Famous 1995 COPA Conf. Presentation on JFK Back of Head Wound Cover Up by Dr. Gary Aguilar

HSCA Cover-Up Expose: Andy Purdy's Mea Culpa & Dr. Gary Aguilar's Analysis

Timestamped Bullet Point Summary of Andy Purdy's Admission and Dr. Gary Aguilar's 1995 Devastating Expose of HSCA Cover-Up

• Andy Purdy's Admission of HSCA Report Errors
[00:00] Former HSCA counsel Andy Purdy acknowledges that Dr. Aguilar pointed out important problems with the HSCA report, specifically that their statement claiming all Bethesda autopsy witnesses contradicted Parkland doctors was incorrect.

• Sealed Records Revelation
[01:00] Purdy expresses surprise that the interview reports with Bethesda witnesses were sealed for 50 years rather than made part of the public record as he had recommended and expected.

• Acknowledgment of Cover-Up Appearance
[01:34] Purdy admits that sealing records which contradict the HSCA's conclusory statements "looks pretty bad" and resembles the same criticism leveled against the Warren Commission.

• Dr. Aguilar's Thesis on HSCA Compartmentalization
[03:39] Dr. Aguilar presents Thomas Canning's letter to Robert Blakey criticizing the compartmentalization of the HSCA investigation, which made it "nearly impossible to do good work in reasonable time and reasonable cost."

• CIA-Style Operation Structure
[05:44] Aguilar argues that Blakey organized the HSCA medical investigation like a CIA operation where "the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing" and was specifically prevented from knowing.

• The Parkland Doctors' Consistent Testimony
[06:23] Aguilar documents that Parkland doctors consistently described a large wound in the rear of JFK's head, including Kemp Clark (neurosurgery professor) describing "a large wound beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region."

• HSCA's False Claim About Bethesda Witnesses
[09:59] The HSCA report falsely stated that "all of those interviewed attending the autopsy corroborated the general location of the wounds as depicted in the photographs. None had differing accounts."

• Andy Purdy's Television Demonstration
[10:16] Aguilar shows footage of Andy Purdy on KRON-TV demonstrating the wound location as being "above the forehead" rather than in the back of the head.

• Autopsy Report Contradicts HSCA Placement
[12:07] The original autopsy report describes "a large irregular defect on the scalp and skull on the right involving chiefly the parietal bone, but extending somewhat into the temporal and occipital regions," contradicting the frontal placement.

• Warren Commission vs. HSCA Entry Wound Locations
[13:29] Aguilar demonstrates the significant discrepancy between where the Warren Commission placed the entry wound (low in the occiput) versus where the HSCA placed it (much higher), calling it an impossible mistake for trained pathologists.

• Boswell's Face Sheet Evidence
[14:22] Dr. Boswell's autopsy face sheet from the night of the autopsy shows a 17-centimeter defect, larger than the 13 centimeters reported in the final autopsy report.

• 17-Centimeter Measurement Analysis
[15:50] Using a ruler on a skull, Aguilar demonstrates that a 17-centimeter defect measured from the front of the head reaches exactly to the external occipital protuberance in the back, supporting a rear head wound.

• Boswell's Confirmation of Large Rear Defect
[16:47] In a recorded phone conversation, Dr. Boswell confirmed to Aguilar that the 17-centimeter measurement represented the wound before a bone fragment was replaced, and that Warren Commission diagram 388 showed the bone fragment back in place.

• Paul O'Connor's Corroborating Diagram
[18:10] Autopsy technician Paul O'Connor's diagram of what he saw matches Boswell's description of a large defect extending to the back of the skull.

• Pierre Fink's Statement on Physical Evidence
[18:58] Autopsy pathologist Pierre Fink stated that "viewing of the physical evidence itself" was better than "drawings, x-ray films, and photographs" which "were subject to distortion."

• Ronald Jones' Consistent Position
[19:37] Parkland doctor Ronald Jones consistently maintained in multiple interviews that the wound was in the back of the head, not the front, stating "Certainly I can tell you the wound is not here" when shown the frontal location.

• Secret Service and FBI Witness Testimony
[21:38] Secret Service agents Clint Hill, Roy Kellerman, and Will Greer all described the wound as being in the rear of the head, with Greer stating "the skull was completely gone toward the rear."

• Bethesda Witnesses Confirm Rear Wound
[21:21] Multiple Bethesda witnesses including Paul O'Connor, Jesse O'Connor, Aubrey Reich, Theron Ward, Floyd Reedy, and Frank O'Neil all described seeing a defect in the back of the head.

• Mortician Tom Robinson's Account
[22:44] Tom Robinson, who prepared Kennedy's body for burial, described the wound as "directly behind the back of his head, approximately between the ears or higher up."

• John Ebersole's Original Statement
[23:01] X-ray technician John Ebersole originally told researcher Art Smith that "the back of the head was missing" before being shown the photographs by the HSCA.

• Suppressed Witness Diagrams
[24:00] Aguilar reveals that diagrams drawn by Bethesda witnesses showing rear head wounds were suppressed for 50 years, including drawings by Tom Robinson, FBI agents Sibert and O'Neill, and others.

• Dr. Humes Contradicts HSCA Entry Wound Location
[25:45] When shown the HSCA's higher entry wound location, autopsy pathologist Dr. Humes insisted the actual entrance wound was at the lower location, stating there was "no defect corresponding to this, the higher wound, in the skull at any point."

• Missing Autopsy Photographs
[27:17] Multiple autopsy participants recalled taking photographs that don't exist in the official record, including chest photos, internal body cavity shots, and skull wound documentation that photographer John Stringer said were missing.

• Justice Department Authored Completeness Statement
[27:51] The statement claiming all autopsy photographs were complete was written by the Justice Department and signed by the autopsy team, not authored by the medical personnel themselves.

• Professional Photographer's Impossible Claims
[28:37] Photographer John Stringer noted that some film cassettes allegedly had no film in them, which Aguilar explains is impossible for a professional photographer using view cameras.

• Pierre Fink Denies Photographing Skull Wounds
[29:59] Autopsy pathologist Pierre Fink specifically denied that the skull wound photographs shown to him were the ones he took to document the entrance wound forensically.

• Compartmentalization Confirmed
[30:37] Dr. Aguilar concludes by demonstrating that key forensic evidence (witness diagrams) was never shown to HSCA medical panel members, confirming the compartmentalization that undermined the investigation's integrity.
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Original Source Attribution:

Dr. Gary Aguilar wrote: "...In 199[5], HSCA counsel [Andy] Purdy spoke at a public conference hosted by the Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) in Washington D.C. During his presentation, he explained that he had searched in vain for signs of conspiracy in JFK’s autopsy evidence. When these suppressed statements and diagrams depicting JFK’s rearward skull damage were projected in slide form before the entire audience, Purdy backed down. After all, his signature was plainly visible at the bottom of most of the documents. In retreat, he conceded he was “unhappy” the HSCA had reported, “All of those interviewed who attended the autopsy corroborated the general location of the wounds as depicted in the photographs; none had differing accounts... .”

Purdy was quick to add, however, that he hadn’t written the statement, and that he didn’t know who had. The report in which these HSCA misstatements appears is prefaced with the following statement: “Materials submitted for this report by the committee’s forensic pathology panel were compiled by HSCA staff members Donald A. Purdy, Jr. and T. Mark Flanagan.”[288] Perhaps Mr. Purdy’s denial is factual because neither Purdy nor Flanagan actually furnished the writer of the false passage with the damning interviews. If that is the case, however, the writer’s comment – “All of those interviewed who attended the autopsy corroborated …” – makes little sense.

More enlightening about this episode, however, were the comments of HSCA forensic consultants, Michael Baden, MD and Cyril Wecht, MD, JD, who were also present with Purdy on the podium. Despite their positions as the HSCA’s medical consultants, neither Baden nor Wecht had ever seen this important autopsy evidence. Purdy hadn’t let his own autopsy experts know about any of these autopsy witnesses. That assumes, of course, that it was the lowly counsel Purdy who made the decision to keep key consultants in the dark, a decision so beyond his authority it seems unlikely he would have made it alone. In testimony before the ARRB, Purdy stated he in fact did not make that decision. Robert Blakey had.[289]

So on the mystery of who authored the falsehoods about the autopsy witnesses, one must therefore not discount the possibility that chief counsel, Robert Blakey, might have played a role. Although Blakey specifically denied to author Aguilar writing this unfactual section of the report (as did perhaps the one other possible choice, Richard Billings), it is not impossible to imagine that Blakey might himself have written this section to help keep the lid securely fastened over the revelations of the autopsy witnesses he had apparently already hidden from his medical consultants...."

https://www.history-matters.com/essays/jfkmed/How5Investigations/How5InvestigationsGotItWrong_5.htm
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