This was a kangaroo court Melvin Belli, defence lawyer

There was uproar in court and Ruby's defence said the verdict was "a victory for bigotry".

Melvin Belli, chief defence counsel, said: "This was a kangaroo court, a railroad court and everyone knew it."

At 1223 local time, Judge Brown read out the verdict: "We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder with malice as charged in the indictment and assess his punishment as death."

When the judge asked if this was a unanimous decision, all the jurors raised their right hand to signal that it was. They were then discharged.

Ruby, who pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, was quickly led away to prison, where he will remain as his appeal gets under way.

The district attorney said after the trial that he thought the jury had been persuaded by Dallas police officers who reported that Ruby had planned to kill Oswald for two days and had meant to shoot him three times instead of once.

The jury had been asked to consider its verdict after hearing more than five hours of summing up by prosecuting and defence barristers.

Prosecutors argued that Ruby should die in the electric chair "because he mocked American justice while the spotlight was on Dallas".

Defence lawyers had suggested that the prosecution wanted Ruby to go to the electric chair to compensate for their frustrations due to their inability to try Lee Harvey Oswald.

They also argued that there was medical evidence to suggest that Ruby suffered from epilepsy and was subject to seizures and mental blackouts.

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