Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." Questions and speculation may always surround the assassination of Dr. King and other national tragedies. Two years later, his young sister Marjorie, died in a fire after playing with matches and accidentally catching herself on fire. He was constantly in and out of prison so he never voted. He was a segregationist but neither a Republican or a Democrat. Something triggered something in him, Sides says, but exactly what that trigger was is unclear. Many leaders like Candace Owens in the black community have begun to spread the message of #Blexit, a movement that encourages Black America to leave the Democrat Party. Furthermore, according to these rumors, the reason this relatively new information (King was murdered on 4 April 1968) comes as a surprise to many is the "mainstream media" intentionally suppressed it after the government's role in King's death was exposed: It's common for exaggerated claims to contain a few elements of truth, and that factor comes into play in this conspiracy theory rumor for a few reasons. As Sides points out, it isnt surprising that members of Kings family and his fellow civil-rights leaders would have suspected that some larger government conspiracy to kill the minister must been at play. However, dont expect the Democrats to give in without a fight. They started the Ku Klux Klan as their league of fear to keep Black America in their place through terror, murdering black Republicans and implementing segregation, Jim Crow Laws, and Black Codes. Important information from the historical record and our investigation contradicts and undermines it. The mock trial jury finally acquitted Ray. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. For reasons unknown, Memphis public works employees cut down the bushes and destroyed a possible crime scene the next morning. But nothing changed afterward. As well, the gravity of the trial's supposed conclusion, when contrasted with the relatively little public discussion of that addendum to King's life, has lent credence to the belief the trial in question and its outcome were deliberately omitted from the news. When considered in light of all other available relevant facts, the trial's evidence fails to establish the existence of any conspiracy to kill Dr. King. He had consistently denied any knowledge of the case for a quarter-century, but now he alleged the gunman was a Memphis police officer who fired from the bushes behind the grill, then handed Jowers the murder weapon. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive convicted for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw Ray fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the motel where he had been renting a room. Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. The U.S. government was sued and found culpable for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., but the news media refused to report it. [7], Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. He escaped from the prison in April 1967, and some believe he had help from prison authorities, as part of the opening stanza of the conspiracy. James Earl Ray was a career criminal, starting as far back as a 1949 conviction for armed robbery. As such, he would not have been able to vote reg Pastor Darrell Scott has endorsed Trump as the most pro-black president hes seen in his lifetime with prison reform, historically low black unemployment, and encouraging school choice. Was James earl ray white? Please attempt to sign up again. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. It is a great victory for truth itself. In a criminal trial the guilt of the defendant must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but in a civil suit the plaintiff need only support his claim with a preponderance of evidence to prevail. Ray, who was feeble and sick from hepatitis C, was asked by King about his involvement in the assassination. For this, he was imprisoned for four years in the federal United States Penitentiary Leavenworth. Additionally, Jowers has been inconsistent about other aspects of the alleged conspiracy, including his role in it, Raoul's responsibilities, whether and how Memphis police officers were involved, and the disposal of the alleged murder weapon. Karen Whitsett, a black state senator from Michigan, simply said, Thank you to President Trump for saving her life through the treatment of hydroxychoroquine. He is the one who sits in leadership and is the most powerful person of a country. Born in a poor family, Ray had a difficult childhood as his father could not support his family. I have no stake in our outcome, Blakey said. He defended Ray in a mock trial on HBO in 1993 (Ray was found not guilty), and filed and tried the Memphis civil suit that found the government liable for Kings death. [14] The notion of living in Rhodesia continued to appeal to Ray for several years afterwards, and it was his intended destination after King's assassination. Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes. WebJack Kershaw. Until her own death in 2006, Coretta Scott King, who endured the FBIs campaign to discredit her husband, was open in her belief that a conspiracy led to the assassination. Andrew Young, the former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta mayor who was at the Lorraine Motel with King when he was shot there, agrees. Then figure out what the total cost of the trip would be.? I think that contributed to the sense of conspiracy, like a What are they hiding? kind of thing. (Sides also appears in the PBS American Experience documentary on this subject, Roads to Memphis, airing Tuesday.). Recy Taylors gang rape was horrific. The two men parted ways. For example, in an impromptu, recorded conversation with a state investigator, Jowers characterized a central feature of his story that someone besides Ray shot Dr. King with a rifle other than the one recovered at the crime scene as "bullshit." Jones responded, Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation., According to Biden and those Democrats who cannot enslave Black Americans anymore, You aint black., Frank Aquila is president of the San Joaquin Stanislaus Conservative Patriots and author of the book, Sarah Palin Out of Nowhere. He also initially sought compensation for his story, and his friends and relatives acknowledge that he hoped to make money from his account. Dexter King called his family together, his brother Martin said in an interview, and urged them to file a civil suit against Jowers as a means of seeking the truth. He signed a detailed stipulation of facts to the shooting, having had weeks to review it, asking only that a reference to his activities for Wallace be deleted. Ray hired Jack Kershaw as his new attorney, and Kershaw publicly argued and promoted Ray's claim that he was not responsible for the assassination of King. Kershaw and his client met with representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and convinced the committee to conduct ballistics tests that they believed would prove Ray had not fired the fatal shot. A Shelby County jury heard more than 70 witnesses over 30 days, ruled that Jowers and unknown government entities were liable, and awarded the Kings $100. [17], Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house. The U.S. Justice Department concluded in June 2000 the "allegations originating with Loyd Jowers are not credible": After reviewing all available materials from prior official investigations and other sources, including the evidence from King v. Jowers, and after conducting a year and a half of original investigation, we have concluded that the allegations originating with Loyd Jowers and Donald Wilson are not credible. Georgia Democrat State Representative Vernon Jones also received backlash from Georgia Democrats for endorsing President Trump. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? [19], Ray was soon on the road again and drove his Mustang to Birmingham, Alabama. He was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest, before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability in 1948. After all, the FBI stalked King and his cohort in order to, as Sides puts it, ruin and smear the civil rights movement. The ugly reach of that campaign has only become clearer over the years. During a rainstorm on February 1, 1968, two black sanitation workers in Memphis lost their lives when the trucks compactor Magazines, Digital By 1924, the KKK was part of the Democrats party platform as they marched in unison in New York City to the Democrat National Convention. Intermittently, rumors have circulated on social media holding that the United States government was found guilty in 1999 of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray pleaded guilty to the murder of King on March 10, 1969. They were recaptured on June 13. I think there was a major conspiracy to remove Doctor King from the American scene, said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a 78-year-old civil rights icon. The U.S. Department of Justice found Jowers' claims were without merit and explained that he'd never been able to provide any support for later assertions about his involvement in King's death: When Jowers has confessed, he has contradicted himself on virtually every key point about the alleged conspiracy. [39][40][41] William Pepper, a friend of King during the last year of his life, represented Ray in a mock trial televised by HBO in an attempt to grant him the trial he never received. But not everyone was convinced that the story stopped there in part because Rays guilty plea stopped a trial from proceeding. Three decades of legal machinations never succeeded in reopening the case, but they revealed new details and led to new theories of how King might have been killed. The family accepted $100 in restitution to demonstrate they were not pursuing the case for financial gain, and they publicly stated that Ray, in their opinion, had nothing to do with the assassination. ", And Gerald Posner, whose recent book, "Killing the Dream" made the case that Mr. Ray was the killer, said, "It distresses me greatly that the legal system was used in such a callous and farcical manner in Memphis. Within days, Ray filed a motion to withdraw his plea, claiming he had been coerced by his attorney and the FBI. You can unsubscribe at any time. 17, 1968, FBI headquarters Murkin file 44-38861", "Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr", "Why assassin James Earl Ray returned to Toronto", "Ramon Sneyd denies that he killed Dr King", "Log Cabin Democrat: King assassin Ray dies after lifelong legal fight 4/24/98", "1969: Martin Luther King's killer gets life", "Federal Bureau of Investigation History of Knoxville Office", "Jack Kershaw Is Dead at 96; Challenged Conviction in King's Death", "Dr. King's Son Says Family Believes Ray Is Innocent", "Ray Acquitted In Mock Trial 25 Years After King Slaying", "Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing", "Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. That some Americans didnt trust and still dont trust the governments conclusion on Kings murder says a lot about what was going on in America in the 1960s and 70s, when the Vietnam War and Watergate torpedoed Americans trust in government. In the years following Ray's arrest, questions arose about his exact involvement in King's murder. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. What We Know About Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. Why do you assume he was a Democrat? By that time, the Dixiecrats were rapidly becoming Republicans - so if he WAS a registered democrat, it was ju At that point, Hardin And contrary to the rumor's assertion, the 1999 civil case involving Jowers was widely reported by major news outlets at the time (including, as referenced above, the New York Times). He has claimed that while in Montreal he met a man named Raul, of varying physical descriptions over the years, who enlisted him in several small gunrunning schemes, and instructed him to buy a rifle in Birmingham, Ala. On the afternoon of April 4, Ray checked into a boardinghouse in Memphis, with a bar called Jims Grill on the first floor. Born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, was the eldest of George and Lucille Ray's nine children. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. Although the Justice Department officially claims James Earl Ray assassinated MLK, a civil suit later determined that a Memphis cop was involved in a conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader. After Coretta King and her family pleaded with President Bill Clinton in 1998 to reinvestigate the case, Attorney General Janet Reno assigned civil rights special counsel Barry Kowalski, who previously prosecuted the Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King beating, to review the newest conspiracy allegations. [49] On June 9, 2000, the United States Department of Justice released a 150-page report rejecting allegations that there was a conspiracy to assassinate King, including the determination of the Memphis civil court jury. "I believe you," Dexter responded and shook his hand. Even the reference of aint is racist as to say those in Black America are not educated. Ray was arrested at Londons Heathrow Airport on June 8, 1968, a few weeks after the crime. The one time Jowers did testify under oath about his allegations in an earlier civil suit, Ray v. Jowers, he repudiated them. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. King was then assassinated by James Earl Ray, a Democrat. And he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King," but may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Jowers also abandoned his initial allegation that he received $100,000 with which he hired a hit man to kill Dr. King, claiming instead that he merely held the money for the conspirators. A bunch of self- centered people trashing Target stores? But they are unanimous on one key point: James Earl Ray did not kill Martin Luther King. Our investigation of these most recent allegations, as well as several exhaustive previous official investigations, found no reliable evidence that Dr. King was killed by conspirators who framed James Earl Ray. Astride all this controversy for the last 40 years has been William Pepper, a New York lawyer and civil rights activist who knew and worked with King. Then, at 6:01 p.m., she will lead a bell-ringing at the exact moment of the shooting, 39 times for every year of her fathers life, certain that the person who killed him has never been caught. 9 December 1999. In 1977, James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in the town of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee. All Rights Reserved. The year women refused to stay silent, tossed their bras and redefined poli To fight the status quo, the activists of 1968 harnessed the power of fashi MLK was dead. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. James Lawson, a Memphis pastor and civil rights institution who helped mentor King, said he began visiting Ray in the Memphis jail in 1969 when Ray complained [42], In 1998, and continuing into 1999, Pepper represented the King family in a wrongful death civil suit against Memphis restaurant owner Loyd Jowers, whose restaurant was near the Lorraine Motel. For example, he not only identified two different people as the assassin, but also most recently claimed that he saw the assassin and did not recognize him. Three days later, Ray recanted his confession. Housed at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Ray managed to escape the facility in 1967. Martin Luther King, a Republican, fought against Democrats and racism with President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Democrats, wiretapping both King and his organizer, A. Phillip Randolph. Ray had been treated for liver disease over the years and according to the Tennessee Department of Correction, he died from that and kidney failure. Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 | Time Ray told Huie that he purposefully left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. Cities were burning. James Earl Ray was a supporter of George Wallace - who was a democrat in the 1960s but was on the side of segregation, which when you hear about t BND archives Ray blinked in the original photo. WebJames Earl Ray deceased in prison; was a U.S. prisoner, and a British prisoner, apprehended June 8, White was arrested after a citizen recognized him from an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper. There was a huge amount of evidence presented in Memphis that didnt see the light of day in a public forum, says Hampton Sides, an expert on this topic and author of Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin. Kings two other surviving children, Dexter, 57, and Martin III, 60, fully agree that Ray was innocent. (Video: The Washington Post). I had nothing to do with killing [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.]. Is this who we now are? He shot and killed King in Memphis on April 4, 1968, confessing to the crime the following March. Those facts leave no surprise as to why a man such as Ray would murder a man whose lifes work was focused on racial equality. The one thing the conspiracy rumor correctly states is a 1999 civil trial reached a verdict that cited the existence of a conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. What it neglects to mention is the relative worth of such a judgment: The verdict in question was civil rather than criminal, the sole named defendant was someone who stood to gain both publicity and money from repeating his claims, and the King family's motivation in bringing the suit was to validate their long-held suspicions a larger conspiracy was at play in the death of the civil rights leader. That doesnt mean there are no questions left. Youre going to kill somebody and then drop the gun right there? Ray claimed that he had given the gun to Raul, but only Rays fingerprints were on the gun. His sister Marjorie died in a fire as a young child in 1933. Biden supported Planned Parenthood, whose founder, Margaret Sanger referred to blacks as human weeds and wanted abortions to exterminate the black population. Pepper said Dexter King asked Ray, Did you kill my father? and that Ray answered, No, I didnt. He said Dexter King told Ray, We will do everything in our power to see that justice prevails.. [21], After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. By signing up you are agreeing to our, What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Campaigns, The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. This verdict is not only a great victory for my family, but also a great victory for America. You come up with a better outcome, with evidence to support it, Ill support your theory. He remains adamant that Ray was the gunman but likely had help that should have been investigated in 1968 and was not. Given the minor sum of money awarded, a jury would have little incentive to not find in favor of an account supported by both sides of a flawed case. The FBI had just caught James Earl Ray at Heathrow Airport in London. [9], Following his escape, Ray stayed on the move throughout the United States and Canada, going first to St. Louis and then onward to Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Birmingham, Alabama, where he stayed long enough to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang and get an Alabama drivers license. King was then assassinated by James Earl Ray, a Democrat. Until 1993, Jowers maintained in several public statements that he was merely serving customers in his tavern when Dr. King was shot. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. Experts have also studied Rays movements leading up to the assassination, including a mysterious trip to New Orleans that March and a move to Atlanta, the funding and logistics of which raise questions. Certainly he hated Dad. Inspired by the failed jail break by James Earl Ray, the man convicted for the assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King and serving a 99-year sentence, In 1935 the family suddenly left Alton and relocated to Ewing, Missouri, after police had started looking for Ray's father on a forgery charge. As noted in the New York Times' report of the verdict, the one-sided presentation of the case allowed for no other result: John Campbell, an assistant district attorney in Memphis, who was not part of the civil proceedings but was part of the criminal case against Mr. Ray, said, "I'm not surprised by the verdict. On April 4, Bernice King will lead commemorative events in Atlanta, including a wreath laying at her fathers grave, a ceremony awarding Martin Luther King Peace Prizes, a reception for children and a March for Humanity through the city. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. I Am a Man: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers strike that led to MLKs assassination, The King family has lauded Pepper repeatedly, and he was honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for his unceasing commitment in the pursuit of justice., I think the people of this country are entitled to know the truth, Pepper said. Jowers stashed the rifle behind the bar and said it was later picked up by Raul and tossed in the Mississippi River. "[45][46][47][48], Prompted by the King family's acceptance of some of the claims of conspiracy, United States Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a new investigation on August 26, 1998. At the age of 16, Ray left his parents and returned to Alton, where he moved in with his grandmother and landed work in the dye room of the International Shoe Tannery. With Biden, Democrats had a friend whose policies oppressed Black America. Unfortunately, the jury who heard the case of King vs. Jowers (in which the King family was represented by James Earl Ray's former lawyer, William Pepper) returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, holding that Loyd Jowers had participated in a conspiracy to kill King, and that "governmental agencies" were party to the conspiracy: THE COURT: In answer to the question did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King, your answer is yes. James Earl Ray is infamous for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. In the mock trial, the prosecutor was Hickman Ewing. The man denied any involvement and cooperated with Justice Department investigators in 1999, who found work records showing he could not have traveled widely to meet Ray in 1967 and 68. In court, Ray answered the standard series of questions about whether he was knowingly and voluntarily admitting he committed murder. In addition to his segregationist beliefs, he also saw a big payday, some historians have said, in killing Black leaders like H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael and, of course, King. James Earl Ray died in 1998. The Democrats were furious at Lincoln and resisted Black America gaining political power. 23, 1998, at the age of 70. Ray died while that campaign was ongoing, but though the King family did win $100 in a 1999 wrongful death suit after the man charged as being part of a conspiracy didnt show up to the trial an official inquiry reiterated that the evidence against Ray was overwhelming and that there was no credibility to various theories that anyone else had been involved. Some witnesses, including then-New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell, said they saw a man moving in the thick bushes behind Jims Grill, below the bathroom. His claim was that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy of the otherwise unidentified man named "Raul who was a blond Cuban. He was believed to have been en route to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was at the time a haven for white supremacists. Claim: The U.S. government was sued and found culpable for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., but the news media refused to report it. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. This article was published more than4 years ago. For the King family and others in the civil rights movement, the FBIs obsession with King in the years leading up to his slaying in Memphis on April 4, 1968 pervasive surveillance, a malicious disinformation campaign and open denunciations by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover laid the groundwork for their belief that he was the target of a plot. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder. The photo still haunts us with what was lost. In 2000, the report authored by assistant attorney general Barry Kowalski found that Jowers had changed his story repeatedly and that neither he nor the ex-FBI agent were credible. Pepper first visited Ray in prison in 1978 along with Ralph Abernathy, one of Kings closest associates. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace. After shooting King, Ray immediately fled, setting off a manhunt that would last more than two months and cover five countries. Im just going to try to sell it and make a buck, Red Strickland, an independent automobile dealer from Memphis, said at an auction Thursday after buying the Mustang once driven by James Earl Ray. On October 10, 1959, Ray and James Owens, an ex-convict, held up a Kroger store in St. Louis. Now weve got to do something about this, weve got to give them something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. Johnson continued, Ill have those ni**ers voting Democrat for the next 200 years.. Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raul," had been involved in the assassination. On April 4, 1968, Ray stood in the bathtub of the bathroom, balanced his rifle on a window ledge and shot King as the civil rights leader was standing on a balcony outside of his motel room. Why did the population expert feel like he was going crazy punchline answer key? Best Known For: James Earl Ray is infamous for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Democrats, Biden still trying to enslave Black America. They want to tease Black America just enough to have them turn out to vote and then see them again in four years. And their view of the case is shared by other respected black leaders. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. Further, he has also renounced his confessions in certain private conversations without his attorney. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Earl_Ray&oldid=1142126272, American people who died in prison custody, People extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States, Prisoners who died in Tennessee detention, United States Army personnel of World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 99 years in prison (1 year was added after his re-capture for a total of 100 years), This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 17:21.