-Caveat Lector- > http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010302/t000018629.html > > Friday, March 2, 2001 > > Henry Wade; Named in Roe vs. Wade, Tried Jack Ruby > > By ELAINE WOO, Times Staff Writer > > Henry M. Wade, the legendary Texas prosecutor whose 36-year tenure as > Dallas County district attorney placed him in the national spotlight > during two historic moments--he was the Wade in the landmark abortion > ruling Roe vs. Wade and he prosecuted Jack Ruby--has died. > > Wade died in Dallas on Thursday of complications from Parkinson's > disease, according to a spokesman for his law firm, Geary, Porter & > Donovan. He was 86. > > He was a law-and-order icon in Texas who never lost a case he > prosecuted. He sought the death penalty 30 times and got it 29 times. > His office reported conviction rates greater than 90%. Beleaguered > defense attorneys banded together in a 7 Percent Club, an > acknowledgment of their unimpressive record against the formidable > Wade. > > By his retirement in 1986, he had served longer than any other > district attorney in a major U.S. city. He had plenty of critics, who > said he was overzealous in his pursuit of convictions. > > The son of a judge, Wade was a native of Rockwall, Texas, who earned > his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1938. He > worked four years as an FBI agent, then served in the U.S. Navy during > World War II. He joined the Dallas County prosecutor's office in 1947 > and in 1950 was elected district attorney. > > Declared Oswald Kennedy's Killer > > As chief prosecutor when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in > Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, Wade declared Lee Harvey Oswald the killer > within 10 hours of the shooting. He was criticized for being too hasty > in naming Oswald as the gunman, but years later maintained his belief > that Oswald acted alone. "I wouldn't have had any trouble convicting > him," he said. > > Two days after the assassination, Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, > gunned down Oswald at point-blank range in the basement of the Dallas > police headquarters while news cameras captured the slaying live. Wade > led his prosecution. > > The jury returned a guilty verdict in one hour and 50 minutes and > sentenced Ruby to death. But the conviction was overturned in 1966 by > the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which said it was wrong to have > held the trial in Dallas because of the intensity of feelings there > over the assassination. > > Ruby died of cancer in 1967 while awaiting a second trial. "No > question he had some loose cells in his brain," Wade told the New York > Times many years later. However, he added, "I'm not inclined to feel > sorry for any defendants in a trial." > > In 1970, Wade became the first named defendant in a lawsuit by a woman > who had been denied an abortion. The Roe in the famous case was Norma > McCorvey, a single, pregnant carnival worker in Dallas County whose > lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of Texas' 100-year-old ban on > abortions except in cases where a woman's life was in jeopardy. > > In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court cited the Constitution's implied right > to privacy in deciding that women had a right to decide about abortion > in the first trimester. > > Legal protocol called for Wade as top prosecutor to be named first in > the suit, but he did not try the case himself. McCorvey finally met > Wade in 1995, but told the Associated Press that she bore no > resentment toward him. > > "I never considered him as an enemy," McCorvey said. "He was just > doing his job." > > Wade was a folksy, cigar-chomping figure with an East Texas drawl whom > Melvin Belli, Ruby's defense lawyer, once belittled as "a country > bumpkin." He was fearless around those he considered his enemies, > however, once labeling a judge on the state's highest criminal court > "a mental case" after the judge reversed some convictions won by > Wade's office. > > After retiring from the district attorney's office, Wade handled > criminal cases for a prominent Dallas law firm, where he maintained a > strict policy of heading home by 4 every afternoon to watch reruns of > his favorite TV shows: "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." > > Case Became Subject of Film > > One of Wade's most controversial cases involved Randall Dale Adams, > who was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1977 for the murder of > a Dallas police officer. Adams' case became the subject of "The Thin > Blue Line," a 1988 documentary that won acclaim as a powerful > indictment of the Texas justice system. Adams' accuser basically > confessed to the crime in the film, which was instrumental in winning > Adams' freedom in 1989. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
