22-07-2014, 02:45 AM
Drew Phipps Wrote:Part of the problem with the autopsy is that the official description of the back wound IS oval: 6 mm by 4 mm. Since bullet holes of entrance may be somewhat smaller than the bullet itself, as the skin is elastic, I could get behind the idea that a 6.7 mm bullet could leave a 6 mm hole. But I can't get behind the idea that a round bullet 6.7 mm in diameter could leave a oval hole with a minor axis measurement of only 4 mm.
But if you believe that a 6.7 mm bullet could leave a 4 mm hole (60%), then you must also believe that this bullet struck JFK while tumbling, or at an angle, that the bullet's "apparent" size in the long direction was around 10 mm (if you assume that the resiliency of the skin is the same in a "north-south" direction as it is in an "east-west" direction). Looks like to me that requires a 3 cm long bullet entering at a 30 degree angle from the horizontal.
Upon further reflection, if you assume not that the resiliency is proportional, but absolute (namely that 1.35 mm of JFK's skin along the edge of the bullet hole would "bounce back" (to give us a small axis of 4 mm) then the large axis of the bullet's apparent size as it enters the skin is 8.7 mm. Which is an angle of 3.8 degrees from the horizontal.
Alas, I am not a doctor, and can't tell you which of these scenarios is more likely from a medical standpoint. However, neither of these angles appear to match the apparent angle of entry of 45 - 60 degrees observed by the autopsy physicians.
The description of the 7 mm by 4 mm back wound by Humes is consistent with a bullet with a considerable yaw angle. In particular he reported that the damage beneath the skin practically coincided with the surface wound.
Fox-5 shows the shape of this wound which Humes mislabeled as oval resembled a keyhole with a short rod like extension.
This combined evidence makes a case for attributing the 7 mm by 4 wound to an exiting bullet.
The Forensic Pathology Panel reported that the remnant throat wound had a denuded and discolored margin. These characteristics describe a bullet wound of entry.
This interpretation of the throat wound as a wound of entry and the 7 mm by 4 mm longitudinal back wound as a wound of exit is consistent with the reports by the medical panels who replaced the longitudinal back wound with a 7mm by 10 mm transverse back wound.