Henry Wade
American lawyer (1914–2001)
Summary
Henry Menasco Wade was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1988. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, and the U.S. Supreme Court case that held abortion was a constitutional right, Roe v. Wade. In addition, Wade was district attorney when Randall Dale Adams, the subject of the 1988 documentary film The Thin Blue Line, was wrongfully convicted in the murder of Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer. After his term and death, Wade was criticized for his corruption, ranging from wrongful convictions to attitudes and certain comments on race.
Originally created by Raul654
3/6/2004, 1:14:16 AM
Modified
5/23/2026, 1:07:12 AM
Recent revisions
/* External links */
/* Legacy */ Dallas Observed article
Discrepancy between the time Wade was DA in the opening sentence of the article, as compared with the box. Changed the first sentence to say "1951-1988" rather than 1951-1987" because he technically left office in January of 1988.
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Add more information on links
Added details about case
exoneration of Tommy Lee Walker
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Reformat 1 archive link. [[User:GreenC/WaybackMedic_2.5|Wayback Medic 2.5]] per [[WP:USURPURL]] and [[WP:JUDI#Bot_run_results|JUDI batch #29aa]]
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Corrected the word altitudes to attitudes.
fixed [[Special:LintErrors|lint errors]] – missing end tag
Fixed a minor spelling error
Guardian article and several officials note that Wade's legacy and the circumstances of his tenure continue to stir debate
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