The Committee Believes, on the Basis of the Circumstantial Evidence Available to it, that there is a Likelihood that James Earl Ray Assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, JR., as a Result of a Conspiracy. These claims led Kings estate to sue Jowers in 1999 for a symbolic $100 in a wrongful death civil action. It would later be learned that Ray's classification card contained erroneous fingerprints, which were initially distributed nationally. In renouncing his guilt, Ray raised the spectre of a conspiracy behind Kings murder but offered scant evidence to support his claim. Drupal theme by ThemeSnap.com, That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. Because of the 1959 incident, Jerry had so much heat on him that if the guards lost sight of him for even a few minutes, they panicked. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. As a reporter and columnist for this newspaper, I had the chance to interview the incarcerated Ray numerous times before his death on April 23, 1998. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. He believed that King was a serious threat to the dominance of white people in the USA and wanted to stop him through any means. 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 about being held in solitary. Some of the books written about the assassination describe him as a major drug dealer in Jefferson City, which is ludicrous. In 2011, the only irony greater than the left blaming right wing rhetoric for the violence perpetrated by an individual having no affiliation with the right, might be that the rhetoric of some very powerful people on the left may have had a direct role in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. That is, of course, if one applies the logic of the left. James Earl Ray, (born March 10, 1928, Alton, Illinois, U.S.died April 23, 1998, Nashville, Tennessee), American assassin of the African American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. A member of the Republican Party, White was first elected in District 12 in 2010, which then included Angelina, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Tyler counties.He left office on August 11, 2022. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. When I tried to mail my review to The Star, the prison officials refused to allow it to leave the prison. Back in Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, forfeiting a trial, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Between 1998 and 2000, the Department of Justice investigated Jowers claims and the evidence in the civil trial, and concluded that Jowerss claims werent credible. Kershaw made Ray to take a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. Although Ray had two attempted escapes on his record, he did not have nearly as much heat on him as Westberg. Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. The prosecutors have enough efficient evidence in establishing guilt against James Earl Ray concerning the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. First, James Earl Ray was in close enough vicinity of the Lorraine Hotel to successfully fire a clear shot to kill Dr. King from only a block away. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The Ray brothers, however, are too unsophisticated to have pulled off the assassination of King, and Ray's subsequent escape to England. . As the paper continued, it provided documentation that what King planned for after the civil disobedience would not be so innocuous. I'll be out of here very shortly on a Petition for Habeas Corpus and I'll bring up all these problems and guess what, you might not be operating tomorrow. Brown later worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But it turned out that rather than discharging this key Red, he had transferred and promoted ODell to a higher post within Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference. James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to assassinating King, was renting a room above Jower's establishment and was allegedly an unwitting scapegoat. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration The coffee was contraband. Moreover, Jerry Ray and James Earl Ray are close. pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They would rather ignore the facts than become disillusioned. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at wmass@thenewamerican.com. The paper quotes Kings statement explaining his strategy: To dislocate the function of a city without destroying it can be more effective than a riot, because it can be longer lasting, costly to society, and not wantonly destructive., Kings admission that the strategy he planned for Washington, D.C, would be costly to society is startling in view of a fact noted in The Urban Institute report, Our Changing City, which observed: 1950 also marked the start of the white exodus to the suburbs. UN Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in Schools. [3] He would later open his own law practice before being elected as a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee in 1990. It was a theory she maintained until her death in 2006 that has so far never been proven. He was a fervent supporter of George Wallace, the Alabama governor who notoriously gave the 1963 "Segregation Now, Segregation Forever," and he was passionate about emigrating to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to be a part of the white minority in power there at the time. (In the period 1963-64, there were 550 serious assaults inside Jefferson City, including hundreds of stabbings, which is why, An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book. The ballistics tests proved to be inconclusive and Ray remained in prison. . In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. It stated that King had allied himself with black nationalist groups that planned to seize the initiative and escalate the nonviolent demonstrations into violence. It continued: King has met with black nationalists and attempted to solicit their support. Ray was also Stoner's bodyguard and chauffeur. All the seven prisoners who escaped from the prison were recaptured within two days and sent back to the prison. Justice on Fire is OConnors detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. "[20] Brown apparently raised his voice and interrupted a magistrate judge while representing a woman seeking child support in Shelby County Juvenile Court. Ray died on April 23, 1998 at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital due to Hepatitis C at the age of 70. James Earl White (born July 16, 1964) is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 19, which encompassed Polk, Hardin, Jasper, Newton, and Tyler counties. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on April 23, 1967; and in Memphis, Tennessee, nearly a year later, on April 4, 1968, from a window of a neighbouring rooming house, he shot King, who was standing on the balcony of a motel room. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. McMillans false scenarios portray Ray as a rabid racist in prison. Whether anybody helped him indirectly has yet to be determined. As for how Welch was able to gather such damning information about King when the FBI files on the activist were classified, much has to do with the fact that there were many patriotic members of the FBI and other agencies who recognized that Welch and the society he founded constituted a trustworthy place to reveal what they knew. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. In subsequent disclosures, Ray said that he was not the only person involved in the murder of King. The President, Milteer said, would be shot "from an office building with a high-powered rifle," and a patsy would be picked up within hours . His perceived inability to deal successfully with those problems led to an overwhelming defeat in his bid for reelection. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, They Slew The Dreamer, had taken an interest in George Ben Edmondson. The 12-person jury verdict unanimous exonerated the "patsy" James Earl Ray for any role in the assassination of MLK. For example, if you worked in the laundry you could charge people to starch and iron their clothes. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. it from Birmingham, Ala., to Memphis, Tenn., where he rented a room at 422 1/2 South Main Street, and moments after the assassination, he dropped When the day came, Ray walked up to the bread box, got in, and asked a guy named Don to cover him. After Kings violent death, and the sealing of most government files related to King, the natural tendency of people to not want to speak ill of the dead set in. The date was November 9, 1963. King still tried to hide ODell in his organization until July, 1963, when he accepted ODells resignation. As King put it, ODells release was not because of connections between ODell and the CPUSA but because of the emotional public response. But after HBO conducted a televised mock trial about the assassination in 1993in which Ray gave his first public testimony and was found not guiltyJowers declared that hed been part of a conspiracy to kill King, and that Ray had been set up to take to fall. I don't recall that your name's ever been submitted, sir. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. Martin Luther King Jr. Don told me later he was stunned; but he knew if he hesitated too long, a guard would catch Ray. 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. I went to Memphis to deliver a rifle to this man called Raoul, Ray told me. In 1997, Kings son Dexter met Ray in prison and asked him whether he had killed his father. I first met Benny Edmondson at the Algoa Reformatory in 1956, where he was teaching typing at the school. Soon after his release from prison, he was again convicted for mail fraud in Hannibal, Missouri and served three prison sentences at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. In June of 2008, Harding spoke at Stanford University and said the following: Many people within the movement said, Martin, you cannot raise your voice against Johnsons war because Johnson is our man and if you raise your voice against Johnsons war, Johnson being Johnson, is not going to like it.'. All Rights Reserved. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More, Contents Copyright 1998-2020 by Crime Magazine | J. Patrick O'Connor Editor | E-mail CrimeMagazine.com, Designed by Orman. In one instance, the FBI sent him a tape that allegedly contained audio of him having an affair. "[11], Responding to a bar discipline complaint filed regarding the contempt incident, Brown declared himself unable to adequately defend himself as a result of health issues including type II diabetes, hypertension, and stress. It is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. George M. Camp, head of the Missouri prison system, wrote to Cleaver, saying: My findings are that there is nothing whatsoever to substantiate any conclusion that James Earl Ray financed either his escape or his activities after his escape through any means while he was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary. In the year 1959, he was caught stealing $120 from a Kroger Store in St. Louis. Corrections? On March 28th, riots took place in Memphis and King was present; on March 29th, Democrat Senator Byrd threw down the gauntlet with Democrat president Lyndon Baines Johnson by delivering a fiery speech on the Senate Floor intended to get the president to stop Kings march; Johnson announced on March 31st that he would not seek reelection; a bullet would take the life of King days later on April 4th, one year to the day after delivering what many viewed as an incendiary speech at the time. Hunter Pitts ODell, former National Committee member of the CPUSA, was employed by SCLC. King's killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark. The scandal was so bad it led to the downfall of Warden Nash, who then shot himself.). Stoner is the following: Over the years, state and federal authorities have come to suspect that Stoner's violent rhetoric cannot be dismissed merely as fascist ravings. This doesnt mean that Ray couldnt have received assistance. With the release of this FBI document, however, it seems that the FBI and the JBS were on the same page regarding King. Just before Ray escaped from prison in Tennessee he was visited by his brother. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[3]. Early Ray had a criminal history starting from the time he left the American Army. Its important to note that this verdict was not a criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online. Ray spent the rest of his life in prison and suffered with kidney and liver ailments in his last years. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. During the six years that James Earl Ray was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he kept primarily to himself and, other than for the fact that he attempted to escape on more than one occasion, he had only one conduct violation during that entire time and that was for the possession of three packages of cigarettes, a ball point pen and one pound of coffeeIn addition, you might be interested to know that prior to the Governor's receiving your Mailgram, I personally discussed the allegations and conclusions in the Time magazine article with the author himself, Mr. George McMillan. Some even said Ray was a racist, but he claimed to me that he was never hostile toward anyone. During the four-week trial in Memphis, a 12-person jury heard testimony from over 70 witnesses; but not Jowers, who didnt testify because there were no criminal charges at stake. 2023 www.tennessean.com. The facts are these. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, One of the most intriguing aspects of the, John Wayne Gacy Confessed to Killing Dozens (December 22, 1978). "doesn't know anything.". In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. "just to throw the public off. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. Ray had seven siblings. His first prison break happened in 1967, when he escaped the Missouri State Penitentiary on a bread truck before fleeing to Canada. The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically The bullet was imprinted with six lands and six grooves and Warden Swenson of the Jeff City prison immediately issued an edict that convicts could no longer correspond with editors. The 20-page paper, which was classified as. Senator) that an investigation be conducted into the allegations. Top of Page In March 2014, Brown was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with five counts of contempt of court and getting "verbally abusive" during a child support case overseen by Magistrate Harold Horne. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. The first year and a half I paid little or no attention to Ray. For some 50 years, the federal. James Earl Ray, (born March 10, 1928, Alton, Illinois, U.S.died April 23, 1998, Nashville, Tennessee), American assassin of the African American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray had been a small-time crook, a robber of gas stations and stores, who had served time in prison, once in Illinois and twice in Missouri, and received a suspended sentence in Los Angeles. The manhunt was the most expensive and biggest for the FBI (at that time). At that time, King was well aware of Levisons and ODells communist affiliations. James Earl Ray could easily have placed complete faith in Stoner. The Revenge of George Wallace I occasionally rented magazines from Ray, but other inmates usually had a larger selection, and better quality magazines. I spent virtually all of 1962 in solitary. Over the years, parties other than Ray have filed additional lawsuits related to the assassination. He was unable to give me any specifics but just responded that "it was common knowledge.". Although it is often. James Earl Ray. This time, Ray rented an apartment for $100 a month at 1535 N. Serrano Ave., a. In my many discussions with people such as Laster, Westberg and Davis on the subject of escape--and how to avoid capture afterward--no one mentioned that method.). Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. There were half a dozen guys who rented magazines, and they hawked their wares by the yard shack (a small rock building where the guards stayed). Most of my friends were people I'd known in reform school, or people I'd met through them. There were no cellblock TVs in Jefferson City in 1963 and 1964. Kelsey Grammer. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. We got involved in several schemes, but our lack of mobility made it difficult to function. In the 1950s, Ray became notorious as a petty criminal, and by the end of the decade he was a failed pornographer who had served some jail time and successfully completed a prison escape. Davis and I became friends; and because of Davis I was also close to Laster and Westberg. Manhunt in the mountains: James Earl Ray and the Brushy Mountain Prison breakout of 1977, How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. This list details the strange, unstable life of James Earl Ray, a man who confessed to and then spent his life denyingthe murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Omissions? Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. James. It got so that the very sight of King would galvanize Ray. FBI investigators at the time traced the shot to a rooming house across the street, and witnesses directed them to a large bundle dropped on the sidewalk after the shooting. As one example, Dan Smoot, a former FBI agent, was a steadfast anti-Communist who became associated with The John Birch Society and wrote for the societys American Opinion and The Review Of The News magazines. 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Easily have placed complete faith in Stoner to mail my review to the first degree of... $ 120 from a Kroger Store in St. Louis said that he was teaching typing at the school in.. Prison and suffered with kidney and liver ailments in his bid for.! At the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital due to Hepatitis C at the Age of 70, Johnson publicly! Subsequent disclosures, Ray rented an apartment for $ 100 a month at 1535 N. Serrano Ave. a... Subsequent disclosures, Ray said that he was teaching typing at the Age of 70 C at the school review..., Kings son Dexter met Ray in prison and asked him whether he had killed his.. Issues with commenting Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in.. A criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online `` it was common knowledge ``... In a civil trial got so that the very sight of King warren writes from Texas and can be at! Contained audio of him having an affair was common knowledge. `` OConnors detailed account the...
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