Word: belli
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...read their verdict: "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder with malice and assess the penalty at death." Ruby stared at the jury, bit his lip, then scuttled impassively out of the room behind a phalanx of sheriff's officers. But his attorney, barrel-chested Melvin Belli, was thunderstruck. He leaped to his feet, shouting, "Don't worry, Jack! We'll appeal this and take it out of Dallas...
...Weak Case. Judge Brown tried to silence him, then dismissed the jury and adjourned court. Belli was enraged. Microphones sprouted around him, and Belli began ranting. "I hope the people of Dallas are proud of this jury that was rammed down our throats!" His face was deep red, his head bobbing. "The festering sore that is Dallas is now the most shocking place in the nation! If this venom spreads, then God help us all!" He seemed nearly out of control, and the microphones picked up every inflamed syllable: "This is the biggest kangaroo court disgrace in the history...
...While Belli bawled out his anger, District Attorney Henry Wade, 50, a former FBI agent, quietly told the jury: "Thank you for a fair and impartial verdict." Later, on the courthouse steps, he commented to reporters in a dignified drawl that possibly Melvin Belli had slipped into a "fugue state" of mind himself...
What, reporters asked, had Wade thought of Belli's efforts to prove Ruby innocent by reason of insanity? "They pitched their whole case on insanity rather than asking for mercy or leniency, and so the jury probably subconsciously got the idea it was either insanity or death," said Wade. "It was as weak a case of psychiatric defense as I've seen." Did Wade think Dallas' civic reputation was cleared by the verdict? The prosecutor said: "I don't think Dallas was on trial. I don't think I was on trial...
...Best Friend. The man on trial had not testified on his own behalf dur ing the five-day presentation of his defense case. "We don't think he's mental ly capable of going on the stand," explained Attorney Belli. Had Ruby agreed with that? "Jack just sort of mumbled his consent," said Co-Counsel Joe Tonahill. Instead of the defendant...