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Ruby found guilty
On this day in 1964, Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby was convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. On November 24, 1963, Ruby, then proprietor of the Carousel Club, had shot and killed Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in the basement of the Dallas City Jail, during Oswald's transfer to the county jail. Millions of witnesses watched on national television. Although he was defended by Melvin Belli on the grounds that "psychomotor epilepsy" caused him to black out consciously while functioning physically, Ruby was convicted of murder with malice. His conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and Ruby was awaiting a retrial when he died in prison in 1967. Ruby denied involvement in any conspiracy, and maintained to the end that he shot Oswald on impulse from grief and outrage.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- RUBY, JACK
- OSWALD, LEE HARVEY
- KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
- TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
- Links to other Web sites (will be opened in new browser window)
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Wildcatter born in Lithuania (1874)
- Group forms organization to honor trusty steeds (1940)
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