Jack Ruby Murder Trial Transcripts, Court Documents, Historical Documents

Jack Ruby Murder Trial Transcripts, Court Documents, Historical Documents

3,133 pages of trial transcripts, court documents, and historical documents from the trial of Jack Ruby for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.

This collection includes:

Trial Transcripts and Court Documents

2,089 pages of Jack Ruby murder trial transcripts and court documents.

Jack Ruby was convicted on March 14, 1964, of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy and Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit (November 22, 1963). These files are the transcripts from his court hearings for the murder trial in the Criminal District Court No. 3, Dallas County and subsequent court documents.

The case was appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, as Jack Rubenstein (a.k.a. Jack Ruby) v. State of Texas (# 37900), October 5, 1966.

Ruby's conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the grounds that "an oral confession of premeditation made while in police custody" should have been ruled inadmissible, because it violated a Texas criminal statute. The court also ruled that the venue should have been changed to a Texas county other than the one in which the high-profile crime had been committed. The Court ordered “that the venue be changed to some county other than Dallas.” Ruby died of cancer on January 3, 1967, before his retrial (scheduled for Wichita Falls, TX) could begin.


Jack Ruby Handwritten Note

A Note from Jack Ruby to attorney Elmer Gertz revealing his despair and paranoia, 9 September 1965.
 

Warren Commission Vertical File

735 pages of documents collected by the Warren Commission related to the trial of Jack Ruby. Includes Warren Commission generated documents, FBI files and correspondences covering Jack Ruby's lawyers and events surrounding the trial.

 
Juror Journals

Judge Joe B. Brown, Sr. the judge presiding over the Ruby trial, made it a practice to not allow jurors during his trials to take notes of the proceedings. However, he did allow jurors to keep personal journals outside of the court.

 
Allen McCoy Journal

A 58-sheet notebook containing 18 pages of handwritten entries. McCoy wrote on both sides the sheets and numbered the pages from 1 to 36. McCoy's legible printing makes transcriptions of the journals unnecessary. McCoy's mostly covered the experience being selected to serve on the jury.

 
J. Waymon Rose Journal

A 76-page spiral-bound notebook used by Ruby trial juror J. Waymon Rose.  The journal contains 50 handwritten pages. Each handwritten page includes a Transcription. Rose was a salesman for a Dallas furniture manufacturer.  Rose was the tenth selected juror in the 1964 trial of Jack Ruby for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Rose wrote these journal entries at the request of his wife. Rose wrote about living conditions and limited activities of himself and his fellow jurors as well as his personal thoughts on Jack Ruby, his attorneys and the trial.

 
Ann Rose Journal

A stenographer notebook containing 28 pages of entries made by Ann Rose the wife of Ruby juror J. Waymon Rose. Entries are found on nine pages and a tenth page has been added. A transcription of each page of handwritten entries is included. Ann recorded her personal experiences while Waymon was serving on the jury.