JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
Opens with Professor ROBERT BLAKEY, chief council, introducing and giving the credentials of Dr. CYRIL H. WECHT the only dissenting member of the Committee's forensic pathology panel (15:26:56) Committee/Chair, Mr. STOKES, call and swear in Wecht (15:27:40) Chair recognizes staff council DONALD A. PURDY, Purdy asks if Wecht requested to testify - Wecht answers yes - Purdy asks what conclusions of the forensic pathology panel Wecht is in disagreement with (15:28:15) Wecht tells the court he is in disagreement with the single bullet theory which merely corroborates the Warren Commission findings and eliminates the possibility of any other contributing assassin (15:28:31) Wecht is also dismayed that the panel did not insist on conducting tests with the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and ammunition, tests to conclude whether the same bullet could break a rib and wrist bone and emerge in such good condition, further he was disappointed a more intense effort was not made to recover important bits of medical information (15:29:20) Wecht has raised the remote possibility of a second synchronized shot from the right side but needs the brain for examination to substantiate such a possibility (15:30:05) Purdy asks if it is the opinion of Wecht that bullet 399 (of the single bullet theory) could not have done all the damage to JFK and Governor JOHN CONNALLY - Wecht responds yes (15:30:45)
JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
Wecht is presented with bullet 399 (15:31:46) Purdy asks what is basis that bullet 399 couldn't have caused wound - Wecht responds: the timing of the Zapruder film, the evaluation of the wounds on JFK and Conally, the timing of the tests (tests conducted in 1964 at request of Warren Commission in which Mannlicher Carcano rifle was fired), the testimony of Conally and the vertical and horizontal trajectories attributed to bullet 399 (15:31:50) Wecht is asked to explain exhibit of bullet images which he has introduced - Wecht does so at easel with pointer - the first exhibit is photos of bullet 399 taken at different angles - the bullet is shown and explained by Wecht to be in very good shape (15:33:45) Wecht turns to another exhibit, an image of 5 bullets which he claims "demonstrates the absurdity of the single bullet theory" - Wecht goes on to explain that this image is a comparison between bullet 399 and four other Mannlicher-Carcano bullets fired during tests requested by Warren Commission, the first two bullets were fired into cotton wadding and remain in good shape, the third bullet went through a goat rib and is flattened noticeably and the forth bullet went through a cadaver wrist and its nose is completely smashed (15:35:48) "I ask anybody... to look at 399 which under the single bullet theory is alleged to have broken both a rib and a radius and contrast it with" the other bullets, Wecht says he wanted further experiments to substantiate or revoke these findings (15:38:15) Purdy asks if tests now in 1978 could be conducted to accurately simulate the original incident - Wech responds that tests have been performed by a professor at the University of Kansas who was not a wealthy man, yes they could be done (15:39:45)
JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
*CONSPIRACY NOTE* Wecht tells the court tests were not done because people knew what the out come would be (15:40:40) Purdy asks if Wecht feels the single bullet theory concluded upon by the panel is demonstrably false - Wecht answers he wants to see only one bullet do this sort of damage and emerge in as pristine condition as it did (15:41:22) Purdy wants to know what disagreement Wecht has over the single bullet theory with regard to JFK's and Connally's position within the car - Wecht responds mens' physical position makes the bullet's path impossible (15:43:00) Photographic stills of the Zapruder film are placed on the easel and Wecht explains the photos - they are four progressive frames of the film - Wecht claims neither man physically appears to him to have been shot as early as the single bullet theorists claim. Wecht then emphasizes that between the first and second photos during which the car passes by a sign which obscures the passengers that only 9 tenths of a second have elapsed, this is a time period in which hardly any dramatic physical movement could have been possible (single bullet theorists believe it is possible within this obscured time that the men's position change and line up to allow for the bullet's unique path) (15:47:30) Purdy wants to know nature of wound that would cause JFK to react so fast - Wecht responds it is because bullet's entrance is near nerves (15:48:50) Purdy wants to know how certain Wecht is that men's position wasn't aligned behind the sign - Wecht responds there is no way between the photos of before and after sign the men could have changed their position to make the single bullet theory possible (15:49:46)
JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
New exhibits appear - diagrams of people's position within the car (15:51:10) Purdy asks how the people's positions were determined in the diagram - Wecht explains: review of film, consultation with people involved and witnesses (15:51:45) Purdy asks how in conjunction with bullet's normal path diagrams disprove single gun theory - Wecht responds bullet's courses remain straight unless disrupted by hard surface (15:52:43) Purdy asks if Connally could have held on to hat after getting shot in the wrist - Wecht responds "absolutely not," Wecht states that in last Zapruder photo you can see Connally still holding his hat 1.5 seconds after being supposedly being shot, even with nerve damage that did occur in wrist and after being shot through the chest (15:53:55) Purdy asks if it is Wecht's opinion that in this frame Connally has been shot - Wecht responds no (15:55:21) Two more photos of the Zapruder film are added (15:57:00) Purdy asks if Connally has now been struck in the new photos - Wecht answers yes and explains with the photo (15:57:13) Chair, Mr. STOKES, calls committee recess, for house vote - camera pulls out to reveal dispersing audience (15:58:25) Host of hearings, SAMFORD UNGAR, voices over court shot to announce recess (15:58:40)
JFK Assassination Hearings - Dr. Cyril H. Wecht
Shot turns to host and panel, JEREMIAH O'LEARY a Washington Star reporter and DAVID LIFTON a researcher and writer on JFK, they recap the day's testimony and comment upon it (I 15:59:03 - O 16:24:00) Committee reconvenes and chair recognizes Purdy to question Wecht (16:24:00) Purdy asks why don't men line up in vertical trajectory - Wecht answers bullet on slight incline coming though JFK but was originally fired from the sixth floor of a book depository obviously at a downward angle, then upon leaving JFK the bullet takes a downward angle through Connally (16:24:15) Wecht complains that the forensic pathology department is hung up on how we can't know how men were positioned when the car was behind the sign, this is used to explain how the bullet's path possible even though the horizontal trajectories also do not match up (16:27:00) X-ray of Connally's wrist is introduced by Purdy, Purdy asks if bullet could have done the damage shown in X-ray - Wecht explains (16:28:10)