about thirty shots per role that he usedly run
a little show when you run yourselves. Yeah, so there

(24:04):
it was. Scott Enyard admitted that he used folkloaded film
in his camera, and I believe it was the same
bolkloaded film that the LAPD found in the state archives
before his trial, film that contained no shots of the pantry.
I summed this all up in my book shadow Play.

(24:25):
My best interpretation is that a young man had fallen
in love with a story about himself. He married that
story and repeated it so often that perhaps to this
day he believes it to be true. But it was
seemed that it's not. In this particular case, it would
appear that it was the Los Angeles police who were
telling the truth. And one last thing, the City of

(24:57):
Los Angeles filed a successful motion for a new trial.
Scott Enyart never received that four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
If he wanted it, he'd have to sue the city
all over again, and he never did. Oh God is

(25:19):
plenty sometime still Scott had hit the dog. Crimetown is
Zach Stewart, Pontier and Mark Smirley. The RFK Tapes is

(25:42):
made in partnership with Kadence thirteen. For bonus contact, go
to RFKA tapes dot com. This episode was produced by
Jesse Rudoi Bulakopa and me Bill Claiper. Our Senior producer
is Austin Mitchell, by Zach Stewart, Pontier and Mark Smirley.

(26:04):
This episode was mixed and sound designed by Sam Bear.
Music by Kenny Kusiak, additional music by John Kusiak. Our
title track is Maria Tambienne and I'm Going to Mess
This Up by Krombin Now this is a computer disaster.
Our credit track this week is photographed by Elephant Stone.

(26:39):
Music supervision by Josh Kessler and Dylan Bostick at Heavy
Duty Projects Archival footage courtesy the California State Archives. Archival
research by Brennan Reese, Production assistant by Kevin Shepherd. Our
website is designed by Kurt Courtney. Thanks to Gene Klaiber,
Emily Wiederman, Green Card Pictures, Alessandro Sentorro, and the team

(27:03):
at Cadence thirteen. If you like the Arcade Tapes, please
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