The Wound In Gov. Connally's Back

[John Corbett]

It's like Corbett's suggestion that the bullet starts rotating 1000 per second as soon as it leaves JFK's throat!

I never put a number on the rate of tumble, only that the bullet would tumble upon leaving JFK's throat. The Haag team showed through experiments that a Carcano bullet would predictably tumble upon exiting from ballistic gel. I don't know how many experiments they did or how consistent the rate of tumble would be. 1000 rpm might be a ballpark figure but I have no way of knowing that.

Somewhere I have a copy of Posner's Cased Closed but I can't find it right now. He dealt with this issue. I don't think he was the first to propose a tumbling bullet but it was the first time I had seen it.

[Jack Nessan]

The hole in the back of JBC's shirt proves you are wrong. You can't just ignore this inconvenient evidence.
The hole is entirely consistent with a nose-on impact at an angle and entirely inconsistent with a tumbling bullet.
And is it just me who finds the idea that the bullet would have continued 'tumbling' as it passed through JBC's torso ridiculous.
It continues rotating as it smashes through flesh and bone??
Where is all this rotational energy coming from?
It's like Corbett's suggestion that the bullet starts rotating 1000 per second as soon as it leaves JFK's throat!

I agree the bullet could deviate from its course as a result of passing through JBC and exit his chest on a different trajectory.
When it strikes his radius the bullet fragments. Tiny fragments are spread throughout his wrist (as shown in the pre-op X-Rays). A Slightly larger fragment passes through his wrist (explaining the "slit-like" exit wound in the crease of his wrist and the lack of a bullet hole through his wrist). But the largest fragment, the majority of the bullet, is deflected down into his leg after which it falls to the floor of Trauma Room 2 as JBC is being transferred from his stretcher to the operating table.

The hole in the back of JBC's shirt proves you are wrong. You can't just ignore this inconvenient evidence.

Absolutely meaningless. The tear in the coat and the wound in his back were both elongated. The wound on the rib was caused by a bullet sliding along the rib with the bullet in a vertical position for 10 CM before pushing through the rib.

Dr. SHAW - The fact that the muscle bundles on either side of the fifth rib were not damaged meant that the missile to strip away 10 centimeters of the rib had to follow this rib pretty much along its line of inclination.

----------------------------------------
 
The hole is entirely consistent with a nose-on impact at an angle and entirely inconsistent with a tumbling bullet.

No, tumbling or yawing is a very rational explanation. Are you are promoting the idea the bullet went from Elongated (coat) to puncture (shirt) to elongated (back wound), and the hole in the shirt was cut back taking samples to the point no one knows what it looked like to begin with. There is no definitive explanation for how a shirt would tear as the bullet passes through it.

------------------------

And is it just me who finds the idea that the bullet would have continued 'tumbling' as it passed through JBC's torso ridiculous.

It continues rotating as it smashes through flesh and bone??

Why do you think it is cartwheeling? Yawing was the description I always read. Nose up or down.

The bullet was considered to be undamaged as it left JBC’s chest, but with greatly reduced velocity. The only damage that could possible have occurred to the bullet was when it struck the radius bone in the wrist which the rear of the bullet is flattened as a result. By the time the bullet had entered the wrist the velocity of the bullet had been greatly reduced which is exhibited in the shallow ½ inch deep thigh wound.

Dr. SHAW - The wound entrance was an elliptical wound. In other words, it had a long diameter and a short diameter. It didn't have the appearance of a wound caused by a high velocity bullet that had not struck anything else; in other words, a puncture wound. Now, you have to also take into consideration, however, whether the bullet enters at a right angle or at a tangent. If it enters at a tangent there will be some length to the wound of entrance.

Mr. SPECTER - So, would you say in net that there could have been some tumbling occasioned by having it pass through another body or perhaps the oblique character of entry might have been occasioned by the angle of entry.
Dr. SHAW - Yes; either would have explained a wound of entry.

-----------------------------
 
Where is all this rotational energy coming from?
It's like Corbett's suggestion that the bullet starts rotating 1000 per second as soon as it leaves JFK's throat!
 
I agree the bullet could deviate from its course as a result of passing through JBC and exit his chest on a different trajectory.
When it strikes his radius the bullet fragments. Tiny fragments are spread throughout his wrist (as shown in the pre-op X-Rays). A Slightly larger fragment passes through his wrist (explaining the "slit-like" exit wound in the crease of his wrist and the lack of a bullet hole through his wrist). But the largest fragment, the majority of the bullet, is deflected down into his leg after which it falls to the floor of Trauma Room 2 as JBC is being transferred from his stretcher to the operating table.

It was a round exit wound in JBC's wrist and a round entrance wound in JBC's thigh.

The bullet entered the wrist backwards with parts of his clothing on it and exited leaving a perfectly round hole in his wrist and then left a ½ inch deep wound in his thigh. Leaving only a minute amount of flakes from the bullet. No large fragments at all. By this point the bullet is a very reduced velocity.