(Testimony of Dr. Frederick W. , Jr. Light)
Mr. Specter.
first. I am not sure, I didn't see, of course, none of us saw the wounds in the Governor in the fresh state or any other time, and I am not too convinced from the measurements and the descriptions that were given in the surgical reports and so on that the actual holes through the skin were unusually large.
Mr. Specter.
Have you had access to the autopsy records?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And have you had access to the reports of Parkland Hospital on the Governor's operations there?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
All three of them?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And have you had an opportunity to view the films of the assassination commonly known as the Zapruder films?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And the slides?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And have you had an opportunity to talk to Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gregory who performed the thoracic and wrist operations on Governor Connally?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And you heard Governor Connally's version yourself?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes; but not in----
Mr. Specter.
Not in the Commission?
Dr. LIGHT. Not in the Commission session.
Mr. Specter.
But at the time when the films were viewed by the Governor?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes; I did.
Mr. Specter.
At the VFW building on the first floor?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
Focusing on a few of the specific considerations, do you believe that there would have been the same amount of damage done to the Governor's wrist had the pristine bullet only passed through the Governor's body without striking the President first?
Dr. LIGHT. I think that is possible; yes. It won't happen the same way twice in any case, so you have got a fairly wide range of things that can happen if a person is shot in more or less this way.
Mr. Specter.
Do you think it is as likely that the damage would have been inflicted on the Governor's wrist as it was, with the bullet passing only through the Governor's chest as opposed to passing through the President's neck and the Governor's chest?
Dr. LIGHT. I think the difference in likelihood is negligible on that basis alone.
Mr. Specter.
So the damage on the Governor's wrist would be equally consistent----
Dr. LIGHT, Equally consistent; yes.
Mr. Specter.
With (A) passing only through the Governor's chest, or (B) passing through the President's neck and the Governor's chest?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
Now, as to the damage on the thigh, would the nature of that wound again be equally consistent with either going through (A) the President's neck, the Governor's chest, the Governor's wrist, and then into the thigh, or (B) only through the Governor's chest, the Governor's wrist and into the thigh?
Dr. LIGHT. I'd say equally consistent; yes.
Mr. Specter.
And based on the descriptions which have been provided to you about the nature of the wound on the Governor's back, do you have an opinion as to whether the bullet was yawing or not at the time it struck the Governor's back?
Mr. Light.
No; I don't. That is really one of the points----
Mr. Specter.
It would be either way?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes; I don't feel too certain that it was yawing. The measurements were not particularly precise as far as I could tell. You wouldn't expect them to be in an operating room. So I think it is difficult to be sure there that
|
