Considerations of a back to neck perforating wound

[Herbert Blenner]

Descriptions of Kennedy's neck wound by the Parkland doctors
emphasized roundness over ovalness. In particular, Dr. Carrico, who
inserted a breathing tube past the bullet hole, called the neck wound
rather round. Dr. Perry who performed the tracheotomy described the
wound as roughly spherical to oval and his assistant, Dr. Baxter,
observed a spherical wound whose ovalness was not worth mentioning.
These observations infer an incidence angle no more than 20 degree,
about one half the angle shown on CE 385.

http://mysite.verizon.net/a1eah71/punchingholes_files/perforating.jpg

The observations of a round to a slightly oval bullet hole in
Kennedy's neck enable a feasibility study of various trajectories.
Referring to "Searching for a perforating wound," P'R' represents the
perpendicular to the exit site. Directions P'Q' and P'Q'' make equal
angles with the perpendicular and bound a family of trajectories
consistent with the observations of the Parkland doctors. This
particular construction uses an angle of 20 degree. Extrapolating the
direction P'Q'' to point A on the back yields the highest entry site
for this particular family. Drawing the perpendicular, BA, to point A
enables measurement of the incidence angle as 30 degree. So this
initial lowering of the entry site has increased the incidence angle
by 10 degree, nearly half the required 22-degree increase for
agreement with the 42-degree incidence angle derived from dimensions
of the 7 mm by 4 mm oval bullet hole. Extending the perpendicular to
the exit site, P'R', to point D yields a lower entry site. Although
the direction of the trial trajectory, FD at point D is steeper than
the trajectory at point A, CA, the curvature of the back changes the
directions of the perpendiculars. So drawing the perpendicular to
point D, ED, and measuring the incidence angle of 33 degree shows that
curvature of the back effectively frustrates finding a reasonable
entry point for an upright victim as shown in the drawing.

Although this mental exercise failed to find a lower entry site
consistent with the dimensions of the bullet hole, the consideration
of curvature suggests an alternate procedure. Namely bowing the head
on a biophysically accurate model to increase the incidence angle at a
trial entry site by raising the perpendicular. If this method should
find a consistent entry site then rotations of the torso and bowed
head as a unit about the hips could bring the trial trajectory into
alignment with the real trajectory between shooter and victim.