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Dallas Police Department case report for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Dallas Police Department case report for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald

Dallas Police Department case report for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald

Object numberL2017.1.153
Date11/24/1963
ClassificationsDocuments
Creator Dallas Police Department
ObjectDocument
Credit LineLoaned Courtesy the Dallas County District Attorney's Office/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)
Collections
DescriptionPolice report issued by the Dallas Police Department for Jack Ruby for the charge of murder against Lee Harvey Oswald. The "Date of Arrest" is typed on the form as "November 24, 1963". The "Charge" is typed on the form as "Murder". Typed information on the form identifies the "Investigating Officers" as "J. R. Leavelle and E.R. Beck", the "Arresting Officers" as "L. C. Graves - W. J. Harrison", and the "Location of Defendant" as "County Jail". The main body of the report has more typed entries identiying the defendant, the place of arrest, the complainant and the "Property Taken and Value", which is filled in as "Life". The form goes on to summarize more details of the events as well as providing a list of witnesses which includes the names Jim Leavelle, Captain Will Fritz, Ernst Beck and Leslie D. Montgomery. This object was originally part of the evidence collected by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and specifically prosecutors Henry Wade and Bill Alexander during the investigation leading up to the Jack Ruby trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Curatorial Commentary

This item, along with materials from the DA's Ruby file (which is on loan to the Museum) and from the Museum's permanent collection, briefly appeared in a temporary display on the Museum's seventh floor in 2017. - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections


In famous photographs and news footage of the Oswald shooting, Dallas Police Department homicide detective Jim Leavelle, wearing a light-colored suit and hat, can be seen walking on Oswald's right side. Handcuffed to Oswald on his left side is homicide detective L.C. Graves. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
In order to ensure its long-term care and preservation and to facilitate public access, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office placed their Jack Ruby Trial Collection (sometimes referred to as "the DA's Jack Ruby file") on long-term loan with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in 2017. The Museum is working to make the entire collection accessible through this online collections database. To find out more about this collection or to access materials not yet included here, contact the Museum's Reading Room at readingroom@jfk.org. - Megan Bryant, Director of Collections & Interpretation