The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001 Page: 58
673 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Finally, the foreman and the other holdout agreed to death for Jack
Ruby:
I wanted to make as certain as I could that each of them was convinced of their
own mind before I allowed myself to seemingly be converted to their decision. It
was a few minutes after 11:oo a.m. when I asked for the third vote that was to de-
cide the fate of Jack Ruby. Quickly all 12 ballots were collected and unfolded
one by one. Twelve ballots read DEATH.4S
After pausing to compose themselves while enjoying coffee and soft
drinks, the jury indicated to the bailiff that they were ready to deliver
their verdict:
It was 12:20 p.m. when we filed into the jury box. The courtroom was packed
with spectators standing around the walls. Judge Brown asked us if we had
reached a verdict. We nodded our heads in the affirmative. Bo Mabra came over
to the jury box and I handed him the signed verdict, which he carried over to
Judge Brown. Judge Brown slowly glanced over the verdict before he read it
aloud to the court: "We the jury find the defendant guilty with malice, as
charged, and affix his punishment at death." I looked directly at Ruby during
the reading of the verdict and I have confidence that the other members of the
jury did likewise. . . . Later I read that Mr. Belli had accused this jury of not be-
ing able to face Ruby with the verdict and that not one member of the jury ever
looked at him. This was not the case.
Mr. Belli went into a screaming rage, ridiculing us for having handed down
such an unjust verdict. I felt at the time that Mr. Belli's conduct was most unethi-
cal and below the dignity of a professional man of his esteem."
The jurors were each driven home by a sheriff's deputy. Mr. Causey
was soon to see his fears realized over the publicity they had received:
My trial as a juror did not end as I had expected it to, with the dismissal of the
jury. When I reached my home that Saturday afternoon, I found out that my
wife had received several menacing telephone calls within the first hour after the
verdict was announced. One caller told her that "your son-of-a-bitch husband
should be shot right between the eyes." Another caller stated: "I hope that damn
husband of yours gets whatever he deserves for that verdict."5
Writing a short time after the trial, Mr. Causey reflected on the strategy
of flamboyant defense attorney Melvin Belli:
I personally feel that Mr. Belli and his team selected a nearly impossible defense
for Ruby.... In my layman's opinion, any good lawyer could have gotten Ruby
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., 39-40. Mr. Belli shouted, "May I thank the jury for a victory for bigotry and injustice!
Don't worry, Jack, we'll appeal this to a court outside Dallas where there is justice and due
process of law! I hope the people of Dallas are proud of this jury!" Belli, DallasJustice, 257.
*4 Causey, "The Trial of aJuror," 43.July
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001, periodical, 2001; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101221/m1/86/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.