Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: The Trial of Jack Ruby
(This article was originally posted on September 20, 2014 as part of a series entitled Presidents and the Law.)
Jack Leon Ruby (who was born as Jacob Leon Rubenstein) was the operator of a Dallas nightclub known as the Carousel Club. He became famous on November 24, 1963 when he shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in police custody at the time after being charged with the assassination of John F. Kennedy two days earlier. Ruby boldly walked up to Oswald who was being transferred by police, pulled out a revolver and shot Oswald. A Dallas jury later found Ruby guilty of murdering Oswald, and Ruby was sentenced to death. The circumstances of Oswald's death and Ruby's ties to organized crime have contributed greatly to speculation that a conspiracy was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
On November 24, 1963, Ruby walked to the Dallas police headquarters, where he made his way to the basement. At 11:21 a.m. CST, while authorities were escorting Oswald through the police basement to an armored car that was to take him to the nearby county jail, Ruby stepped out from a crowd of reporters and fired his .38 revolver into Oswald's abdomen. The shooting was broadcast live nationally, and millions of television viewers witnessed it. Following is a video of the shooting:
Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting. He told witnesses that he helped the city of Dallas redeem itself in the eyes of the public, and that Oswald's death would spare Jacqueline Kennedy the stress of coming back to Dallas for Oswald's trial.
After his arrest, Ruby asked Dallas attorney Tom Howard to represent him. Later, Ruby replaced attorney Tom Howard with prominent San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli who agreed to represent Ruby pro bono. Ruby's trial was widely covered by the media. Belli brought a motion to have the trial be moved out of the Dallas area because of the enormous publicity, but this motion was denied. Belli attempted to prove that Ruby was legally insane and had a history of mental illness in his family. Ruby's mother had been committed to a mental hospital years before. The defense was unsuccessful and on March 14, 1964, Ruby was convicted of murder with malice, for which he received a death sentence.
Following Ruby's March 1964 conviction, Ruby's lawyers, led by Sam Houston Clinton, appealed Ruby's conviction. They argued that the motion for a change of venue should have been granted because Ruby could not have received a fair trial in the city of Dallas due to the excessive publicity surrounding the case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals allowed the appeal. It ruled in a unanimous opinion on October 5, 1966 that the refusal of the trial court to grant the motion for change of venue made it impossible for Ruby to obtain a fair trial. The appellate court overturned Ruby's conviction and death sentence, and ordered that he be retried in some location other than Dallas County.
Arrangements were made for a new trial to be held in February 1967, in Wichita Falls, Texas. But on December 9, 1966, Ruby was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, suffering from pneumonia. A day later, doctors realized he had cancer in his liver, lungs, and brain. He died on January 3, 1967.
During the six months following the Kennedy assassination, Ruby repeatedly asked, orally and in writing, to speak to the members of the Warren Commission. The commission initially showed no interest. But when Ruby's sister Eileen wrote letters to the commission and her letters became public, the Commission changed its mind and agreed to talk to Ruby. In June 1964, Chief Justice Earl Warren, then-Representative Gerald R. Ford of Michigan, and other commission members went to Dallas to see Ruby. Ruby asked Warren several times to take him to Washington D.C., saying "my life is in danger here." He added: "I want to tell the truth, and I can't tell it here." Warren told Ruby that the commission would have no way of protecting him, since it had no police powers. Ruby said he wanted to convince President Lyndon Johnson that he was not part of any conspiracy to kill Kennedy.
The Warren Commission found no evidence linking Ruby's killing of Oswald with any broader conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.
A year after his conviction, in March 1965, Ruby conducted a brief televised news conference in which he stated: "Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world." When asked by a reporter, "Are these people in very high positions, Jack?", he responded "Yes."
Ruby also told a Dallas Deputy Sheriff that he had been injected with cancer cells. He later gave the same Deputy a note in which he wrote that there was a conspiracy involved in Kennedy's death. Not long before Ruby died, according to an article in the London Sunday Times, he told psychiatrist Werner Teuter that the assassination was "an act of overthrowing the government" and that he knew "who had President Kennedy killed." He added: "I am doomed. I do not want to die. But I am not insane. I was framed to kill Oswald."
According to the Associated Press, Ruby made a final statement from his hospital bed on December 19 that he alone had been responsible for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. In the statement, Ruby is alleged to have said "There is nothing to hide. There was no one else." Jack Ruby died on January 3, 1965 at the age of 55.
Jack Leon Ruby (who was born as Jacob Leon Rubenstein) was the operator of a Dallas nightclub known as the Carousel Club. He became famous on November 24, 1963 when he shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in police custody at the time after being charged with the assassination of John F. Kennedy two days earlier. Ruby boldly walked up to Oswald who was being transferred by police, pulled out a revolver and shot Oswald. A Dallas jury later found Ruby guilty of murdering Oswald, and Ruby was sentenced to death. The circumstances of Oswald's death and Ruby's ties to organized crime have contributed greatly to speculation that a conspiracy was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
On November 24, 1963, Ruby walked to the Dallas police headquarters, where he made his way to the basement. At 11:21 a.m. CST, while authorities were escorting Oswald through the police basement to an armored car that was to take him to the nearby county jail, Ruby stepped out from a crowd of reporters and fired his .38 revolver into Oswald's abdomen. The shooting was broadcast live nationally, and millions of television viewers witnessed it. Following is a video of the shooting:
Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting. He told witnesses that he helped the city of Dallas redeem itself in the eyes of the public, and that Oswald's death would spare Jacqueline Kennedy the stress of coming back to Dallas for Oswald's trial.
After his arrest, Ruby asked Dallas attorney Tom Howard to represent him. Later, Ruby replaced attorney Tom Howard with prominent San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli who agreed to represent Ruby pro bono. Ruby's trial was widely covered by the media. Belli brought a motion to have the trial be moved out of the Dallas area because of the enormous publicity, but this motion was denied. Belli attempted to prove that Ruby was legally insane and had a history of mental illness in his family. Ruby's mother had been committed to a mental hospital years before. The defense was unsuccessful and on March 14, 1964, Ruby was convicted of murder with malice, for which he received a death sentence.
Following Ruby's March 1964 conviction, Ruby's lawyers, led by Sam Houston Clinton, appealed Ruby's conviction. They argued that the motion for a change of venue should have been granted because Ruby could not have received a fair trial in the city of Dallas due to the excessive publicity surrounding the case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals allowed the appeal. It ruled in a unanimous opinion on October 5, 1966 that the refusal of the trial court to grant the motion for change of venue made it impossible for Ruby to obtain a fair trial. The appellate court overturned Ruby's conviction and death sentence, and ordered that he be retried in some location other than Dallas County.
Arrangements were made for a new trial to be held in February 1967, in Wichita Falls, Texas. But on December 9, 1966, Ruby was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, suffering from pneumonia. A day later, doctors realized he had cancer in his liver, lungs, and brain. He died on January 3, 1967.
During the six months following the Kennedy assassination, Ruby repeatedly asked, orally and in writing, to speak to the members of the Warren Commission. The commission initially showed no interest. But when Ruby's sister Eileen wrote letters to the commission and her letters became public, the Commission changed its mind and agreed to talk to Ruby. In June 1964, Chief Justice Earl Warren, then-Representative Gerald R. Ford of Michigan, and other commission members went to Dallas to see Ruby. Ruby asked Warren several times to take him to Washington D.C., saying "my life is in danger here." He added: "I want to tell the truth, and I can't tell it here." Warren told Ruby that the commission would have no way of protecting him, since it had no police powers. Ruby said he wanted to convince President Lyndon Johnson that he was not part of any conspiracy to kill Kennedy.
The Warren Commission found no evidence linking Ruby's killing of Oswald with any broader conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.
A year after his conviction, in March 1965, Ruby conducted a brief televised news conference in which he stated: "Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world." When asked by a reporter, "Are these people in very high positions, Jack?", he responded "Yes."
Ruby also told a Dallas Deputy Sheriff that he had been injected with cancer cells. He later gave the same Deputy a note in which he wrote that there was a conspiracy involved in Kennedy's death. Not long before Ruby died, according to an article in the London Sunday Times, he told psychiatrist Werner Teuter that the assassination was "an act of overthrowing the government" and that he knew "who had President Kennedy killed." He added: "I am doomed. I do not want to die. But I am not insane. I was framed to kill Oswald."
According to the Associated Press, Ruby made a final statement from his hospital bed on December 19 that he alone had been responsible for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. In the statement, Ruby is alleged to have said "There is nothing to hide. There was no one else." Jack Ruby died on January 3, 1965 at the age of 55.