(Testimony of Robert A. Frazier Resumed)
Mr. Frazier.
reason except they hit and all the pressure is on one side and it turns the bullet and it goes off at an angle.
If there was no deviation from the time the bullet left the rifle barrel until the time it exited from the Governor's body, then the physical setup exists for it to have gone through the President, and through the Governor.
Mr. Specter.
You mean from the time it exited through the Governor's body?
Mr. Frazier.
That is right? Otherwise, you have nothing to base a conclusion upon. If you have deviation anywhere along the line then you both affect the position at which the Governor could have been shot--for instance--if the bullet entered the Governor's back and immediately took a 20° leftward angle, then the Governor could have been shot when he was facing straightforward in the automobile.
Now, I can't tell that, and therefore I can only say that my opinion must be based on your assumption that there was not a deviation of the bullet through, the President's body and no deviation of the bullet through the Governor's body, no deflection. On that basis then you can say that it is possible for both of them to have been hit with one bullet.
Representative Ford.
Does that opinion rule out the possibility or cast doubt on the possibility of a third shot?
Mr. Frazier.
It does not rule out the possibility of a third shot. No, sir; because I can only base my opinion on what I saw and my own experience, and that is that a bullet could have struck the President, if it had deflection in the President's body it could have, and he happened to be in a certain position in the car which would affect the angle, the bullet may have exited from the automobile.
Representative Ford.
As I understood your assumptions there was no deviation and no deflection, and I thought I phrased my question based on your opinion under those facts, it might rule out a third shot.
Mr. Dulles.
Do you mean rule out a third shot entirely or just rule out a third shot hitting in the car?
Representative Ford.
Rule out a third shot in one instance or establish the possibility of a third shot that missed everything.
Mr. Frazier.
As I understand your question I am now assuming these various factors to exist, that there was no deviation, no change in the path of the bullet.
Representative Ford.
The bullet went through the President and through the Governor.
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; then under that premise and the reconstruction showing the position of the car with reference to the path of the bullet, then it is entirely possible that these two individuals were hit with one bullet and that there was not another bullet that struck in the car other than the one that struck the President in the back of the head and exited from his head.
Representative Ford.
Under these assumptions there is a possibility there was not a third shot or there was a third shot that missed everything.
Mr. Frazier.
That missed everything; yes, sir.
Mr. Dulles.
Is there any way of correlating the time of the shot with the position of the car so as to know whether possibly the first shot was fired before the car was out from the tree and it might have hit a branch of the tree and be deflected so it didn't hit the car? If he had fired too soon. I guess it is impossible.
Mr. Frazier.
It is possible, I don't have any evidence to support it one way or the other.
Mr. Dulles.
Yes.
Mr. Frazier.
As to whether or not a limb of the tree may have deflected one shot. However, I think it should be remembered that the frame 207 is just as he exits under the tree; from there to frame 225 to where the President shows a reaction is only a matter of 1 second. He is under the tree in frames 166 until frame 207, which is about 2 seconds. So somewhere in that 3-second interval there may have been a shot--which deflected from a limb or for some other reason and was never discovered.
Representative Ford.
Mr. Chairman, may I return to questions that I was asking Mn Frazier?
Mr. Mccloy.
Yes.
Representative Ford.
Again making those same assumptions we made a moment
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