Percy Foreman

Who was Percy Foreman?

Percy Eugene Foreman was a criminal defense attorney from Houston, Texas. Various sources indicate that Foreman was born near either Bold Springs, Texas or Cold Springs, Texas. Foreman moved to Livingston, Texas when he was six years old. He was the son of Ransom Parson Hill Foreman, a former sheriff of Polk County, Texas. Percy Foreman attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia for one year, graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1927, and was admitted to the Texas Bar on January 17, 1928. He went on to become one of America's best known trial lawyers.

Foreman was a respected master of tactics. He lost only 53 of 1500 death-penalty cases and only one case resulted in execution.

Foreman's clients included Candy Mossler, James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Charles Harrelson, convicted murderer and the father of actor Woody Harrelson. James Earl Ray, on the advice of Foreman, later took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and therefore the possibility of receiving the death penalty.

Jack Ruby requested that Foreman represent him after he shot Lee Harvey Oswald.