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eee been weno rel atte’ Deel fk te . ee a tc le Dans lt eaten ICE Bat ee ane nema mt ae te mardtet an . you're looking tar unc rs, sdvctigthy, I can tell you somes sox pcapte never knew. ‘The night etlore Oswald was shot, f learned, a Didlas: policeman - and his‘ girlfricad talked with. Jack Ruby, trying to get him to approve of i the ‘idea ‘of having, Oswald lynched. 4 Their reason was that, they knew what a. weakeminded guy Jack Ruby was. AUtie t trinkS never mentioned the cop and his 4 girl, because T never could locate then S again; they just disappeared.” * prAveor: Why did you take on the Ruby - Ease? Some say it was for the publicity... i BEUtt: Look,“I'm for. hire. I will defend: |} ‘anyone who comes to me—even the pres- “ Jdent of the Bar Association suing a guy : for “defamation, for, accusing him of ~é =e being a liberal, in favor of civil rights, . _duce process of law, and against wire tap: - ping. “My, service to the commumity as a 3 trial lawyer is thatyi ani for hire by e cither side. As far as publicity is con IDNBWh eH . ao oa wn re OO ow. twee fore that travesty of a trial ever came along. My motive in-taking the cise Was that L hoped 1 might bé able to do some- tw : psychiatry, for law, and for tolerance.” Roe 0. Bue Tdidn’t volunteer for the job. Jack's it brother Earl asked me if I would take - : tHe case, and he offercd-me a defense fee ‘of $100,000, || pLayeoY; Lid that stim, play any part in ‘your decision? Lo ; “get: Toagreed to take the. case for the > reasons I've just stated. But since you've brought up the moncy, it might interest : you to know that I never got anything like $100,000 for the case. What 1 got was debis—bilis, expenses for our defense team, for the medical experts who ew to Dallas to testify for Ruby, and other costs. - I did-get about $12,000 from the Rubys, but [paid for every other cent of the costs out of my own pocket—about . 2 $15,000. Te might niso’ interest you to- know that I was offered $100,000 from . * another source not to defend Jack Ruby.: ; Fim not saying what source. ; PLAYBOY: “Vhere has been some ‘specula- | ‘tion that the offer came froma well-' begs . shes : “nH sen at known right-wing Dallas oil millionaire.- Betui: Hf that’s what you heard, that’s: what you heard? ~ - PLAYBOY: “That's all you want to say about it? ; Bett, No morc—now. . “<". prayeoy: All right. Once you accept: : ed the case, what made you decide on a . plea of temporary insanity? "_/ sett: The incontrovertible evidence of psychiatric examinations. Jack Ruby was and is a very sick min who belongs in a mental hospital. We owed to our “0 i: national image a dramatic example of péwoate“A ierican legal system pursu SOB 0384, PON ane oe ae tte ow Pa NrOowen JO. UN de a a oF ‘}elient has-ever been more’ graphically _ :to. face in that city. There. isn’t one fair- -_iminded lawyer . who won't uppreciate .g - cerned; I'd had my fill of that long be- 7 _ < thing for that sick’ man, Jack Ruby, for. was 7 tegen 8 fae + Seer “the incetys in our law's aueer : studing “ental iineas. Indeed, for | ihe world ie. te and appreciate the mod. “ern medical specialty of poyehotheripy” hat work was one of the great prenzises of Vthat trial. And those brilliant clinical experts—psychologists and neurologists | __who examined Jack Ruby put to- ; gether an unmistakably clear picture of . {a mentally unstable man whom the asf: ‘+ gassination had stunned -and shocked | ‘and impelled into frantic, “atiention- ‘ secking compulsions beyond his power ito control. Nothing I’ve ‘ever sensed in: _tadvanee, about the line of defense for a {justified by the evidence--or more ig- ;nored by a-jury. , _ 4 T never dreamed what a- kangaroos F "teourt°of mockery and errors and prej- > “‘udice in law and decency we were going :§ ~ +what I'm saying when the transcript can 7% -" tbe read: I've disagreed with jury verdicts ‘before; every lawyer has. But I’ve never ‘felt that the jurors weren't honestly _ ‘trying 0 do their very best—except on ‘that black day there in Dallas. -'praypoy: Bitter criticism and even ‘american Bar Association censure have ‘been leveled at you for shouting after ‘the verdict, “May 1 thank the jury for ~. , ivictory of bigotry and injustice!” How al !do-you feel about it now? ~. ve: BELLI: As outraged. as I did then. Tt was 2 spontancous outburst of horror at the cailous death sentence from a jury. that had taken actualiy less thin one ‘hour to consider all of the complex scieniific testimony about that pitifal, vafilicted little man. 1 shouted long, vitu- = ‘peratively, and in (car, that a kangaroo ‘court and a bigoted jury had railroaded j : Jack Ruby to purge their collective con- ; escience in a rape of American justice — i that made Dallas a city of shame forever- :more. Too often have our courts of law ‘shown us that vindictive streak, that i drive to heap society's sins upon an indi- ' ‘vidual, that hypocritical refusal to face ! j facts inherent in which are unpleasant truths about ourselves. The watching, ‘from among those Americans who recog: | _nized what had happened, and who were “sickened by Dallas’ cruelty, the smug- “ness, the community defensivencss and the blind determination to crucify one, cman for everyone's: sins. PLAYBOY: Do you think that’s any, more true of Dallas than it would have been of any other city where the ~ :si- -dent might have been miurier st . BEL: Ia’s uniquely wwuc of lan is unlike any other city i. +4 even the rest of Texas thank Go: is diferent from Dales. Federal Judg 9. ah Hughes called Dallas “the only. ct icdtityfha which the Presitir. oe , a “yi listening world needed to hear a voice! twin tee tw et 3. 14 16) 47 18 502 31