Henry Wade, District Attorney, 86

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Thursday March 1 6:18 PM ET

Former Dallas Attorney, Wade, Dies 

By RENEE C. LEE, Associated Press Writer 

DALLAS (AP) - District Attorney Henry Wade, whose 35-year career included
the murder trial of Jack Ruby and the landmark abortion case Roe vs. Wade,
died Thursday at 86.

A spokeswoman for the family said he died of complications from
Parkinson's disease.

A Texas legend known as ``The Chief'' around the Dallas courthouse, Wade
never lost a case he personally prosecuted.

He took office in 1951 and went on to compile one of the nation's lowest
acquittal rates. Defense attorneys, in fact, formed a 7 Percent Club,
whose name represented their paltry success rate against Wade.

The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision establishing the right to
an abortion began in Texas when a pregnant waitress, identified in court
papers by the pseudonym Jane Roe, sued Wade. It was Wade's job as district
attorney in Dallas County to enforce a state law prohibiting abortion
except to save a woman's life.

Roe was represented by Sarah Weddington, then a 25-year-old
lawyer. Weddington never actually argued against Wade in the case.

``We had researched him before the case. I was relieved to see it was one
of his assistants arguing the case. He was such an established lawyer,''
Weddington said. ``He cut a wide swath in the legal legends in Texas.''

Norma McCorvey, who was Jane Roe, said she first met Wade in 1995.

``I never considered him as an enemy,'' McCorvey said. ``He was just doing
his job.''

In 1964, he helped lead the prosecution of Ruby, the nightclub owner who
shot to death the man charged with assassinating President Kennedy, Lee
Harvey Oswald. The jury took less than two hours to sentence Ruby to
death; he died behind bars.

Wade hid his legal acumen behind a country-boy manner with a thick East
Texas drawl.

``Some people may have had the impression that he was a country bumpkin,
but he was by no means that at all,'' said Barry Macha, Wichita County
District Attorney and past president of the Texas District and County
Attorneys Association.

``He was extremely intelligent, highly educated and had an extremely sharp
legal mind,'' he said. ``In our circles, he was Mr. District Attorney.''

Wade was born Nov. 11, 1914, on the family farm in Rockwall County. All 11
children in his family earned college degrees and six of the eight sons,
including Wade, became attorneys. Along with three of his brothers, he
followed in his father's footsteps and was elected county attorney in
Rockwall County.

Wade joined the Dallas County District Attorney's office in 1947 and later
became chief felony prosecutor. In 1950, he was elected district attorney
of Dallas County, a job he held for more than 36 years.

In 1995, the Henry Wade Juvenile Center in Dallas was named in Wade's
honor, and last year he was named by the Texas Lawyer as one of 102 most
influential attorneys of the 20th century. 



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