(Testimony of Robert A. Frazier Resumed)
Mr. Frazier.
I can give you my opinion based on this reconstruction, as I understand your question.
All of these things refer to the reconstruction and assuming particularly that the path of the projectile to the President was also the same path, the same angle as it went through his body and then on, and in that connection, yes.
In my opinion the bullet had to strike in the car, either the car itself or an occupant of the car.
Mr. Specter.
And is that a probable opinion of yours based on what you saw during the tests and the facts I have asked you to assume?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; it is, and in fact, I think it is rather--it is obvious when you look at the photographs themselves that the crosshair of the telescopic sight actually would give you the point of impact of the bullet if the weapon is sighted in and if there is no change in the line of sight the bullet had to strike the cars shown in each of these photographs which is frame 225 on this end of this series, and frame 207 on the other end of the series.
It shows that there would be no chance for the bullet to miss the car at all if it had no deviation in its--if it had no deflection in its path.
Mr. Specter.
Did you have an opportunity to examine the car shortly after the assassination?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; I did, on the early morning of November 23, 1963.
Mr. Specter.
The record will show you have testified about it heretofore, but will you again state at this juncture whether or not you found any indication within the car that the interior of the car was struck by a missile proceeding at a high velocity such as 1,775 feet per second?
Mr. Frazier.
No, sir; we found none.
We examined in particular the passenger's section, the rear seat area of the back of the automobile clear up to the back of the rear seat, the rear seat itself, the floorboards and the back of the front seat, the backs primarily of the jump seats, and other areas in the front of the car, the windshield and the chrome and the front hoods and fenders and sides of the automobile and we found no evidence of a bullet impact having those characteristics you mentioned.
Mr. Specter.
Did you also examine the windshield of the car, interior and exterior?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Specter.
And the chrome of the car on the interior and the exterior?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Specter.
Did you also examine the front portion of the Presidential limousine?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; we did. That portion, the dashboard below the windshield and the dashboard in the area immediately under that were particularly examined, because the rest of it would have been shielded from a shot due to the height of the dashboard and the height of the back of the front seat.
Mr. Specter.
Did any of that area examined disclose any impact of such a missile?
Mr. Frazier.
No, sir; not of a high velocity. Only the lead area smeared on the inside of the windshield from a relatively light object which struck the inside, and did not even break the inside surface of the glass, and then there was a possible bullet impact area at the top of the chrome to the right of the rearview mirror. This was made by a projectile not having the weight or velocity of a whole bullet moving at, in the range of a thousand to 1,500 feet per second or more.
Mr. Specter.
Based on the position of Governor Connally as depicted in the Zapruder slides at frames 222 and 225, could he have taken a shot, assuming the firing point to have been the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, which entered and exited from his body in accordance with the known medical evidence?
Mr. Frazier.
I have not made a very thorough study of the Zapruder film which I understand you mentioned in this particular question with reference to the Zapruder film itself.
Mr. Specter.
We will take it with reference to the reconstructed positions of Governor Connally in frames 222 and 225, which you have testified you did observe at the time the measurements and photographs were taken.
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