Hate to break it too you, but Oswald killed Kennedy.
Ok.
The first bullet did not hit Kennedy. This is proved by the Zaparuder film, where you can clearly see that Kennedy is reacting to the noise of the gun shot.
If a CIA or mafia hit team were employed, why did the miss when the car was traveling at such a slow speed?
Secondly 'The Gut reaction of most witnesses present in Dealey plaza was that the shots were fired over a period of 5 to 6 seconds,' (Evans. C, 2003) But the Zaparuder film is actually a more accurate measure of the time frame of the shots. The first shot was at frame 160, at frame 313 Kennedy's head explodes. - The fatal shot... The speed of the film was claimed to be 18.3 frames per second. ' (313-160)/18.3 = 8.4 seconds, far longer than most eyewitnesses estimated (Evans. C, 2003)
So that actually gives Oswald a fair bit of tim to fire the shots. As for the argument that he was a crap shot: 'despite having twice passed the Corps requiremnets, he was viewed as a mediocre shot,'(Evans. C, 2003) Ok so he might have not been flash by the Marines, but as I recall GnSrgt mentioning on this sight, Marines are actually a better grade of riflemen than infantry of the U.S army. (Correct me if I am wrong).
So it is plausible that he could have made the 3 shots in 8.4 seconds.
Next the magic bullet.
This theory works because it is assumed that Governor Connally is directly infront of Kennedy. If you look at the Zaparuder film, the Governor is actually more to the middle of the front bench seat. Putting him in th tragectory of the bullet that exited Kennedys throat.
Next, the movement of Kennedy's head in response to the fatal shot.
Many conspiracy theorists seem to think that the movement of Kennedy's head in response to the fatal shot, suggests that there were other shooters located in other areas of the daily plaza.
Again this is an inaccurate assumption. 'Weaned on a diet of celluloid shoot-outs in which the victim is hurled backward by a bullet's sledgehammer force, it's easy to forget that in real life it just way. [ed] The impact of a bullet may be colossal but it is brief, certainly not enough to cause the fired out-out-of-a-cannon effect.' (Evans. C, 2003)
Colin Evans, (the author of the book that I am quoting from) claims that, 'JFK's nervous system had alreay been damaged by his first wound, [ed] leading to muscular spasm.' (Evans. C, 2003)
Lastly our conspiracy theorists conveniantly forget that Oswald was a nut. He had previously 'attempted to shot a radical right-wing Dallas acitivist, Major General Ediwn Walker.' (Evans. C, 2003). Doesn't sound like a passive man to me.
Even more bizare is, how conspiracy theorists claim that Officer Tippet was not murdered by Oswald, but his look alike!
The reality of the situation is that Kennedy was killed by a deranged man. The same kind of man that attempted to shoot Reagan.
I ask you this. Why would the CIA kill Kennedy? Why would they put their whole existance at risk if they got caught. Why would CIA assasins fail to hit a slow moving target in the first shot?
Why would the mafia kill Kennedy? If they got caught the mafia would be F-ed. The FBI would come down on them like a ton of bricks.
Why would Castro do it? If he got caught, America would most likely use some sort of military force against him, if the assasination was linked to him.
And for the puffs of smoke from the grassy knowl, come on? Were the assassins using muskets? Modern rifles don't produce 'puffs of smoke'. Also the Daley Plaza is actually tiny. For a sniper to just be willy nilly be positioning his rifle on the grassy knowl, without being noticed is just plain crazy.
You see conspiracy theorists need order in their life. They need to hold on the notion that there is reason to events. When in reality Kennedy was killed, because he was the enemy in the mind of a deranged, psychotic loner, that was also a good liar. The 'patsy' call just sucked conspiracy theorists in, good and proper.
Reference
Evans. C, 'Lee Harvey Oswald', 'A Question of Evidence', Chapter 10, pp.140-155, John Wiley & Sons Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey, (2003).