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Kennedy's Avenger

Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby

Audiobook
2 of 3 copies available
2 of 3 copies available
New York Times bestselling authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher bring to life the incredible story of one of America's most publicized—and most surprising—criminal trials in history.
No crime in history had more eyewitnesses. On November 24, 1963, two days after the killing of President Kennedy, a troubled nightclub owner named Jack Ruby quietly slipped into the Dallas police station and assassinated the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Millions of Americans witnessed the killing on live television, and yet the event would lead to questions for years to come.
It also would help to spark the conspiracy theories that have continued to resonate today.
Under the long shadow cast by the assassination of America's beloved president, few would remember the bizarre trial that followed three months later in Dallas, Texas. How exactly does one defend a man who was seen pulling the trigger in front of millions? And, more important, how did Jack Ruby, who fired point-blank into Oswald live on television, die an innocent man?
Featuring a colorful cast of characters, including the nation's most flamboyant lawyer pitted against a tough-as-Texas prosecutor, award-winning authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher unveil the astonishing details behind the first major trial of the television century. While it was Jack Ruby who appeared before the jury, it was also the city of Dallas and the American legal system being judged by the world.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 12, 2021
      Abrams and Fisher follow John Adams Under Fire with a disappointing rehash of the case against nightclub owner Jack Ruby for the killing of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Since Ruby’s attack on Oswald in a Dallas police station was broadcast on live TV, the major issue at the 1964 trial was Ruby’s state of mind. The prosecution charged him with premeditated homicide, while his defense team, led by flamboyant celebrity defense lawyer Melvin Belli, attempted to convince the jury that Ruby “suffered from a rare form of epilepsy” and had been in a “fugue state” when he shot Oswald. Ruby’s conviction was overturned on appeal, and he died of cancer in 1967 before he could be retried. Despite the subtitle, Abrams and Fisher downplay any evidence contrary to the Warren Commission’s conclusion that both Oswald and Ruby acted alone, and the duelling testimony by expert witnesses over Ruby’s mental state fails to captivate. Tortured prose and awkward embellishments of the trial record don’t help the authors’ cause (“As if he had been hit on the head with his own nonexistent gavel, Judge Brown finally got it”). Readers will consider this a missed opportunity.

    • Library Journal

      May 14, 2021

      On November 24, 1963, two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, millions saw nightclub owner Jack Ruby murder Oswald on live TV. New York Times best-selling coauthors Abrams and Fisher (Adams Under Fire) pick apart the highly publicized trial that followed. With a 300,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      April 15, 2021
      Why did Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald? Abrams, chief legal analyst for ABC News, and journalist Fisher team up for their latest investigation, this time focused on the trial of Ruby, accused of killing JFK assassin Oswald. With the shooting broadly televised, Ruby's defense lawyers--headed by "square-jawed, silver-maned, impeccably groomed Californian Melvin Belli, arguably the most famous lawyer in the country"--hoped to spare Ruby from the death penalty by conjuring an innovative defense. Ruby, Belli asserted, suffered from a rare mental illness--psychomotor variant epilepsy--that resulted in a fugue state, during which he had no control over what he was doing. The authors offer an animated, overwhelmingly detailed examination of the trial, from the family's decision to hire a high-powered "superstar" lawyer, whose $50,000 fee, the family believed, could be raised by selling Ruby's story; to the verdict, when jurors unanimously found Ruby guilty and sentenced him to death. Jury selection was predictably contentious. Of 900 people called to serve, 500 showed up, and after 14 days of lawyerly wrangling, a jury consisting of eight men and four women, all White Protestants, was finally seated. Abrams and Fisher mine transcripts and news coverage to dramatize the trial as it unfolded, including witness testimony, lawyers' objections, the judge's rulings, and Belli's repeated calls for a mistrial. Medical experts for the defense and the prosecution offered contradictory theories about Ruby's mind. The verdict "was simply the end of the beginning"; Belli won an appeal, citing more than 200 errors by the judge. An increasingly paranoid Ruby testified before the Warren Commission about his motivation, denying a prior connection to Oswald. Suffering from cancer, he died in prison, awaiting a new trial. Did Oswald act alone? Did Ruby? Hints of a conspiracy, left unquestioned by the authors, feed into what they contend "a majority of Americans" suspect. A bright spotlight on well-worn ground.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      May 1, 2021
      While Jack Ruby's trial dominated the news for months, in the decades since, history has tended to overlook the man who killed JFK's assassin. Here, journalists Abrams and Fisher take a fresh, detailed look at Jack Ruby and his trial, a spectacle that riveted the nation in 1963-64. Given the nature of the case, the legal circus began almost from the moment of Ruby's arrest. With journalistic precision and in encyclopedic detail, the authors follow the increasingly complicated and at times ludicrous proceedings, from the revolving door defense team to the endless motions and appeals, the conspiracy theories, and, of course, the ongoing media frenzy. Ruby was eventually convicted of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald and sentenced to death, but that conviction was overturned on appeal, with a new trial and a change of venue ordered. But the new trial was not to be; Ruby died of a stomach ailment shortly after winning his appeal, fueling further conspiracy theories about his demise. Followers of all things regarding the JFK assassination will be fascinated by this account of one of the most unique trials of the twentieth century.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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