Wellborn Jack Jr. (July 23, 1936 – April 4, 2023) was an American attorney. He was known during his career noted for his legal work in defense of combat veterans with

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

, including the first successful PTSD-based defense of a veteran in a murder case.

Early life and education

Wellborn Jack Jr. was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and was the son of Wellborn Jack Sr., a member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 re ...

, and a grandson of George Whitfield Jack Sr.. Jack Jr. graduated from

C. E. Byrd High School C. E. Byrd, a Blue Ribbon School, is a high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. In continuous operation since its establishment in 1925, C. E. Byrd is also the eighth-largest high school in the United States of America as of Februar ...

and earned his undergraduate and law degrees from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, where he was the editor-in-chief of the ''Louisiana Law Review''.

Legal career

Jack Jr. practiced law for several years alongside his father. He gained prominence starting in 1977, when he took up the defense of a

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and o ...

who had been accused of murdering his brother-in-law. During his first trial, in 1978, the accused was found guilty of first-degree murder, but Jack obtained a

remand Remand may refer to: * Remand (court procedure), when an appellate court sends a case back to the trial court or lower appellate court * Pre-trial detention, detention of a suspect prior to a trial, conviction, or sentencing See also *''Remando a ...

on appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court over

reversible error In United States law, a reversible error is an error of sufficient gravity to warrant reversal of a judgment on appeal. It is an error by the trier of law (judge), or the trier of fact (the jury, or the judge if it is a bench trial), or ma ...

in jury instructions. In 1980, the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are invol ...

recognized post-traumatic stress disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III, and Jack employed PTSD as a defense, citing traumatic events in the accused's childhood and his experience in Vietnam. After the second trial in 1981, the accused was acquitted on the basis of

insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

. Legal scholars consider this the first use of PTSD as a successful defense in a criminal trial. Jack's law review article on the PTSD case has been cited by legal scholars on several occasions.

Environmental activism and personal life

In addition to his legal career, Jack supported environmental causes. He played a key role in the creation of the

Caney Creek Wilderness The Caney Creek Wilderness is a rugged 14,460-acre (58.5 km2) segment of the Ouachita National Forest just outside of the mountain town of Mena, Arkansas. It was designated by Congress in 1975 as the first wilderness area in Arkansas. The wild ...

Area in Arkansas. He was a member of the Ozark Society and named "Conservationist of the Year" for his contributions and legal work in this area. Jack successfully led a lawsuit that in 1971 temporarily blocked construction by the Army Corps of Engineers of a dam on the

Cossatot River The Cossatot River is an river in Howard, Polk and Sevier counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Cossatot begins in the Ouachita Mountains southeast of Mena, Arkansas. The river flows through the Ouachita National Forest and then in a ge ...

—since the 1990s designated a

National Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

—in southwestern Arkansas. Jack died in 2023 at the age of 86 in Shreveport.

References

20th-century American lawyers American criminal defense lawyers 1936 births 2023 deaths People from Shreveport, Louisiana {{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Wellborn