Joseph A. Ball

Early Life and Education

Joseph Albert Ball was born on May 16, 1902, in Stuart, Iowa. He moved to California, where he pursued higher education, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1925 and a Juris Doctor from USC Law School in 1927. Admitted to the California Bar in 1927, he began a distinguished legal career that spanned over five decades.

Legal Career

Ball established himself as a prominent trial attorney in California, known for his gentle yet effective courtroom style and ability to deliver eloquent arguments without notes. Based in Long Beach, he became a partner at the Los Angeles office of the Hawaii-based law firm Carlsmith Ball, a position he held for five decades. His notable clients included Watergate figure John D. Ehrlichman, automaker John DeLorean, and Saudi financier Adnan Khashoggi. Ball successfully defended Ehrlichman in a conspiracy case (though Ehrlichman was later convicted on other charges), secured an acquittal for DeLorean on drug charges in 1984, and represented Khashoggi in a high-profile $2.5-billion divorce case settled out of court in 1982. He also won significant cases, such as defending former county supervisor Herbert Legg against bribery charges in 1956 and developer Keith Smith in a 1970 bribery trial.

Beyond courtroom work, Ball contributed to legal reform. He helped draft the California Evidence Code and Tort Claims Act, served on the advisory committee for federal criminal procedure rules, and was involved in revising the California Constitution during the 1960s and 1970s. He taught criminal law at USC and three other law schools, was a former president of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the State Bar of California, and was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the leading American trial lawyers of his generation. In 1984, the American Bar Association established the Joseph A. Ball Award to honor his contributions to legal practice.

Warren Commission Role

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, known as the Warren Commission, to investigate the November 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy. Chief Justice Earl Warren, who knew Ball from California political circles, selected him as one of six senior counsels. At age 61, Ball was a leading criminal lawyer, a member of the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and a USC law professor. He was paired with junior counsel David W. Belin to focus on determining the identity of Kennedy’s assassin.

Ball and Belin managed an immense volume of evidence—approximately 10,000 documents from the FBI, Dallas police, sheriff’s office, and CIA. They spent a month organizing this material, cataloging it on index cards, and Ball proposed procedures for field investigations and witness interrogations adopted by the entire commission staff. Their work contributed to the commission’s 888-page report, delivered on September 24, 1964, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy and that Jack Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald two days later. Ball’s correspondence with Dallas Police Captain J. W. Fritz, including letters dated April 30 and May 18, 1964, addressed evidence like cartridge hulls found at the Texas School Book Depository and the sighting of Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, though Fritz deemed Craig’s information irrelevant.

Later Life and Legacy

Ball continued his legal practice until his death on September 21, 2000, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach, California, at age 97. He was a longtime Long Beach resident and left a legacy as a skilled trial lawyer and key figure in one of the most significant investigations in U.S. history. The Warren commission’s findings remain controversial, with critics like commission members Hale Boggs and Richard Russell questioning its reliance on FBI and CIA data.

Sources

• The New York Times, “J. A. Ball, 97, Counsel to Warren Commission,” September 30, 2000 • Los Angeles Times, “Attorney Joseph A. Ball Dies; Played Key Warren Commission Role,” September 23, 2000 • The Portal to Texas History, Letters from J. W. Fritz to Joseph A. Ball, April 30 and May 18, 1964 • National Archives, Warren Commission Records