RUBY, JACK 1911-1967

Murderer

A Murder Which Shocked a Nation

On the afternoon of 22 November 1963 President John F. Kennedy, riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, was killed by an assassin. Within an hour and a half Lee Harvey Oswald was picked up by the police. The press coverage of the assassination and Oswald's arrest was immense. On 24 November Oswald was moved from the Dallas police headquarters, where he had been held, to the county jail. An army of reporters was on hand, and the transfer was broadcast live on national television. Suddenly, a bulky man named Jack Ruby stepped out of the crowd and fatally shot Oswald in the abdomen.

Jack Ruby

Ruby was a fifty-two-year-old nightclub owner who had lived in Dallas since receiving an honorable discharge from the army in 1946. In Dallas he changed his name from Rubenstein and eventually operated a strip joint called the Carousel Club.

An Erratic Personality

Ruby craved publicity and cultivated a rough-and-tumble persona. He had an emotional temperament tinged with violence. He acted as his own bouncer in his club, and he was always quick to take on anyone who made anti-Semitic remarks. He was a familiar sight around the police station and newsrooms, where he would often drop by to talk and do small favors for officers and media personnel.

A Day of Tragedy

On the day President Kennedy was assassinated, Ruby was at the offices of the Morning News drafting an advertisement for his club. When he heard of the murder he became visibly upset and changed his advertisement to a tribute to the dead president. He then returned to his club, announced that it would be closed that evening, and made a series of telephone calls to relatives and acquaintances, with whom he recounted the events of the day in an agitated manner. Later that evening he picked up some sandwiches to deliver to friends at a local radio station. On the way he stopped by the police station and arranged an interview for one of the station's personnel. He arrived in time for the midnight press conference with Oswald. It was there that he first caught sight of the accused assassin, whom he referred to as a "little weasel of a guy."

A Chance Encounter

Ruby would see Oswald one more time. On Sunday, 24 November Oswald was scheduled to be moved to the county jail. The move had been announced for 10:00 A.M., but it did not occur until about 11:20. Ruby was downtown that morning to send money to one of his showgirls. As he drove to the Western Union office, he noticed a crowd of people at the nearby police station, waiting by the ramp to the basement. He later said that after sending the money he walked over to the ramp only out of curiosity. As Ruby entered the basement, Oswald was led out. Ruby, by impulse or plan, then stepped forward, firing his gun once. He mortally wounded Oswald in front of a crowd of policemen and spectators and before a national television audience.

Belli for the Defense

Not surprisingly, the trial of Ruby for the murder of Oswald attracted immense attention and news coverage. As his attorney, Ruby chose Melvin Belli, known as "King of Torts" for his success in representing clients in personal injury suits. Belli had acquired a good knowledge of medical matters in his career, and he decided that a medical argument was the best means to defend his client. His strategy was to show that Ruby had suffered temporary insanity when he shot Oswald. However, Belli had little experience in criminal cases, and, after the verdict was in, Belli's strategy was criticized.

Questionable Decisions

The trial was conducted in Dallas in March 1964, after the judge, Joe B, Brown, refused Belli's motion for a change of venue on the grounds that the enormous media coverage and the criticism that the city had received for being hostile to the president would prevent their client from getting a fair trial. Judge Brown also allowed the prosecution to introduce testimony about statements Ruby had made to the police immediately after the shooting concerning his motivation and premeditation. Premeditation was the key to the prosecution's attempt to convict Ruby of first-degree murder, which carried the death penalty in Texas. The prosecution had to show that Ruby did not shoot Oswald on an impulse but that he had entered the basement intending to kill him. Ruby had told the police that when he had seen Oswald's sarcastic sneer at the press conference on Friday night, he had decided to kill the man if he got the chance. The fact that Ruby was carrying a pistol when he went by the police department added weight to this argument, although the defense argued that he was armed because he often carried large amounts of cash. Indeed, when he was arrested, Ruby had over two thousand dollars on his person.

A Fugue State of Mind

The defense argued that Ruby suffered from emotional instability. They suggested that he had been so upset by the assassination of President Kennedy that he had acted irrationally. He was shown to be capable of precipitous mood swings, and the defense argued that after the killing of Kennedy he had slipped into a fugue state of mind and was unable to tell right from wrong. They argued that the shooting of Oswald was the result of a quirk of fate which had placed Ruby with a gun in the same place as Oswald. However, the emphasis of the defense lawyers on Ruby's insanity may have worked against them. By spending most of their time on that argument, they neglected to build up proof to support a lesser charge if the jury found that Ruby was sane. If convicted of unpremeditated murder, Ruby would only have faced a few years in jail. But, as the case stood, once the jury was convinced Ruby was legally sane its only real alternative based upon the evidence was a verdict of first-degree murder. After deliberating less than two-and-one-half hours, the jury returned its verdict of guilty, and he was sentenced to death in the electric chair.

Bring on the Second Team

But this was not the end of Ruby's struggle. For the appeals process Belli and the other trial attorneys were replaced by William Kunstler, Elmer Gertz, and others. These attorneys claimed that Judge Brown had made several procedural errors that had denied Ruby a fair trial. They also claimed that Judge Brown had contracted to write a book on the case, possibly influencing him to push for a conviction.

A Second Chance

Eventually, the new defense team presented their argument to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The court held that the testimony of police officers concerning Ruby's confession was inadmissible. The court also found that the trial could not be fairly held in Dallas because of the widespread publicity and strong feelings in the community. The court ordered a new trial. Meanwhile, Judge Brown had excused himself; he would not be involved in the new trial. During this long legal process Ruby remained in jail, his mental and physical health deteriorating. He seemed to be losing touch with the real world, sometimes claiming that he was the object of an anti-Semitic conspiracy. Even more serious problems arose, as the preparations for the new trial began. Ruby fell physically ill, suffering from cancer. He died on 3 January 1967 without ever being retried. Like every other aspect of the Kennedy assassination, Ruby's actions before and during the murder, his trial, and his death have provided fodder for conspiracy speculations.

Sources:

"Another Day in Dallas," Time, 83 (13 March 1964): 24-25;

"Death for Ruby/' Time, 83 (20 March 1964): 27-28;

Elmer Gertz, Moment of Madness: the People vs. Jack Ruby (Chicago: Follett, 1968);

"Like Picking a Wife," Time, 83 (28 February 1964): 53-54;

"The Man Who Killed Oswald," Time, 82 (6 December 1963): 34-35;

"A Nonentity for History," Time, 89 (13 January 1967): 16-17;

David Scheim, Contract on America: The Mafia Murders of John and Robert Kennedy (Silver Spring, Md.: Argyle, 1983).

RUBY, JACK

Jack Ruby was a nightclub owner from Dallas, Texas, who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President john f. kennedy, two days after Kennedy's assassination in Dallas. Millions of people watched on

national television as Ruby shot Oswald while the Dallas police were attempting to move Oswald from the police station to another location. Questions about how Ruby was able to gain access to the police station and why he killed Oswald have never been fully answered. These questions, as well as the silencing of Oswald himself, are among the reasons why some believe that Oswald was part of a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.

Ruby was born Jack Rubenstein on March 25, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois. He quit school after sixth grade and lived a life on the streets during adolescence. He was known for his explosive temper and willingness to fight. In the early 1930s he lived in California but soon moved back to Chicago. He tried short-lived careers as a salesman, union organizer, and boxer. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army Air Force and served until 1946. In 1947 Ruby moved to Dallas to help his sister manage a nightclub she owned. He served as manager and unofficial bouncer of the club and soon became acquainted with members of the Dallas police force. He later moved to the Carousel Club and, anxious to be accepted, befriended many police officers by giving them free drinks and hospitality. The police regarded Ruby as a harmless figure who enjoyed the aura of law enforcement. Those in the criminal world considered Ruby an informer, who told the police everything he knew about criminal activity.

On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Ruby was distraught at the news of the assassination and headed for the Dallas police headquarters. A well-known face at the police station, he was allowed into headquarters on November 23. On Sunday, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred to the county jail around 10:00 a.m., but a series of events delayed his move until 11:00 a.m. Ruby, who had parked his car one block away from the police station around that time, walked down the rampway to the basement garage of the police station. The guard at the basement entrance had momentarily left his post to stop traffic so that the police convoy with Oswald could leave the building. Ruby walked into the garage, which was filled with police officers, reporters, and camera crews. As Oswald appeared, flanked by police detectives, Ruby approached him with a .38-caliber gun and fatally shot him. Ruby was immediately arrested.

As Ruby prepared for his murder trial, his attorney, Tom Howard, prepared a defense based on the theory that the killing was a crime of passion committed without malice or premeditation by an unstable man. If this defense had been successful, Ruby would have received a maximum of five years in prison under Texas law. Before trial, however, Ruby's family discharged Howard and retained Melvin M. Belli, a well-known and controversial San Francisco attorney. Belli elected to present a defense of total insanity in the hope Ruby would be acquitted. Belli asserted that Ruby had experienced an epileptic seizure and had shot Oswald while under the influence of this impairment.

The case against Ruby was substantial. After the shooting, Ruby had given statements to the police, one of which suggested premeditation. Medical authorities did not support Belli's medical diagnosis of Ruby. On March 16, 1964, a jury convicted Ruby of premeditated murder, and he was sentenced to death.

Ruby's conviction was reversed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in October 1966, but he died in prison of a blood clot, complicated by cancer, on January 3, 1967.

Many questions surrounding Ruby's motives and actions remain unanswered. The Kennedy assassination and the Oswald shooting were investigated by a presidential commission headed by Chief Justice earl warren. The Warren Report, issued in 1964, concluded that the bullets that killed Kennedy had been fired by Oswald's rifle and that there was no evidence that either Oswald or Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or international, to assassinate the president.

Many people were unpersuaded by the Warren Report's conclusion that Oswald acted alone. Since 1964 numerous books and theories have asserted that the Kennedy assassination was the result of a conspiracy. One theory proposed that organized crime had killed Kennedy and that Ruby had underworld connections. In 1979 a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives reexamined the evidence from 1963 and concluded that there had probably been two gunmen and that a conspiracy was likely. This committee noted that in the weeks preceding the assassination Ruby had made several phone calls to persons associated with organized crime. Other commentators have discounted the phone calls, as they were made before Kennedy's trip to Dallas and the route his motorcade would take were announced.

further readings

Dempsey, John Mark, ed. 2000. The Jack Ruby Trial Revisited: The Diary of Jury Foreman Max Causey Denton: Univ. of North Texas Press.

Posner, Gerald. 1993. Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK. New York: Random House.