Now, you will note that Dr. Shaw earlier in his testimony and in all of my conversations with him, never did indicate that there was any such loss of material into the wrist, nor does the back of this coat which I have examined show that it lost significant amounts of cloth but I think the tear in this coat sleeve does imply that there were bits of fabric lost, and I think those were resident in the wrist. I think we recovered them.
Mr. Specter. Is the back of that bullet characteristic of an irregular missile so as to cause the wound in the wrist?
Dr. Gregory. I would say that the back of this being flat and having sharp edges is irregular, and would possibly tend to tear tissues more than does an inclined plane such as this.
Mr. Specter. Would the back of the missile be sufficiently irregular to have caused the wound of the right wrist, in your opinion?
Dr. Gregory. I think it could have; yes. It is possible.
Mr. Specter. Would it be consistent with your observations of the wrist for that missile to have penetrated and gone through the right wrist?
Dr. Gregory. It is possible; yes. It appears to me since the wound of exit was a small laceration, that much of the energy of the missile that struck the Governor's wrist was expended in breaking the bone reducing its velocity sufficient so that while it could make an emergence through the underlying soft tissues on his wrist, it did not do great damage to them.
Mr. Specter. Is there any indication from the extent of the damage to the wrist whether the bullet was pristine, that is: was the wrist struck first in flight or whether there had been some reduction in the velocity of the missile prior to striking the wrist?
Dr. Gregory. I would offer this opinion about a high velocity rifle bullet striking a forearm.
Mr. Specter. Permit me to inject factors which we have not put on the record although it has been brought to your attention previously: Assume this is a 6.5-millimeter missile which was shot from a rifle having a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,000 feet per second, with a distance of approximately 160 to 200 feet between the weapon and the victim; and answer the prior question, if you would, Dr. Gregory, with those factors in mind?