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Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jim Leavelle during Jack Ruby trial
Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jim Leavelle during Jack Ruby trial

Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jim Leavelle during Jack Ruby trial

Object number2019.026.0001
Date03/05/1964
ClassificationsArt
Artist Woodi Ishmael
ObjectCourtroom sketch
Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection
MediumPaper, Photo
Dimensions8 1/16 × 10 9/16 in. (20.5 × 26.8 cm)
Collections
DescriptionPhotograph of courtroom pencil sketch on paper by Associated Press courtroom artist Woodi Ishmael. The sketch shows Dallas Police Detective Jim Leavelle pointing to a diagram during the Jack Ruby trial on March 5, 1964. The sketch shows Leavelle facing the viewer in the center of the image and pointing at a spot on a diagram while Assistant District Attorney Bill Alexander, District Attorney Henry Wade, and defense attorney Melvin Belli all look on. Alexander is in the background, Wade is standing in the middle to the far left of the image, and Belli is positioned mostly with his back to the viewer in front of Leavelle. The woman on the far right of the image is juror Mrs. Louise Malone. A typed caption along one side of the image reads: "(DN2) Dallas, Tex., March 5-- Shows Jury Shooting Location-- This sketch by Artist Woodi Ishmael depicts the scene in Dallas Criminal Court yesterday as Dallas Policeman J.R. Leavelle points out to the jury from a diagram the spot in the police station where Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, as defense and state attorneys listen. Left to right, are, District Attorney Henry Wade; Assistant District Attorney William Alexander; Chief Defense Attorney Melvin Belli, Leavelle; and Mrs. Louise Malone, the twelfth juror selected in the Ruby murder trial (AP Wirephoto)" Ishmael's signature "Woodi Ishmael" is located in the lower left corner of the sketch. Ishmael made the original sketches for the Associated Press during the trial of Jack Ruby after the judge barred cameras from the courtroom.
Curatorial Commentary
In addition to covering the Jack Ruby trial as a sketch artist for the Associated Press, artist Woodi Ishmael (1914-1995) illustrated more than thirty-five books, painted portraits of fifty-four Air Medal of Honor winners, served as artist-in-residence aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth 2, and illustrated for a number of publications, including the Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan and National Geographic. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

Longtime Dallas police detective James R. "Jim" Leavelle will always be remembered as the man in the light-colored suit who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of police headquarters when Ruby shot Oswald. His look of shock and horror was immortalized in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken the moment that Ruby fired.

Jim Leavelle was a good friend of The Sixth Floor Museum, participating in multiple oral histories and programs over the years. Upon his passing in August 2019, we shared this post on our Museum blog: In Memoriam: James R. “Jim” Leavelle, 1920 – 2019 | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey PlazaThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (jfk.org). -- Stephen Fagin, Curator