Post by Rob Caprio on Dec 21, 2018 9:09:46 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
shapingopinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Cyril-Wecht-300x300.jpg
[NOTE: Posting this here also since Dr. Cyril Wecht testified before the HSCA.]
The Warren Commission (WC) said Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) shot and killed President John F. Kennedy (JFK) all by himself from behind the limousine. Really?
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The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) called Dr. Cyril Wecht to give testimony before them. He was part of the HSCA’s forensic pathology panel and its lone dissenter. He did NOT buy the Single Bullet Theory (SBT) at all. Dr. Wecht is highly qualified to form an opinion as well as he has served as the President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the College of American Legal Medicine. He has also served as the Allegheny Medical Examiner (Pennsylvania) multiple times for many years so his background in forensics is unquestionable and he would be considered an EXPERT in any courtroom in America (and around the world).
During his testimony we see this interesting exchange between him and Mr. Purdy. We will look at each part of the long answer and I will note some comments/questions that I have about what he says.
Mr. PURDY. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Dr. Wecht, referring again to JFK exhibits F-229, F-272, and F-244, which are the frames immediately before and the frames after the sign, you discussed the fact that the men did not line up in a horizontal trajectory?
Dr. WECHT. Yes. The panel, to the best of my recollection, was in unanimous agreement that there was a slight UPWARD TRAJECTORY of the bullet through President John F. Kennedy, that is to say, that the bullet wound of entrance on the President’s BACK, lined up with the bullet wound of exit in the front of the President’s neck, drawing a straight line, showed that vertically the bullet had moved SLIGHTLY UPWARD, but upward.
Slight UPWARD trajectory? How is that possible when the bullet was COMING in a downward fashion per the WC? Also note how Dr. Wecht said the bullet entered JFK’s BACK and NOT the base of the neck as the WC claimed.
That is extremely important for two reasons. One, under the single bullet theory—with Oswald as the sole assassin or anybody else, in the sixth floor window, southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building, you have the bullet coming DOWN at a downward angle of 20-25 degrees, something like that, maybe a little bit less. It had been originally been postulated, I think, by the autopsy team, and the initial investigators, at considerably more. How in the world can a bullet be fired from a sixth floor window, strike the President in the back, and yet have a slightly UPWARD direction?
As we saw in an earlier post in this series Commander Humes said the bullet entered JFK at a FORTY-FIVE degree downward angle!
Mr. SPECTER - Could you state for the record an approximation of the angle of decline?
Commander HUMES - Mathematics is not my forte. Approximately 45 degrees from the horizontal.
This is even worse for the WC’s claim as how does a bullet enter at a 45 degree downward decline, but suddenly go UPWARD when it did NOT hit anything to make it do so? Dr. Wecht highlighted this fact for us here.
There was NOTHING there to cause it to change its course. And then with the slightly upward direction, outside the President’s neck, that bullet then embarked upon a rollercoaster ride with a major dip, because it then proceeded; under the single bullet theory, through Gov. Connally at a 25 degree angle declination.
As we saw in a previous post in this series Dr. Robert Shaw corroborated what Dr. Wecht stated here so no claim can be made that he is wrong or being dishonest.
Mr. SPECTER. Would the shattering of the rib have had any effect in deflecting the path of the bullet from a straight line?
Dr. SHAW. It could have, except that in the case of this injury, the rib was obviously struck so that not too dense cancellus portion of the rib in this position was carried away by the bullet and probably there was very little in the way of deflection.
How can any WC defender explain this odd (let’s say impossible) behavior by the bullet?
To my knowledge, there has never been any disagreement among the proponents and defenders of the Warren Commission report or critics, about the angle of declination John Connally—maybe a degree or two. We have that bullet going through the Govenor at about 25 degrees DOWNWARD. How does a bullet that is moving slightly UPWARD in the President proceed to then move DOWNWARD 25 degrees in John Connally? This is what I cannot understand.
So let me get this straight, the bullet entered JFK at a 25 degree DOWNWARD angle (45 if you believe Humes), then went slightly UPWARD in him, but once it entered John Connally (JBC) it went DOWNWARD on a 25 degree angle again. What? Don’t worry Dr. Wecht, NO one with an ounce of common sense can understand this one either.
My colleagues on the panel are aware of this. We discussed it, and what we keep coming back to is, “well, don’t know how the two men were seated in relationship to each other.” I don’t care what happened behind the Stemmons freeway sign, there is no way in the world they can put that together, and likewise on the horizontal plane, the bullet, please keep in mind, entered in the President’s right BACK, I agree, exited in the anterior midline of the President’s neck, and was moving thence by definition, by known facts, on a STRAIGHT LINE from entrance to exit, from right to left.
We see the same argument/defense today by the WC defenders as they keep arguing the position of the two men could make the SBT possible. The positioning of the two men is the least of the SBT’s worry believe me. The evidence shows us it NEVER happened.
And so with the bullet moving in a leftward fashion, it then somehow made an acute angular turn, came back almost two feet, stopped, made a second turn, and slammed into Gov. John Connally behind the right armpit, referred to medically as the right posterior axillary area.
The vertical and horizontal trajectory of this bullet, 399, under the single bullet theory is absolutely UNFATHOMABLE, INDEFENSIBLE, and INCREDIBLE.
Well said Dr. Wecht. One has to be a dishonest person to believe the SBT actually occurred as the evidence does NOT support it in the least. We have seen numerous posts in this series that shows the SBT could NOT have happened, but here is another. Dr. Wecht would be asked about JBC’s wrist wound and the likelihood of CE 399 being the bullet that did it. Here is what he said and we will again respond with comments/questions to each paragraph of his reply.
Mr. PURDY. Dr. Wecht, I would like you to examine JFK exhibit F-84, which has already been entered into the record, which is an X-ray of Governor Connally’s chest—excuse me—of his wrist, and, Dr. Wecht, could you tell us whether you believe that Commission exhibit 399 could have caused the injuries to the wrist of Governor Connally?
Dr. WECHT. No, I don’t. I would like to emphasize that this is what is referred to as a comminuted fracture. I have been negatively impressed by repeated efforts on the part of my fellow panelists and others to deminimize the nature of this fracture. They imply it was merely slight linear nondisplaced fracture.
He does NOT believe CE 399 caused JBC’s wrist wound at all. In fact, he said in the next exchange the only two things he could NOT rule out would be for the rib injury alone to have been caused by CE 399 and for a piece of fragment from it to have landed in the thigh of JBC. I would have to ask him how CE 399 could have caused the major rib damage when it is hardly disturbed at all. Furthermore, how could a fragment come from CE 399 and land in JBC’s thigh when the bullet presented as CE 399 only lost 2.4 grains? Could 2.4 grains be the same fragment seen in JBC’s thigh?
I’m not sure why Wecht could NOT rule these two things out.
It was a comminuted fracture with substantial displacement—and comminuted means fragmented.
This is important as it shows the damage to JBC’s wrist was severe and there is NO way he could have kept on holding the Stetson hat if he was hit when the WC said he was hit. It also shows us that CE 399 should have been totally damaged to have caused this kind of damage to the rib and radius bone.
Also, again, despite the testimony of my colleague, my predecessor here today, I must take strong exception. He had indicated that the radius apparently is not that big a bone. As this distinguished committee and members of staff saw yesterday, Governor Connally, I think, is about six foot four. I don’t know his exact weight, 200 pounds approximately. He is a big man. That is the distal end of the radius where you can see the bone beings to fan out. It is indeed a HEAVY bone. To suggest that it is no thicker than a phalanx, a finger bone in a 10-year old child, is not fair. It is not an accurate description.
This highlights how big JBC’s radius bone would have been, and thus, how dense it would have been.
I say that a bullet that struck the distal radius, the region above the eight small wrist bones—it is one of the two large bones coming down from the elbow to the wrist—that a bullet that struck and caused that damage and which had previously damaged and destroyed, and pulverized 5 inches of the right rib, could NOT have emerged in the near pristine condition of Commission exhibit 399.
Exactly, thus, the bullet presented as CE 399 was NOT the bullet that did this damage (if it was just one bullet). We have seen in a previous post in this series that NO one that saw and touched the bullet found in Parkland Hospital (PH) could identify CE 399 as being the bullet. The only person who claimed to have identified it was the LAST person in the chain of custody.
In that relationship I also want to point out that I heard testimony here today, as I heard discussed previously by our panel that we don’t really know if the fifth right rib was damaged; if so, and how much; and whether it was struck directly, or perhaps the fracture may have been caused by implosion, or whatever. I don’t know where this speculation comes from. I know indeed what the operating surgeon on Friday, November 22, 1963, at Parkland Hospital said about what he found when he explored Gov. John Connally’s chest. He found five inches of that bone literally pulverized.[/b]
shapingopinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Cyril-Wecht-300x300.jpg
[NOTE: Posting this here also since Dr. Cyril Wecht testified before the HSCA.]
The Warren Commission (WC) said Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) shot and killed President John F. Kennedy (JFK) all by himself from behind the limousine. Really?
******************************
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) called Dr. Cyril Wecht to give testimony before them. He was part of the HSCA’s forensic pathology panel and its lone dissenter. He did NOT buy the Single Bullet Theory (SBT) at all. Dr. Wecht is highly qualified to form an opinion as well as he has served as the President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the College of American Legal Medicine. He has also served as the Allegheny Medical Examiner (Pennsylvania) multiple times for many years so his background in forensics is unquestionable and he would be considered an EXPERT in any courtroom in America (and around the world).
During his testimony we see this interesting exchange between him and Mr. Purdy. We will look at each part of the long answer and I will note some comments/questions that I have about what he says.
Mr. PURDY. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Dr. Wecht, referring again to JFK exhibits F-229, F-272, and F-244, which are the frames immediately before and the frames after the sign, you discussed the fact that the men did not line up in a horizontal trajectory?
Dr. WECHT. Yes. The panel, to the best of my recollection, was in unanimous agreement that there was a slight UPWARD TRAJECTORY of the bullet through President John F. Kennedy, that is to say, that the bullet wound of entrance on the President’s BACK, lined up with the bullet wound of exit in the front of the President’s neck, drawing a straight line, showed that vertically the bullet had moved SLIGHTLY UPWARD, but upward.
Slight UPWARD trajectory? How is that possible when the bullet was COMING in a downward fashion per the WC? Also note how Dr. Wecht said the bullet entered JFK’s BACK and NOT the base of the neck as the WC claimed.
That is extremely important for two reasons. One, under the single bullet theory—with Oswald as the sole assassin or anybody else, in the sixth floor window, southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building, you have the bullet coming DOWN at a downward angle of 20-25 degrees, something like that, maybe a little bit less. It had been originally been postulated, I think, by the autopsy team, and the initial investigators, at considerably more. How in the world can a bullet be fired from a sixth floor window, strike the President in the back, and yet have a slightly UPWARD direction?
As we saw in an earlier post in this series Commander Humes said the bullet entered JFK at a FORTY-FIVE degree downward angle!
Mr. SPECTER - Could you state for the record an approximation of the angle of decline?
Commander HUMES - Mathematics is not my forte. Approximately 45 degrees from the horizontal.
This is even worse for the WC’s claim as how does a bullet enter at a 45 degree downward decline, but suddenly go UPWARD when it did NOT hit anything to make it do so? Dr. Wecht highlighted this fact for us here.
There was NOTHING there to cause it to change its course. And then with the slightly upward direction, outside the President’s neck, that bullet then embarked upon a rollercoaster ride with a major dip, because it then proceeded; under the single bullet theory, through Gov. Connally at a 25 degree angle declination.
As we saw in a previous post in this series Dr. Robert Shaw corroborated what Dr. Wecht stated here so no claim can be made that he is wrong or being dishonest.
Mr. SPECTER. Would the shattering of the rib have had any effect in deflecting the path of the bullet from a straight line?
Dr. SHAW. It could have, except that in the case of this injury, the rib was obviously struck so that not too dense cancellus portion of the rib in this position was carried away by the bullet and probably there was very little in the way of deflection.
How can any WC defender explain this odd (let’s say impossible) behavior by the bullet?
To my knowledge, there has never been any disagreement among the proponents and defenders of the Warren Commission report or critics, about the angle of declination John Connally—maybe a degree or two. We have that bullet going through the Govenor at about 25 degrees DOWNWARD. How does a bullet that is moving slightly UPWARD in the President proceed to then move DOWNWARD 25 degrees in John Connally? This is what I cannot understand.
So let me get this straight, the bullet entered JFK at a 25 degree DOWNWARD angle (45 if you believe Humes), then went slightly UPWARD in him, but once it entered John Connally (JBC) it went DOWNWARD on a 25 degree angle again. What? Don’t worry Dr. Wecht, NO one with an ounce of common sense can understand this one either.
My colleagues on the panel are aware of this. We discussed it, and what we keep coming back to is, “well, don’t know how the two men were seated in relationship to each other.” I don’t care what happened behind the Stemmons freeway sign, there is no way in the world they can put that together, and likewise on the horizontal plane, the bullet, please keep in mind, entered in the President’s right BACK, I agree, exited in the anterior midline of the President’s neck, and was moving thence by definition, by known facts, on a STRAIGHT LINE from entrance to exit, from right to left.
We see the same argument/defense today by the WC defenders as they keep arguing the position of the two men could make the SBT possible. The positioning of the two men is the least of the SBT’s worry believe me. The evidence shows us it NEVER happened.
And so with the bullet moving in a leftward fashion, it then somehow made an acute angular turn, came back almost two feet, stopped, made a second turn, and slammed into Gov. John Connally behind the right armpit, referred to medically as the right posterior axillary area.
The vertical and horizontal trajectory of this bullet, 399, under the single bullet theory is absolutely UNFATHOMABLE, INDEFENSIBLE, and INCREDIBLE.
Well said Dr. Wecht. One has to be a dishonest person to believe the SBT actually occurred as the evidence does NOT support it in the least. We have seen numerous posts in this series that shows the SBT could NOT have happened, but here is another. Dr. Wecht would be asked about JBC’s wrist wound and the likelihood of CE 399 being the bullet that did it. Here is what he said and we will again respond with comments/questions to each paragraph of his reply.
Mr. PURDY. Dr. Wecht, I would like you to examine JFK exhibit F-84, which has already been entered into the record, which is an X-ray of Governor Connally’s chest—excuse me—of his wrist, and, Dr. Wecht, could you tell us whether you believe that Commission exhibit 399 could have caused the injuries to the wrist of Governor Connally?
Dr. WECHT. No, I don’t. I would like to emphasize that this is what is referred to as a comminuted fracture. I have been negatively impressed by repeated efforts on the part of my fellow panelists and others to deminimize the nature of this fracture. They imply it was merely slight linear nondisplaced fracture.
He does NOT believe CE 399 caused JBC’s wrist wound at all. In fact, he said in the next exchange the only two things he could NOT rule out would be for the rib injury alone to have been caused by CE 399 and for a piece of fragment from it to have landed in the thigh of JBC. I would have to ask him how CE 399 could have caused the major rib damage when it is hardly disturbed at all. Furthermore, how could a fragment come from CE 399 and land in JBC’s thigh when the bullet presented as CE 399 only lost 2.4 grains? Could 2.4 grains be the same fragment seen in JBC’s thigh?
I’m not sure why Wecht could NOT rule these two things out.
It was a comminuted fracture with substantial displacement—and comminuted means fragmented.
This is important as it shows the damage to JBC’s wrist was severe and there is NO way he could have kept on holding the Stetson hat if he was hit when the WC said he was hit. It also shows us that CE 399 should have been totally damaged to have caused this kind of damage to the rib and radius bone.
Also, again, despite the testimony of my colleague, my predecessor here today, I must take strong exception. He had indicated that the radius apparently is not that big a bone. As this distinguished committee and members of staff saw yesterday, Governor Connally, I think, is about six foot four. I don’t know his exact weight, 200 pounds approximately. He is a big man. That is the distal end of the radius where you can see the bone beings to fan out. It is indeed a HEAVY bone. To suggest that it is no thicker than a phalanx, a finger bone in a 10-year old child, is not fair. It is not an accurate description.
This highlights how big JBC’s radius bone would have been, and thus, how dense it would have been.
I say that a bullet that struck the distal radius, the region above the eight small wrist bones—it is one of the two large bones coming down from the elbow to the wrist—that a bullet that struck and caused that damage and which had previously damaged and destroyed, and pulverized 5 inches of the right rib, could NOT have emerged in the near pristine condition of Commission exhibit 399.
Exactly, thus, the bullet presented as CE 399 was NOT the bullet that did this damage (if it was just one bullet). We have seen in a previous post in this series that NO one that saw and touched the bullet found in Parkland Hospital (PH) could identify CE 399 as being the bullet. The only person who claimed to have identified it was the LAST person in the chain of custody.
In that relationship I also want to point out that I heard testimony here today, as I heard discussed previously by our panel that we don’t really know if the fifth right rib was damaged; if so, and how much; and whether it was struck directly, or perhaps the fracture may have been caused by implosion, or whatever. I don’t know where this speculation comes from. I know indeed what the operating surgeon on Friday, November 22, 1963, at Parkland Hospital said about what he found when he explored Gov. John Connally’s chest. He found five inches of that bone literally pulverized.[/b]