JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(15:32:19) Shot opens to Representative EDGAR questioning fire arms expert panel, he asks if the bolt action would have hindered LEE HARVY OSWALD from firing three shots in the time period determined from the Zapruder film - the panel answers no (15:33:15) Edgar asks if its possible that bullet 399 suffered no weight loss in its flight - JOHN S. BATES answers its possible but that the panel cannot conclude if it did or didn't as they do not know its weight prior to flight (15:34:04) Edgar asks the panel if there is anything they want to comment on regarding the rifle and revolvers - No is the unanimous response (15:34:36) Edgar asks the panel if the FBI did an adequate job in their ballistics tests in '63 and '64 - DONALD E. CHAMPAGNE responds yes considering "the pressures of the time" - Edgar asks if there are any other tests they would have done at the time - Champagne responds no (15:35:11) Chairman LOUIS STOKES recognizes Representative FLOYD J. FITHIAN to question the panel, he asks the panel how difficult a shot would Oswald's shot have been with the scope or not - MONTY C. LUTZ answers that the shot would not have been difficult even with all the location and movement factors taken into consideration, the rest of the panel agrees
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(15:38:04) Fithian asks about the amount of usage the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle of Oswald has gotten since the assassination day in order to confirm that this usage would have altered it in such a way as to not allow the current panel's bullets fired from it to be matched to those fired from it in '63 and '64 by the FBI and Oswald - Champagne responds that is has been fired a lot since then (15:39:26) Stokes recognized the panel's right to suppliment their testimony - Lutz answers that the panel feels it has done the most comprehensive job it could and goes on to thank the respective states of the panel members employment for letting them come to testify and to thank the committee (15:41:23) Stokes thanks and dismisses the panel (15:42:03) Chair recognizes Professor ROBERT BLAKEY who gives a history and explanation of scientific techniques used by the Warren Commission to analyze the bullet and fragments found after the assassination: Emission Spectography and Neutron Activation Analysis, both of which produced inconclusive results, the conducting of the later test was not made public until 1973 - Blakey then goes on to introduce Dr. VINCENT P. GUINN, give his credentials and explain breifly the higher degree of sophistication his Neutron Activation tests had
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(15:46:14) Chair calls Guinn and swears him in (15:46:52) Chair recognizes Committee Counsel JIM WOLF - Wolf asks several questions about Guinn's background in science and litigation (15:48:05) Guinn explains with what purpose one conducts a Neutron Activation Analysis test (15:48:42) Wolf gives a hypothetical scenario about someone being murdered with an axe, he asks if neutron activation analysis could prove that metal fragments found in the victim's head matched the axe in question - Guinn responds that it could only determine that they came from the same type of axe (15:49:35) Guinn explains that this test makes it easier to differentiate between metallic objects rather than conclude they come from the same source (15:50:03) Wolf asks several questions in order to review the steps of the test procedure and how it works for the committee (15:53:53) Wolf asks how many different bullets Guinn has analysed - Guinn reponds 165 different brands and production lots (15:54:15) Guinn lists the elements that commonly come up in bullet lead: antimony, copper and silver, and then the less common ones (15:56:35) Guinn answers several questions about his analysis of Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition, in his answers he lists the peculiar traits of this ammunition: that it is low in antimony and that within a single production lot there is a lot of compositional variety - Guinn adds that most bullets within a production lot are carbon copies of one another, even to neutron analysis - Guinn answers other questions about these peculiarities
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(16:00:44) Wolf asks several questions about the evidence Guinn examined mainly confiming its having been tamper free (16:01:38) Guinn lists the bullet fragment evidence that could not be tested and the reasons for this (16:04:34) Guinn lists the bullets and fragments that he did test and identifies each one with a description and number (16:06:13) **** A man in the back of the gallery voices loudly an interruption which is too faint to be made out, he is quickly removed by two men in suits - Guinn stops his testimony, saying "we'll wait until they get the kooks out" (16:07:05) Guinn picks up with his list
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(16:08:09) Wolf asks if there was any lead on the clothing of JFK or Governor JOHN CONNALLY that Guinn tested - Guinn reponds no (16:08:33) Wolf reviews with Guinn some procedural aspects of the test involving the use of the three elements copper, silver, and antimony (16:09:10) Wolf introduces an exhibit of a graph of the decay patterns of an antimony standard and the bullet fragment found in JFK's brain and he discusses with Guinn the significance of this illustration with regard to the results of the test (16:12:20) Wolf introduces another exhibit, it is a repeat of the above mentioned graph only this time with silver - Wolf and Guinn discuss its significance with regard to the test results, this graph shows an extra hump on the bullet fragment section of the graph which Guinn explains is another, different antimony isotope (16:14:42) Wolf asks several questions to get at Guinn's test results of a comparison between the unfired cartridge in Oswald's rifle and a bullet fragment found in a wall that is believed to have been an assassination attempt on a General WALKER by Oswald in April of '63 - Guinn can deduct from the tests that it is "very likely" the bullets were both Mannlicher-Carcano bullets
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(16:17:25) Several charts are introduced as exhibits by Wolf, they illustrate the results of neutron activation analysis conducted on the five fragments surrounding the assassination by listing the percentages of elemental composition by element within each fragment - Guinn says from the results of this test he can conclude that all the fragments are Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition (16:20:58) Wolf asks for a second time, after getting the start of a long-winded answer, how many bullets these fragments belong to - Guinn answers two, Guinn then matches up the fragments with their respective partners, linking bullet 399 to the bullet fragment removed from Connally's wrist (16:22:34) Wolf confirms that Guinn cannot substantiate the single bullet theory as there were no fragments anywhere else on Connally or JFK to link to bullet 399 (16:23:23) Wolf asks the degree of certainty of Guinn's conclusion - Guinn responds that with Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition similarities in compositional levels as close as there are between certain fragments leads to the conclusion that they belong to the same source - after more persistence by Wolf Guinn responds that his conclusions are "highly probable"
JFK Assassination Hearings - The Weapons Experts Panel (Part III) and Dr. Vincen
(16:24:30) Wolf asks what Guinn's response is to Dr. CYRIL H. WECHT's testimony that bullet 399 could not have gone through Connally's wrist and emerged in such good shape - Guinn responds that many people have opinions that "don't agree with facts" (16:25:12) Wolf has Guinn's report of his tests entered into the record (16:25:38) Representative FLOYD J. FITHIAN is recognized by Stokes to question the witness, he, using the tip of his broken pencil lead (which he is corrected by Guinn as being actually graphite) as an illustration, asks several questions about how the neutron activation analysis process and what the differences are between the equipment now used and that used by the FBI in '64 (16:30:33) Fithian asks Guinn to define hardened lead, a term that came up earlier in his testimony - Guinn does so and the tape neatly cuts off right at his conclusion