Arlen Specter's SBT Notebook

[Andrew Mason]

….they could easily see that any theory that needs to be substituted for the Single-Bullet Conclusion lacks all credibility and can easily be shot full of holes via common sense alone.

The evidence is overwhelming that all three shots were fired by a single shooter from the SN and that the shooter was Oswald. That conclusion is not driven by common sense. It is compelled by the evidence.

Prior to Arlen Specter foisting his “common sense” on the WC the FBI was of the view that none of the three shots missed: the first struck JFK in the neck when JFK was opposite the lamp post near the Thornton sign (z190); the second struck JBC in the back around z275 causing all his wounds, and the third struck JFK in the head at z312-313. This sequence is apparent in the FBI working model:


Then the US Army ballistics experts showed that the bullet exiting JFK’s neck was still moving at significant speed.  However, Dr. Light who was Chief of the Wound Assessment Branch at Edgewood Arsenal and a medical doctor who had practiced as a pathologist and whose area of study and work was the pathology of wounds, stated that JBC’s back wound is consistent with having been hit by a pristine bullet. The main reason he thought that it hadn’t had nothing to do with the wound characteristics but with the fact that JBC was in front of JFK: 5H94-96. He stated that he could not tell if the bullet that struck JBC in the back had been yawing: “I don’t feel too certain that it was yawing”.

So according to the most qualified expert on wound assessment, Dr. Light, the wounds in JBC were consistent with a pristine bullet hitting JBC.  If all the witnesses who said that the third shot occurred rapidly after the second and the Connallys, Dave Powers, Gayle Newman were right that JBC was hit on the second shot,  I don’t see any need for the SBT. 

 The rest of the evidence tells you that Oswald did it.

[Tom Graves]

The evidence is overwhelming that all three shots were fired by a single shooter from the SN and that the shooter was Oswald. That conclusion is not driven by common sense. It is compelled by the evidence.

Prior to Arlen Specter foisting his “common sense” on the WC the FBI was of the view that none of the three shots missed: the first struck JFK in the neck when JFK was opposite the lamp post near the Thornton sign (z190); the second struck JBC in the back around z275 causing all his wounds, and the third struck JFK in the head at z312-313.

Then the US Army ballistics experts showed that the bullet exiting JFK’s neck was still moving at significant speed.  However, Dr. Light who was Chief of the Wound Assessment Branch at Edgewood Arsenal and a medical doctor who had practiced as a pathologist and whose area of study and work was the pathology of wounds, stated that JBC’s back wound is consistent with having been hit by a pristine bullet. The main reason he thought that it hadn’t had nothing [sic] to do with the wound characteristics but with the fact that JBC was in front of JFK: 5H94-96. He stated that he could not tell if the bullet that struck JBC in the back had been yawing: “I don’t feel too certain that it was yawing”.

So according to the most qualified expert on wound assessment, Dr. Light, the wounds in JBC were consistent with a pristine bullet hitting JBC.  If all the witnesses who said that the third shot occurred rapidly after the second and the Connallys, Dave Powers, Gayle Newman were right that JBC was hit on the second shot,  I don’t see any need for the SBT. 

 The rest of the evidence tells you that Oswald did it.

The Carcano bullet that was filmed in super slow motion as it passed through and exited a block of ballistic gel in "Cold Case JFK" started yawing within a couple of feet (actually started yawing before it exited the block of ballistics gel), but not all that much.

Point being: the slightly elliptical entry wound in JBC's back could have been caused by a slightly yawning CE-399.

Interestingly, the directionality of the axes of the entry wounds in JFK and JBC were significantly different.

Grok:

JFK’s wound had a vertical major axis (aligned with the body’s longitudinal axis, reflecting the bullet’s downward path from the sniper’s nest). Connally’s wound had a horizontal major axis (lateral, due to the bullet’s tumble after passing through JFK, causing a wider, flatter entry). The single-bullet theory supports this, as the bullet’s yaw after exiting JFK’s neck would reorient its impact angle on Connally.

Contextual Notes:

The vertical axis of JFK’s wound aligns with the shooter’s position (sixth floor, Texas School Book Depository, ~60 feet above ground), creating a downward trajectory.

Connally’s horizontal axis reflects the bullet’s instability (tumbling), as confirmed by forensic analyses (HSCA, 1979) and the rib fracture pattern, which follows a lateral path.

Some discrepancies exist in wound descriptions due to surgical debridement (Connally’s wound was enlarged to ~3 cm post-surgery) and initial mis-probing of JFK’s wound, but the axis orientations are consistently described as above in primary sources.

No X posts or web sources (searched up to September 15, 2025) provide contradictory forensic details on axis orientation; most reinforce the Warren/HSCA findings.

Thus, the major axis of JFK’s back wound (vertical) was oriented differently from Connally’s back wound (horizontal).