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Courtroom sketch of KRLD newsman and witness Wes Wise at Jack Ruby trial
Courtroom sketch of KRLD newsman and witness Wes Wise at Jack Ruby trial

Courtroom sketch of KRLD newsman and witness Wes Wise at Jack Ruby trial

Object number1997.053.0007
DateFebruary 1964 - March 1964
ClassificationsArt
Artist Charles Fisher
ObjectCourtroom sketch
Credit LineCharles Fisher Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions14 x 16 3/4 in. (35.6 x 42.5 cm)
Collections
DescriptionCourtroom pencil sketch on paper by Charles Fisher. The sketch shows witness Wes Wise during the trial of Jack Ruby in February or March of 1964. The sketch shows the figure of Wise facing the viewer. He is wearing a suit with two badges on his left lapel. The top badge reads "Press Pass" while the bottom badge reads "Courtroom." The caption in the bottom right reads "Wes Wise, KRLD Newsman, witness for the State, Jack Ruby Murder Trial, Dallas, Tex, 1964," and the caption "Wise" is written in the upper right corner. The artist's signature: "C. Fisher" is at bottom right, underneath the left arm of Mr. Wise. Charles "Chuck" Fisher was the art director at KRLD-TV in 1963. Fisher made the pencil sketches during the trial of Jack Ruby for KRLD-TV after the judge barred cameras from the courtroom.
Curatorial Commentary
Future Dallas mayor Wes Wise worked as a broadcaster, primarily in sports, at KRLD-TV from 1961 to 1968. During the Jack Ruby trial, he was in the unique position of both testifying as a witness for the State and covering the trial as a journalist. Wise testified on the first day of the trial, March 4, 1964. During his brief testimony as a witness for the State, he described encountering Jack Ruby in Dealey Plaza on Saturday, November 23, 1963. The key part of Wise's testimony was his memory that, upon mentioning the western saddles at the Dallas Trade Mart that were to have been given as gifts to the Kennedy children, Wise noticed tears in Ruby's eyes. When Assistant D.A. Bill Alexander asked Wise if Ruby seemed "excited" at the time, Wise testified: "I wouldn't say excited. I would say touched." During cross examination, defense attorney Joe Tonahill pushed Wise for more details about Ruby's emotional state and asked him about encountering Ruby at local prize fights where he would - according to Tonahill - "react violently... as a result of disagreeing with some of the decisions of the judges." Wise declined to use the term "violently," but he did acknowledge that Ruby had emotional reactions to some of the prize fight decisions "more than most [people]." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator