Courtroom sketch of Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield dated March 11, 1964

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Courtroom sketch of Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield dated March 11, 1964

Courtroom pencil sketch on paper by Charles Fisher. The sketch shows witness Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield testifying during the trial of Jack Ruby on March 11, 1964. The sketch shows Dr. Stubblefield wearing a suit and tie as he testifies. The caption in the bottom right reads "Jack Ruby murder trial," and the caption in the top right reads "Dr. Stubblefield 3/11/1964."The artist's signature: "Fisher" is at the bottom right, underneath the caption. 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.

Object Details
Object title:

Courtroom sketch of Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield dated March 11, 1964

Date:

03/11/1964

Medium:

Paper

Dimensions:

14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm)

Credit line:

Chuck Fisher Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2004.020.0003

Curatorial Note:

At the time of the Jack Ruby trial in 1964, Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield was professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School and Chief of Psychiatry at the adjacent Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. (In Volume 6 of the Ruby Trial court transcript, Stubblefield is incorrectly identified as the "Chief of Surgery" instead of Psychiatry.) He came into that position in July 1957 after serving as staff psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and later at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Judge Joe B. Brown had called Dr. Stubblefield in January 1964 and consulted him about the benefits of a mental examination of Jack Ruby. Stubblefield first met with Ruby on January 27, 1964, at the Dallas County Jail. Based on his examination of Ruby, Stubblefield testified that he felt that Ruby was both competent to stand trial and legally sane. However, he did state that Ruby "is and was an emotionally unstable person."In later years, some assassination researchers have pointed out that in addition to his examination of Jack Ruby, Dr. Stubblefield also conducted psychiatric examinations of both right-wing activist Major General Edwin Walker and Dallas resident Silvia Odio (who allegedly met Lee Harvey Oswald in September 1963), two figures who are referenced in Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

Courtroom sketch of Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield dated March 11, 1964

Courtroom pencil sketch on paper by Charles Fisher. The sketch shows witness Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield testifying during the trial of Jack Ruby on March 11, 1964. The sketch shows Dr. Stubblefield wearing a suit and tie as he testifies. The caption in the bottom right reads "Jack Ruby murder trial," and the caption in the top right reads "Dr. Stubblefield 3/11/1964."The artist's signature: "Fisher" is at the bottom right, underneath the caption. 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.

Object Details
Object title:

Courtroom sketch of Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield dated March 11, 1964

Date:

03/11/1964

Terms:

Artist

Sketches

Trials

Witnesses

Artwork

Jack Ruby trial

Stubblefield, Robert

Fisher, Charles

KRLD-TV

Dallas

Medium:

Paper

Dimensions:

14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm)

Credit line:

Chuck Fisher Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2004.020.0003

Curatorial Note:

At the time of the Jack Ruby trial in 1964, Dr. Robert L. Stubblefield was professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School and Chief of Psychiatry at the adjacent Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. (In Volume 6 of the Ruby Trial court transcript, Stubblefield is incorrectly identified as the "Chief of Surgery" instead of Psychiatry.) He came into that position in July 1957 after serving as staff psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and later at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Judge Joe B. Brown had called Dr. Stubblefield in January 1964 and consulted him about the benefits of a mental examination of Jack Ruby. Stubblefield first met with Ruby on January 27, 1964, at the Dallas County Jail. Based on his examination of Ruby, Stubblefield testified that he felt that Ruby was both competent to stand trial and legally sane. However, he did state that Ruby "is and was an emotionally unstable person."In later years, some assassination researchers have pointed out that in addition to his examination of Jack Ruby, Dr. Stubblefield also conducted psychiatric examinations of both right-wing activist Major General Edwin Walker and Dallas resident Silvia Odio (who allegedly met Lee Harvey Oswald in September 1963), two figures who are referenced in Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator