Melvin Belli and Jack Ruby talk in a Dallas courtroom.

Jack Ruby, charged with the murder of accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, is returned
handcuffed to the Dallas County Jail after having undergone a day long series of psychiatric test at
an undisclosed location. The tests were ordered by District Judge Joe B. Brown. The Ruby defense
attorneys claim Ruby was temporarily insane when he shot Oswald.

Jack Ruby's defense lawyer, searching for evidence that the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald may not
get a fair trial in Dallas, denied a report that Ruby visited Communist Cuba last year. Ruby seemed
to be in a better mood as he talked to newsmen before the start of the second day of his court
hearing, in order to get his trial to some other Texas city. February 11, 1964.

Tonahill, Jack Ruby, Melvin Belli and members of the press on hearing day on Ruby's charge
of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald.

Jack Ruby, charged with the murder of accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald,
gives an interview to the press.

Jack Ruby, (charged with the murder of accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald), broke
into tears at his bond hearing, as he talked to reporters regarding the assassination of
President Kennedy. His voice breaking, Ruby said that he could not understand "how a great
man like that could be lost." Ruby's bail bond hearing ended when defense attorneys withdrew
their request for Ruby's release on bail.

Jack Ruby (2nd from left) is led past newsmen amid a security escort of deputy sheriffs at the closing of
the 2nd day of his trail 2/18. Ruby is charged with killing accused Presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
This picture was made with a remote camera affixed to the wall opposite where the newsmen are
confined by security regulations. February 18, 1964.

Jack Ruby, on trial for the murder of accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, had a half smile
for photographers as he arrived for the morning session of his trial. A defense psychiatrist spent an
hour with Ruby in his cell before the session began. Dr. Manfred Guttmacher, who last examined Ruby
in December, said "he has deteriorated somewhat. He doesn't look as well. He appears much more
anxious and tense. March 2, 1964

Jack Ruby, bust portrait, facing right, arriving in court.

Ruby's Reasons

At his trial, Ruby was represented pro-bono by big-name defense attorney Melvin Belli. Belli tried to
prove that Ruby had a history of mental illness in his family (his mother had spent time in
mental hospital) and that he was legally insane.
(Photo: Shel Hershorn/Getty Images)

March 1964: Ruby (far left) is escorted by security officials down a corridor of a Dallas courthouse
during his trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.
(Photo: Shel Hershorn/Getty Images)

Ruby flanked by security during his trial.
(Photo: Agence France Presse/Getty Images)

Jack Ruby walks into a Dallas courtroom. Convicted in the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald,
a judge ordered a jury to determine Ruby's sanity.

On March 14, 1964, Ruby was convicted of murder; he received a death sentence. Ruby's legal team
appealed the conviction, arguing that there no way he could have received a fair trial in Dallas
given the local publicity surrounding the case. On October 5, 1966, the appellate court agreed
and overturned Ruby's conviction and death sentence.
(Photo: Central Press/Getty Images)

Jack Ruby

Sane. Dallas, Texas: A jury found condemned slayer Jack Ruby sane, following a dramatic personal
appeal by Ruby to the jury to find him of sound mind. The sanity trial had been ordered by the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to determine whether or not Ruby had the mental capacity to
fire J.H. Tona hill, one of the original lawyers in this case. Ruby is shown here as he was returned
to the Dallas County Jail for lunch before the verdict came in. Behind him is the Texas school
book Depository Building, the structure from which Lee Harvey Oswald-the man Ruby is
convicted of murdering-fired the fatal shots that killed President Kennedy. June 16, 1966.

The last letter of Jack Ruby, the Oswald killer, who accuses President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The new trial was to start in February 1967, in Wichita Falls, Texas. But on December 9, 1966, Ruby
came down with pneumonia and was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The next day, he was
diagnosed with cancer in his liver, lungs, and brain. He died in the hospital--the same hospital
where Oswald died--on January 3, 1967.
(Photo: Shel Hershorn/Getty Images)

Jack Leon Ruby biography