| JFK Assassination Hearings - Larry Sturdivan (Conclusion) | ||
|---|---|---|
| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | 3628 |
| Catalog #: | 459660 | |
| Clip Number: | 459660-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | 104384 | |
| Timecode: | ||
| Location: | Cannon House Office Building | |
| Year Shot: | 1978 (Actual Year) | |
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | Yes | |
| Headings: | GOVERNMENT: Hearings, JFK Assassination | |
| Description: | (12:03:17) Shot opens to exhibit of drag force equation on easel in hearing room with witness LARRY STURDIVAN, ballistics expert, explaining the equation in relation to the bullet and the explosion it caused of JFK's head (12:04:03) Representative FORD asks Sturdivan how long would there be between the bullet hitting the back of JFK's head and the explosion of the skull - Sturdivan references the skull experiment films shown earlier and reponds it would be almost instantaneous (12:04:50) Ford asks how the head could move back if the bullet was going forward - Sturdivan responds that the neuro-muscular jerk back of JFK's head would have taken 4/100s of a second after the bullet's impact, allowing almost no forward movement (12:06:18) Committee Chairman LOUIS STOKES recognizes Representative FLOYD J. FITHIAN to question the witness, Fithian asks Sturdivan to clear up a discrepancy between his description of the entrance wound in Governor JOHN CONNALLY and a description received in earlier testimony from others - Sturdivan explains where his description of the wound is coming from, a drawing done by one of the Parkland Hospital doctors of an ellipse, he then explains what the elliptical shape means as far as the bullet's path is concerned: it had an exaggerated yaw, or angle of spin, meaning it had to have hit something previous to reaching Connally (12:08:05) Fithian confirms his understanding of earlier test data shown in exhibits about the effect of yaw on the bullet's path when traveling through simulated soft tissue (12:09:25) Fithian asks various questions about the explosion of the head and the movement of the skull fragments - In response Sturdivan sums up Fithian's questions as whether or not the explosion of the skull would have propelled the head backwards, Sturdivan answers that the opposing velocity imparted by the propulsion of the skull fragments would have been incidental (12:11:50) Fithian asks if a dry skull is harder than a living one - Sturdivan answers the opposite is true (12:11:58) Representative HAROLD S. SAWYER confirms that the actual bullet shot to JFK's head would have imparted no motion onto the head and then confirms that the goat test films were shown to reach the same conclusions he reached from watching them - that a bullet to the head imparts no motion to the head in the case of the dead goat and that in the case of live goat it demonstrated the neuro-muscular reaction of being shot in the head (12:13:27) Sawyer confirms he understands correctly the correlation between the velocity needed for a bullet to deform and the velocity needed by a bullet to shatter a bone - Sturdivan agrees with his explanation and adds that yesterday's testimony of Dr. MICHAEL BADEN also confirms this relationship, Baden had mentioned hand gun bullets that he had examined that had broken bones but not themselves been deformed (12:15:01) Sawyer confirms that had JFK's spinal cord been severed by the first bullet that he would not have been able to move his arms to reach for his neck upon feeling the injury (12:15:50) Representative ROBERT W. EDGAR asks if there is anything within Sturdivan's expertise to disprove the possibility that Connally was hit by a seperate shot from the one that hit JFK in the back - Sturdivan answers no with the qualification that the bullet entry wound into Connally was descibed as elliptical meaning it had to have hit something that would have at the least altered its yaw or angle of spin to have given such a shape to the injury (12:18:15) Edgar asks if a bullet traveling at an angle would not leave an elliptical wound - Sturdivan answers that in the case of Connally's back wound the ellipse is so severe it can only be the product of a yawed or turned bullet, meaning the bullet would have had to have hit something first before entering the governor (12:19:30) Edgar makes the statement that it is too bad Sturdivan did not have access to some of the evidence while he was preparing for his testimony, namely bullet 399 - Sturdivan responds that he did have photos of evidence and information about the degree of bullet 399's deformity (12:20:30) Sawyer confirms that earlier in his testimony Sturdivan had meant the bullet had yawed before entering Connally and not deformed - Sturdivan apologizes for this mistake (12:21:30) Chairman Stokes asks if previous to this hearing Sturdivan had interviewed with the committee staff about the deformation of bullet 399 (12:22:25) Chair recognizes WALTER MATHEWS who asks that several exhibits be entered into the hearing record (12:23:00) Chair recognizes Sturdivan's opportunity to suppliment his testimony - Sturdivan tells the committee though he is an Army employee he is not their representative and that opinions expressed are his own, he then thanks the committee (12:24:30) Stokes recesses the hearings (12:24:40) Host SANFORD UNGAR voices over hearing room shot a summary of the day's testimony, the shot then changes to him, introduces panel members Professor JACOB COHEN of Brandeis University and DAVID LIFTON, Warren Commission Critic, and they breifly discuss day's testimony, namely conclusions about JFK's head movement (12:28:12) Ungar closes out coverage (12:28:28) PBS funding logo appears (12:37:00) Several takes of PBS correspondent, DENISE BAKER COLEMAN, summing up the day's testimony for a news cast (12:41:36) Correspondent, Coleman, voice over takes begin with a black screen, there are several, and they sum up key parts of witness testimony thus far in the hearings (12:44:44) Tape ends | |
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