From: grant_jo@ripple.enet.dec.com (Joel Grant)
Subject: Lattimer, Question Eight
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 28 SEP 92 14:13:24 PDT



Moving along to question eight:  "Was the angle of the bullet track
through the President's body indeed downward at the required 
twenty-degree angle to be compatible to Oswald's firing position
on the sixth floor?"

In a nutshell, Lattimer's answer is: yes.

I believe he is wrong on this point, but here's his analysis:

First, his description of the back wound: (p. 199)  "On the upper back,
just below the juncture of neck and back, there was an ovoid
penetrating wound estimated to be approximately 6 mm X 8mm (one
fourth inch) in size, with its longer axis transverse.  It was
compatible with a 6.5 mm bullet wound and had a blackened rim
around it, which was suggestive of a wound of entry from a
high-speed bullet.  This wound was estimated to lie about 5 cm
to the right of the midline and approximately the same distance
below the transverse double fold in the skin at the juncture of
the neck and back.  This fold in the skin of the neck was very
prominent and may have been related to the thickening of the
tissues of this area.  This bullet hole was recognizable as the
wound described in the autopsy report as lying 14 cm medial to
the tip of the right acromion process and 14 cm below the tip
of the right mastoid process."

Then (since we're talking about vertical trajectory between 
inshoot and outshoot locations) the tracheostomy insicison: (p. 200)

"There was a large transverse tracheostomy wound about 6.5 cm in
length and gaping open at least 1.5 cm at it widest (mid) portion.
The tracheostomy wound in the front of the neck was at a lower
level than I had expected to see it.  It was almost at the 
suprasternal notch, and its upper margin was seen to be far below
the bottom of the transverse fold of skin of the back of the
neck, mentioned before, indicating that the wound of exit was
substantially below the wound of entry in the back of the neck.
The lower lip of the tracheostomy incision had a large cresentic
indentation near its center, as if from the pressure of the large
cuffed tracheostomy tube inserted through it during the attempts
at resuscitation.  Dr. Malcolm Perry had indicated that he had
created this wound by a transverse incision directly through the
bullet hole in the front of the lower neck at this location.

The 1968 panel of forensic pathologists stated in their report
that they could detect, among the irregularities along the upper
margin of this gaping tracheostomy incision, the semicircular
upper half of a wound of exit from a bullet.  I did not find these
photographs sharp enough or close enough to enable me to agree or
disagree with this diagnosis.  However, the relative heights
of the two wounds did make it quite obvious in the photographs
that any bullet that might have exited through this hole had a 
definite downward course through Kennedy's neck, rather than the
relatively horizontal course that had been depicted in the official
schematic diagram made by medical staff artist H.A. Rydbert from
verbal descriptions of the wound and not from actual measurements,
photographs, or a viewing of the body.

Another factor that made the height of the wound on the back of 
Kennedy's neck difficult to describe exactly was that the tissues
at the back of his neck were more prominent than those of most
people.  This was possibly caused by his holding his shoulders
high, producing a roll of tissue across the back of his neck,
or his swimming, or perhaps the cortisone derivative treatments
he had over the years caused a slightly greater than normal 
thickening of these tissues."

Lattimer concludes by briefly re-iterating the course of the
bullet through back/neck, pointing out that the top of the
lung had been bruised but not penetrating, indicating that the
bullet had passed by but not penetrated the lung.  Dr. Lattimer
has basically drawn a figurative line from back to front, reviewing
the damage to the body relative to the anatomical position, and
concluded the bullet path was indeed 20 degrees downward.

I believe the HSCA, which concluded the bullet path was nearly
horizontal was more likely correct than was Lattimer.

In order to keep the posts to a reasonable length, I shall
provide the HSCA trajectory analysis, taken from Donahue,
pp. 328-330, in the next two posts.  

Joel Grant (speaking on his own behalf)