Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Recent Posts

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 ... 10
31
Just what evidence would that be that establishes Oswald was in the 2nd floor lunchroom during the assassination?

Literally ALL the evidence...

Every single witness to Oswald's whereabouts puts him in the 2nd Floor Lunch Room...Truly & Baker, new witness Sarah Stanton, Dougherty, Carolyn Arnold, Oswald himself, Buell Frazier (who said Oswald's partly-eaten cheese sandwich and apple were seen on the 2nd Floor Lunch Room table), and James Hosty who said Oswald admitted he was alone in the Lunch Room during the assassination...

There are no witnesses to Oswald being outside on the front steps top platform during the assassination...Frazier said Oswald wasn't there...Yet the dysfunctional CT community keeps insisting Oswald was there out front in order to indulge lunatic fringe researchers and their pet theories...
32

The reason it is an issue is because the good evidence DiEugenio has helped railroad out of view with his corrupted methods is clearly establishing that Oswald was in the 2nd Floor Lunch Room during the assassination.

Just what evidence would that be that establishes Oswald was in the 2nd floor lunchroom during the assassination?
33
It is generally understood that the plotters of the conspiracy went to Lovelady & Shelley and got them to lie and say they left the front steps 3 minutes after the shots because they were trying to doctor Victoria Adams' testimony in order to push it back 3 minutes in order to give Oswald time to make it down the steps...Adams was a problem because she and Styles did not see Oswald running down the NW steps...The plotters knew this so they went to Lovelady & Shelley and got them to push their times back in order to make Adams look stupid...They hadn't considered anyone closely examining Couch/Darnell at that time and seeing Lovelady & Shelley fast-walking up the extension revealing the true time...In 1974 Dallas reporter Dean Glaze got Shelley to admit that he was CIA...The rest is academic...Shelley was a major part of the conspiracy in the Lobby and guided Armstrong's "Harvey" out the back after being stopped at the front door by a cop...That is why Shelley was mentioned in Fritz's notes - but only in the context of being out front in the Lobby with Shelley 4 or 5 minutes after the shots...Kamp misrepresents that as being out front with Shelley during the shots...Kamp is a liar...

Couch/Darnell is film evidence anyone can see with their own eyes...Lovelady & Shelley's 3 minute lie is no valid substitute for what is more than obviously shown in Couch/Darnell...Stubbornly repeating it over and over while ignoring the plainly-visible evidence is not a credible research practice...Once you've proven Lovelady & Shelley are the men on the extension then the man in front of Calvery on the steps automatically becomes Molina...

   "Generally Understood..............." ??  STOP with the Ed Forum clap trap. Present your Evidence. We'll let you know.
34
As a follow-up, I quote more of physicist Howard Roffman's discussion on the evidence that FMJ ammo was not the ammo that hit JFK's head, and that the ammo that hit JFK's skull was traveling at a high velocity (whereas the alleged murder weapon was not a high-velocity rifle):

MTG doesn't believe that a FMJ bullet hit JFK's head even though a fragmented FMJ bullet was found in the limo. He believes a different type of ammo did hit JFK in the head even though not a trace of any other type of ammo was found in the limo or in JFK's head. I wonder what the thinks the fragmented FMJ bullet struck that caused it to fragment.
Quote

The Commission had its "expert" compare these fragments with the two similar fragments that were found in the front seat of the presidential limousine and identifiable with "Oswald's" rifle. The result of this comparison, as presented in the Report, is seemingly to associate these traceable fragments with the head wounds. The expert is quoted as follows:

"the recovered fragments were very similar to the ones recovered on the front seat and the floor of the car. This to me, indicates that those fragments did come from the bullet that wounded the President in the head." (Warren Report, p. 87)

These are the last words of the Report's discussion of the head wounds. Since no qualifying language follows, the reader is left with the impression that the "expert opinion" is valid in associating the identifiable fragments with the wounds. Nowhere in the Report do we find the simple fact that the fragmentation of both the test bullet and the found bullet pieces is not an exclusive occurrence, as implied. The break-up observed is consistent with the normal fragmentation pattern of full-jacketed military bullets. When such bullets break apart, the core usually separates from the jacket. The Commission could have produced the same effect if it fired the bullet through a piece of masonite.

Thus, for all its claims, the Commission was able to present no credible evidence associating bullets from "Oswald's" rifle, or even military bullets in general, with the President's head wounds.

JFK's head was blown apart and a fragmented FMJ Carcano bullet was found in the limo with two pieces which were ballistically matched to Oswald's Carcano. It requires a person with common sense to figure out that fragmented bullet was the one that hit JFK in the head. I guess that leaves MTG out.
Quote

The nature of the bullet fragmentation within the President's head actually disassociates military bullets from the head wounds, and strongly suggests that some type of sporting ammunition struck the head. . . .

This is where MTG pretends he's an expert on ballistics.
Quote

The "Clark Panel" is describing a 6.5 mm. piece of metal that separated from the bullet upon entering the skull and became embedded in the skull at the bottom portion of the entrance wound. This, the key to the type of ammunition causing the wound, vitiates Dr. Humes's previously cited testimony that a "jacketed bullet" probably caused this entrance wound.

The bullet from which was shaved this substantial fragment upon entrance could not have been covered with a hard metal jacket such as copper alloy. Such a fragment is, in fact, a not infrequent occurrence from a lead bullet. Rowland Long, in his book The Physician and the Law, speaks of the penetration of lead bullets into the skull and asserts: "Not infrequently a collar shaped fragment of lead is shaved off around the wound of entrance and is found embedded in the surrounding scalp tissues." Criminologist Lemoyne Snyder describes a similar phenomenon in his book Homicide Investigation. Forensic pathologist Dr. Halbert Fillinger explained to me the principles that rule out full-jacketed ammunition and suggest a lead bullet:

"You can appreciate the fact that a jacketed projectile is going to leave very little on the [bone] margins because
it's basically a hardened jacket, and it's designed so that it will not scrape off when it goes through a steel barrel. One can appreciate the fact that going through bone, which is not as hard as steel, may etch or scratch it, but it's not going to peel off much metal. In contrast to this a softer projectile might very well leave little metallic residues around the margins."

And yet a fragmented FMJ bullet was found inside the limo. An inconvenient truth for MTG for which he seems to have no explanation.
Quote

The Commission's case against Oswald requires full-jacketed ammunition to have been used to inflict the wounds of President Kennedy. The presence of the 6.5 mm. metallic fragment in the margin of the skull entrance wound eliminates the possibility that a full-jacketed bullet entered through this hole. Such a fragment located at that site is indicative of a lead or soft-nosed bullet. . . .

MTG continues to pretend he is an expert on ballistics. It's quite entertaining when he does this.
Quote

The loss of a substantial quantity of brain tissue becomes significant when we consider Dr. Humes's testimony that the X rays showed "30 or 40 tiny dustlike particle fragments" of metal in the President's head (2 H 353). Humes cautioned that the fragments that appeared to be "the size of dust particles" (2 H 359) on the X rays would actually have been smaller because "X ray pictures ... have a tendency to magnify these minute fragments somewhat in size" (2H353). Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman saw the X rays during the autopsy and provided a similar description: " ... the whole head looked like a little mass of stars, there must have been 30, 40 lights where these little pieces were so minute that they couldn't be reached" (2 H 100). . . .

Dr. Fillinger tells me that the fragments described in the President's brain were not characteristic of a military round. . . . He feels that the break-up of the bullet is more consistent with a hunting round. . . .

No hunting rounds nor fragments of hunting rounds were found in JFK's head nor inside the limo. There was a fragmented FMJ military round found in the limo. An inconvenient fact which MTG continues to ignore.
Quote

The size and extent of the gaping defect, and the associated fracturing and fragmentation of the skull, are indicative of a high-velocity bullet's having struck the head to produce this damage. Dr. Fillinger has expressed to me his strong feeling that the extensive fragmentation of the skull is the consequence of a high-velocity round. He stated that the presence of such massive fracturing means that "there is a tremendous amount of force applied to the skull to produce all these fractures .. .. This has been pretty well fragmented, as a matter of fact," he told me, "and again, speaks for some sort of high-velocity round". . . .

Now MTG pretends to be an expert in forensic pathology.
Quote

Because there was great damage to the head and extensive bullet fragmentation in the brain, Dr. Fillinger was doubtful that the Mannlicher-Carcano could have produced these wounds. "To produce this kind of effect," he told me, "you have to have a very high-velocity projectile, and the Carcano will not stand very high bolt pressures."(Presumed Guilty, 1976, pp. 113-120)[/font]

Just as a reminder, Dr. Fillinger was a nationally recognized forensic pathologist, considered a "giant" in the field, who was known for handling the most serious cases. "The Halbert E. Fillinger Lifetime Achievement Award" was named after him to recognize outstanding contributors to forensic science. The International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners chose Dr. Fillinger to represent them on the U.S. Department of Justice's National Medicolegal Review Panel. The website Practical Homicide says this about him:

Tell us when Dr. Fillinger examined the medical evidence.
Quote

The "Halbert E. Fillinger Lifetime Achievement Award" is named in honor of Dr. Halbert Fillinger, who was a forensic pathologist. His 40 years of service included his time as Chief Medical Examiner in the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office before being elected Coroner of Montgomery County, PA.

During his career, Dr. Fillinger lectured many times at the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., and all branches of the Armed Forces. Respected for his work, officials in the states of Texas, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado sought his advice. (https://www.practicalhomicide.com/current/Vidocq.html)


BTW, Dr. Fillinger regarded the SBT as pure bunk; he said there was just no way that CE 399 could have caused all of JFK's and Connally's non-fatal wounds and emerged virtually undamaged, especially with its lands and grooves intact (Roffman, Presumed Guilty, pp. 142-144).

Anyone who still claims that JFK's head was hit with FMJ ammo needs to produce a single reputable forensic source that says that FMJ ammo striking skull bone can shatter into dozens of particles and can deposit fragments in the outer table of the skull upon penetration. World-renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent DiMaio said that FMJ ammo will never shatter into dozens of tiny fragments; that if an x-ray shows a cluster of tiny fragments (a "lead snowstorm," as we see on JFK's skull x-rays), this "rules out" FMJ ammo; and that on the "rare" occasions when FMJ bullets do fragment after entering skull, they will leave "few" fragments:

An x-ray of an individual shot with a full metal-jacketed rifle bullet . . . usually fails to reveal any bullet fragments at all even if the bullet has perforated bone such as the skull or spine.If any fragments are seen, they are very sparse in number. . . .(Gunshot Wounds, p. 166)

In x-rays of through-and-through gunshot wounds, the presence of small fragments of metal along the wound track virtually rules out full metal-jacketed ammunition.. . . In rare instances involving full metal-jacketed centerfire rifle bullets, a few small, dust-like fragments of lead may be seen on x-ray if the bullet perforates bone. One of the most characteristic x-rays and one that will indicate the type of weapon and ammunition used is that seen from centerfire rifles firing hunting ammunition. In such a case, one will see a 'lead snowstorm'. . . . Such a picture rules out full metal-jacketed rifle ammunition or a shotgun slug. (Gunshot Wounds, p. 318)

For more information on the evidence that JFK's head was not hit with FMJ ammo and that FMJ ammo could not have produced the bullet fragmentation seen on the JFK autopsy skull x-rays, see my article "Forensic Science and President Kennedy's Head Wounds."

The only meaningful comparison would be a test 6.5mm FMJ round fired from a Carcano rifle into a synthetic skull filled with ballistic gel. All FMJ bullets are not alike and should not be expected to perform in a like manner. The 6.5mm is an unusual round that is not commonly in civilian use. More common FMJ bullets are .30-06 rounds which are used in a wide variety of weapons and the 5.56 NATO round, commonly used in AR-15 platforms. These bullets differ from the Carcano bullet in both diameter and velocity. On top of that, rifles are rarely used in homicides. Homicides committed with rifles using FMJ ammo are a subset of those, and homicides committed by gunshot wounds to the head using FMJ bullets fired from a rifle are an even smaller subset. Even a forensic pathologist who worked in that capacity for decades would see few if any homicides involving FMJ bullets fired into the victim's skull and likely would have seen no such homicides involving Carcano FMJ rounds. Therefore, generalizations regarding how such a round would behave when striking a victim's skull should be met with a good deal of skepticism. 
35
Why is any of this an issue? None of it sheds any light on the JFKA. It is just a bunch of screwballs trying to make something out of nothing.

Because under The Education Forum and Jim DiEugenio the CT community has taken a serious wrong turn and ran the credibility of JFK research on to the rocks via Greg Parker and Bart Kamp...This single issue and the corruption around it has railroaded and paralyzed good JFK research and made the JFK internet a trench warfare battle zone of no progress and confusion...It isn't the Lone Nutters who are doing this it is that idiot Jim DiEugenio and his tendency towards generating gangs and cliques of favorites over good research...Jim is in it for the ego satisfaction and he has a whole internet of sycophants that take that bargain and help him along with it...That group just succeeded in putting a prime DiEugenio ass-kisser, Andrew Iler, in dictatorial control of The Education Forum and its "Moderator Team" (All DiEugenio suck-ups)...

The reason it is an issue is because the good evidence DiEugenio has helped railroad out of view with his corrupted methods is clearly establishing that Oswald was in the 2nd Floor Lunch Room during the assassination...The Education Forum makes itself the welcomed home of unlimited bullsh*t that fills its annals with years of detailed fodder yet carefully stays away from the important necessary conclusions this evidence leads to...And they do it under the implied premise that they are the ultimate researchers with the best methods - all kept safe by wicked censorship and banning controlled by a core group of favored members (The Moderator Team)...They have the balls to suggest this assumption of superior status to the degree of giving instruction on how to put people on ignore...The whole time protecting the bogus Prayer Man theory with some of the worst corruption and dishonesty in research history and allowing no counter evidence...All headed off by false accusations of rules violations...

Why is it an issue?...Because the Prayer Man subject has successfully prevented a solving of the conspiracy single handedly...And it has been done by a creep researcher, Bart Kamp, who is protected from fair playing field adversarial debate by a group of dominating hacks, bullies, frauds, and suck ups who see the Prayer Man theory as a short route to insider status in the research community...
36
Doyle,

The only two things that are right in your tinfoil-hat CT are that big-tall, dressed-in-black Gloria Calvery is standing on one of the lower TSBD steps in Darnell, and that the person back in the corner isn't Lee Harvey Oswald.

-- Tom



The man facing Calvery is Molina...

Prayer Man is Sarah Stanton...

The clique likes to keep its favorite researcher boy Bart Kamp from admitting that a major, embarrassing bogus claim blew up in his face and that someone he mocked and ridiculed handed his *** to him...It has to be really embarrassing to have a huge Prayer Man website and then wear the thing around your neck like a toilet seat with hacks still giving you credit for it while flagrantly ignoring the refuting evidence...The Prayer Man theory only continues to exist in direct relationship to the amount of censorship that supports it...
37

It is generally understood that the plotters of the conspiracy went to Lovelady & Shelley and got them to lie and say they left the front steps 3 minutes after the shots because they were trying to doctor Victoria Adams' testimony in order to push it back 3 minutes in order to give Oswald time to make it down the steps...Adams was a problem because she and Styles did not see Oswald running down the NW steps...The plotters knew this so they went to Lovelady & Shelley and got them to push their times back in order to make Adams look stupid...They hadn't considered anyone closely examining Couch/Darnell at that time and seeing Lovelady & Shelley fast-walking up the extension revealing the true time...In 1974 Dallas reporter Dean Glaze got Shelley to admit that he was CIA...The rest is academic...Shelley was a major part of the conspiracy in the Lobby and guided Armstrong's "Harvey" out the back after being stopped at the front door by a cop...That is why Shelley was mentioned in Fritz's notes - but only in the context of being out front in the Lobby with Shelley 4 or 5 minutes after the shots...Kamp misrepresents that as being out front with Shelley during the shots...Kamp is a liar...

Couch/Darnell is film evidence anyone can see with their own eyes...Lovelady & Shelley's 3 minute lie is no valid substitute for what is more than obviously shown in Couch/Darnell...Stubbornly repeating it over and over while ignoring the plainly-visible evidence is not a credible research practice...Once you've proven Lovelady & Shelley are the men on the extension then the man in front of Calvery on the steps automatically becomes Molina...
38
JFK Assassination Discussion & Debate / Re: The First Shot
« Last post by Royell Storing on Yesterday at 02:33:17 PM »
Well, why don't you read through the list lil tommy and count them up yourself.
As usual, you've missed the point.
Speer has compiled a list of 44 witnesses who recall JFK reacting as we see in the Z-film - arms moving upwards, slumping to the left, straightening up etc.
He also points out that not a single witness recalls him carrying on waving and smiling after the first shot.
It's a list of 44 witnesses confirming that the first shot was the one that caused JFK to have the extreme reaction we see in the Z-film.

Look at the Tyler/Speer evidence a few posts back, look at the OP.
How much evidence can you ignore?
Don't you feel weird ignoring all this evidence?
What does it say about you as a researcher?

  DAN - Yeah, "only" 44 witnesses, "who did not recognize the first blast as a gunshot for various reasons". There must have been something in the Texas water on 11/22/63 for "Only 44 witnesses" to ALL do this.  More Ed Forum  BS:
39
Smart group? I'm sorry. I just couldn't let that one slide. If was a committee of congressman. It's not as if we send our best and brightest people to Washington. Many of the people in Congress ended up there because they sucked at everything else they had tried.
Good for them. They didn't screw everything up.

   The above is comical. You run down Congress on-the-whole, and then slap them on the back when they agree with You. The HSCA came up with 4 shots. That's what torks you off and taints your overall opinions of that body. If not for the HSCA, what material would Groden have walked off with?
40
I think some follow-up to these points will be helpful.

Howard Donahue, a court-certified ballistics and firearms expert, met with Dr. Alfred Olivier in the spring of 1969. Donahue wanted to talk with Olivier about the head-shot wound ballistics test that Olivier conducted for the Warren Commission (WC) in 1964. In that test, 10 FMJ bullets were fired into human skulls. The skulls were wrapped and filled with ballistics gelatin to simulate both the scalp on the skull and the brain matter inside the skull. The gelatin on the outer surface of the skull was "trimmed down to approximate the thickness of the tissues overlying the skull, the soft tissues of the head" (5 H 87). 

Olivier told Donahue that "in each case" the bullets broke into "only two or three large fragments," and that the bullets did not "disintegrate or explode." Olivier even showed Donahue the skulls from the test, and Donahue noted that the resulting exit wounds were "nowhere close to where Kennedy's exit wound was located." I quote from Bonar Menninger's book Mortal Error, which Menninger wrote with Donahue to tell the story of how Donahue came to formulate the mortal-error theory of the assassination:

Donahue needed more data. He'd already concluded that the slug [the head-shot bullet] -- by virtue of its disintegration on impact -- showed all the characteristics of a small-caliber, high-velocity, soft-nosed round. But what about the Warren Commission's test firings? Did the Carcano test bullets disintegrate in a similar fashion? Donahue didn't think so. The doctor who'd conducted the flawed analysis of the single-bullet theory -- the shots through goat meat and cadavers -- Dr. Alfred Olivier up at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal, had done the head-shot tests as well. What could be learned from Olivier?

In the spring of 1969, Donahue made a phone call to Edgewood. Luckily, Olivier was still employed there. Donahue got Olivier on the line and, without going into detail, explained that he was a weapons expert who'd been investigating the assassination. He said he'd be very interested in seeing the results of Olivier's head-shot test firings firsthand. Would it be possible to come and visit him? Olivier said he didn't see why not, and the two set an appointment for the following week.

Edgewood is located an hour or so north of Baltimore on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The compound is part of the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a sprawling facility where in the 1960s the instruments of war -- everything from artillery rounds to napalm -- were tested and refined.

Olivier was a veterinarian by training and responsible for studying the effects of gunshots on animals in the arsenal's wound ballistics lab. Donahue found Olivier to be a friendly man with graying hair and wire-rimmed glasses. The men exchanged pleasantries. Donahue asked about the doctor's attempts to duplicate the President's head wounds. Olivier explained he had test-fired Carcano rounds into ten human skulls filled with gelatin. The gelatin simulated the human brain.

"Did the bullets break up?" Donahue asked.

"Yes, they did," Olivier replied.

"How big were the fragments? I mean. . . . How many were there?"

"Well, in each case, I could find only two or three large fragments, but together they seemed to account for the bulk of the bullet's mass."

"So the bullets didn't disintegrate or explode, as far as you could see?" Donahue asked.

"No," Olivier replied, "they did not."

Donahue asked if any of these fragments had somehow been deposited on the outside table of the skull.

"No," Olivier said. "Actually, I have the skulls here. I brought them out in anticipation of your visit. Would you like to see them?"

Olivier began pulling human skulls out of two plastic bags. Donahue quickly made a mental note. Olivier had obviously fired his shots into the skulls slightly above and to the right of the external occipital protuberance. . . .

Predictably, the resulting exit wounds were nowhere close to where Kennedy's exit wound was located. Most were in the face of the skull, shattering the bones in the forehead area. (Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK, St. Martin's Press, 1992, pp. 83-84).


Yet, the transcript of Olivier's WC testimony has Olivier saying that all the bullet fragments in CE 857 came from one bullet and were recovered from a single skull from the head-shot test, which is a physical impossibility for an FMJ bullet and which contradicts what Olivier told Donahue about his test.

Furthermore, CE 857 shows 19-21 fragments plus two large fragments. Even if we assume that all those fragments came from a single bullet, this would not duplicate the behavior of the ammo that hit JFK's head. The JFK head-shot ammo deposited over 30 tiny fragments in the right-frontal region, deposited several fragments to the left (viewer's left) of the right-frontal fragment cluster, deposited two fragments slightly behind and above the right orbit at least 1 inch from any other fragment, deposited a lone fragment in the left side of the skull, and deposited several fragments and a few particles on the rear outer table of the skull.

It gets worse, and more suspicious. CE 857 and CE 859 are supposed to show the same fragments from the same bullet recovered from the same skull, but they clearly do not show this. CE 859 shows 32-35 fragments, at least five of which are 10-20 mm wide and 10-20 mm long, but the two large fragments seen in CE 857 are not shown.

Even WC counsel Arlen Specter noticed this obvious discrepancy and asked Olivier about it. Olivier said the two exhibits were supposed to contain the same fragments, and then suggested that some of the fragments may have "dropped out," presumably before the exhibits were photographed. At that point, Specter felt compelled to hold an off-the-record discussion with Olivier. When they came back on the record, nothing more was said about the obvious conflict between the two exhibits:

Mr. SPECTER. Are all of the fragments on 859 contained within 857?

Dr. OLIVIER. They are supposed to be, photographed and placed in the box. If they dropped out, they are supposed to be all there.

(Discussion off the record.) (5 H 88)


We should keep in mind that Olivier worked for the Army, so he could have been ordered to misrepresent his test results. If he had refused, he could have been fired. Notice that not one word was said about the fragmentation of the nine other bullets in Olivier's test, a very odd and suspicious omission, especially since Olivier was never asked if the supposed fragmentation of the one test bullet was representative of the behavior of the other test bullets.

Physicist Howard Roffman noted way back in 1976 that the released skull x-rays from Oliver's head-shot test show bullet fragmentation that is very different from the fragmentation seen in the JFK autopsy skull x-rays:

These x-rays depict gelatin-filled human skulls shot with ammunition of the type allegedly used by Oswald. They were classified by the government and remained suppressed until recently; they are printed here for the first time ever. What they reveal is that Oswald1s rifle could not have produced the head wounds suffered by President Kennedy. The bullet that hit the president in the head exploded into a multitude of minuscule fragments. One Secret Service agent described the appearance of these metal fragments on the X rays: "The whole head looked like a little mass of stars." The fragmentation depicted on these test x-rays obviously differs from that described in the president's head. The upper x-ray reveals only relatively large fragments concentrated at the point of entrance; the lower reveals only a few tiny fragments altogether. This gives dramatic suppressed proof that Oswald did not fire the shot that killed President Kennedy.(Presumed Guilty, A. S. Barnes, 1976, pp. 155-157; pp. 156-157 show the released skull x-rays from Olivier's test)

Roffman also noted that the bullet fragmentation seen in the JFK autopsy skull x-rays is not the type fragmentation that would be caused by an FMJ bullet:

The only solid observation that can be made on the basis of fragmentation depicted in the head x-rays is that a bullet striking the head fragmented extensively, leaving pieces of metal, for the most part "the size of dust particles," concentrated toward the frontal portion of the brain. This type of fragmentation is not consistent with the type of full-jacketed military ammunition that the Commission says was used. The construction and composition of full-jacketed bullets obviates any such massive break-up. As noted previously, when military ammunition fragments, it is usually in such a manner that the core separates from the jacket. The core may undergo further break-up, although its metallic composition does not permit the creation of numerous dust-like particles. (Presumed Guilty, pp. 117-118.)

As a follow-up, I quote more of physicist Howard Roffman's discussion on the evidence that FMJ ammo was not the ammo that hit JFK's head, and that the ammo that hit JFK's skull was traveling at a high velocity (whereas the alleged murder weapon was not a high-velocity rifle):

The Commission had its "expert" compare these fragments with the two similar fragments that were found in the front seat of the presidential limousine and identifiable with "Oswald's" rifle. The result of this comparison, as presented in the Report, is seemingly to associate these traceable fragments with the head wounds. The expert is quoted as follows:

"the recovered fragments were very similar to the ones recovered on the front seat and the floor of the car. This to me, indicates that those fragments did come from the bullet that wounded the President in the head." (Warren Report, p. 87)

These are the last words of the Report's discussion of the head wounds. Since no qualifying language follows, the reader is left with the impression that the "expert opinion" is valid in associating the identifiable fragments with the wounds. Nowhere in the Report do we find the simple fact that the fragmentation of both the test bullet and the found bullet pieces is not an exclusive occurrence, as implied. The break-up observed is consistent with the normal fragmentation pattern of full-jacketed military bullets. When such bullets break apart, the core usually separates from the jacket. The Commission could have produced the same effect if it fired the bullet through a piece of masonite.

Thus, for all its claims, the Commission was able to present no credible evidence associating bullets from "Oswald's" rifle, or even military bullets in general, with the President's head wounds.

The nature of the bullet fragmentation within the President's head actually disassociates military bullets from the head wounds, and strongly suggests that some type of sporting ammunition struck the head. . . .

The "Clark Panel" is describing a 6.5 mm. piece of metal that separated from the bullet upon entering the skull and became embedded in the skull at the bottom portion of the entrance wound. This, the key to the type of ammunition causing the wound, vitiates Dr. Humes's previously cited testimony that a "jacketed bullet" probably caused this entrance wound.

The bullet from which was shaved this substantial fragment upon entrance could not have been covered with a hard metal jacket such as copper alloy. Such a fragment is, in fact, a not infrequent occurrence from a lead bullet. Rowland Long, in his book The Physician and the Law, speaks of the penetration of lead bullets into the skull and asserts: "Not infrequently a collar shaped fragment of lead is shaved off around the wound of entrance and is found embedded in the surrounding scalp tissues." Criminologist Lemoyne Snyder describes a similar phenomenon in his book Homicide Investigation. Forensic pathologist Dr. Halbert Fillinger explained to me the principles that rule out full-jacketed ammunition and suggest a lead bullet:

"You can appreciate the fact that a jacketed projectile is going to leave very little on the [bone] margins because
it's basically a hardened jacket, and it's designed so that it will not scrape off when it goes through a steel barrel. One can appreciate the fact that going through bone, which is not as hard as steel, may etch or scratch it, but it's not going to peel off much metal. In contrast to this a softer projectile might very well leave little metallic residues around the margins."

The Commission's case against Oswald requires full-jacketed ammunition to have been used to inflict the wounds of President Kennedy. The presence of the 6.5 mm. metallic fragment in the margin of the skull entrance wound eliminates the possibility that a full-jacketed bullet entered through this hole. Such a fragment located at that site is indicative of a lead or soft-nosed bullet. . . .

The loss of a substantial quantity of brain tissue becomes significant when we consider Dr. Humes's testimony that the X rays showed "30 or 40 tiny dustlike particle fragments" of metal in the President's head (2 H 353). Humes cautioned that the fragments that appeared to be "the size of dust particles" (2 H 359) on the X rays would actually have been smaller because "X ray pictures ... have a tendency to magnify these minute fragments somewhat in size" (2H353). Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman saw the X rays during the autopsy and provided a similar description: " ... the whole head looked like a little mass of stars, there must have been 30, 40 lights where these little pieces were so minute that they couldn't be reached" (2 H 100). . . .

Dr. Fillinger tells me that the fragments described in the President's brain were not characteristic of a military round. . . . He feels that the break-up of the bullet is more consistent with a hunting round. . . .

The size and extent of the gaping defect, and the associated fracturing and fragmentation of the skull, are indicative of a high-velocity bullet's having struck the head to produce this damage. Dr. Fillinger has expressed to me his strong feeling that the extensive fragmentation of the skull is the consequence of a high-velocity round. He stated that the presence of such massive fracturing means that "there is a tremendous amount of force applied to the skull to produce all these fractures .. .. This has been pretty well fragmented, as a matter of fact," he told me, "and again, speaks for some sort of high-velocity round". . . .

Because there was great damage to the head and extensive bullet fragmentation in the brain, Dr. Fillinger was doubtful that the Mannlicher-Carcano could have produced these wounds. "To produce this kind of effect," he told me, "you have to have a very high-velocity projectile, and the Carcano will not stand very high bolt pressures."(Presumed Guilty, 1976, pp. 113-120)


Just as a reminder, Dr. Fillinger was a nationally recognized forensic pathologist, considered a "giant" in the field, who was known for handling the most serious cases. "The Halbert E. Fillinger Lifetime Achievement Award" was named after him to recognize outstanding contributors to forensic science. The International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners chose Dr. Fillinger to represent them on the U.S. Department of Justice's National Medicolegal Review Panel. The website Practical Homicide says this about him:

The "Halbert E. Fillinger Lifetime Achievement Award" is named in honor of Dr. Halbert Fillinger, who was a forensic pathologist. His 40 years of service included his time as Chief Medical Examiner in the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office before being elected Coroner of Montgomery County, PA.

During his career, Dr. Fillinger lectured many times at the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., and all branches of the Armed Forces. Respected for his work, officials in the states of Texas, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado sought his advice. (https://www.practicalhomicide.com/current/Vidocq.html)


BTW, Dr. Fillinger regarded the SBT as pure bunk; he said there was just no way that CE 399 could have caused all of JFK's and Connally's non-fatal wounds and emerged virtually undamaged, especially with its lands and grooves intact (Roffman, Presumed Guilty, pp. 142-144).

Anyone who still claims that JFK's head was hit with FMJ ammo needs to produce a single reputable forensic source that says that FMJ ammo striking skull bone can shatter into dozens of particles and can deposit fragments in the outer table of the skull upon penetration. World-renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent DiMaio said that FMJ ammo will never shatter into dozens of tiny fragments; that if an x-ray shows a cluster of tiny fragments (a "lead snowstorm," as we see on JFK's skull x-rays), this "rules out" FMJ ammo; and that on the "rare" occasions when FMJ bullets do fragment after entering skull, they will leave "few" fragments:

An x-ray of an individual shot with a full metal-jacketed rifle bullet . . . usually fails to reveal any bullet fragments at all even if the bullet has perforated bone such as the skull or spine.If any fragments are seen, they are very sparse in number. . . .(Gunshot Wounds, p. 166)

In x-rays of through-and-through gunshot wounds, the presence of small fragments of metal along the wound track virtually rules out full metal-jacketed ammunition.. . . In rare instances involving full metal-jacketed centerfire rifle bullets, a few small, dust-like fragments of lead may be seen on x-ray if the bullet perforates bone. One of the most characteristic x-rays and one that will indicate the type of weapon and ammunition used is that seen from centerfire rifles firing hunting ammunition. In such a case, one will see a 'lead snowstorm'. . . . Such a picture rules out full metal-jacketed rifle ammunition or a shotgun slug. (Gunshot Wounds, p. 318)

For more information on the evidence that JFK's head was not hit with FMJ ammo and that FMJ ammo could not have produced the bullet fragmentation seen on the JFK autopsy skull x-rays, see my article "Forensic Science and President Kennedy's Head Wounds."
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 ... 10