Joe Tonahill was a larger-than-life legal giant who, coming from humble beginnings, made it his life’s work to be a “people’s lawyer” while earning international acclaim along the way.

In 1935, Tonahill enrolled at the University of Texas to study law, but graduated in 1941 from the American University College of Law. Joe practiced law in Jasper for more than half a century, but tried cases across the country, including his highly publicized presence on the Jack Ruby defense team, when, in November, 1963, he was employed by Jack Ruby as his attorney and worked with Melvin Belli on defending him against the charge of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald.