MEMPHIS, March 10 In space of two and a half hours, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty today of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and was sentenced to serve 99 years in the state . Whatever the exact details were that led him to Memphis in April 1968, Ray rented a room at a rooming house under the name Eric Starvo Galt, near the Lorraine Motel, where King was staying. He travelled there on a Canadian passport. He even upheld his claims to the King family. The rifle with Rays fingerprints didnt create tell-tale grooves on bullets, which ballistic tests usually use to match a gun to a bullet. Based on the results of a civil trial in 1999, Byrds speech would have almost necessarily have played an even more direct role if the verdict is to be accepted. He enlisted in the U.S. Army but was discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability to military service in 1948. . Hardcover, 480 pages. For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. What We Know About Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr. He was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest, before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability in 1948. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 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. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. Author weaves memoir with fictional account of MLK's killer on the lam. It didnt help that Rays story kept changing. A Democratic Senator from West Virginia delivered an extremely incendiary speech on the Senate Floor that was directed specifically at President Lyndon Johnson, also a Democrat. AP Photo. JAMES EARL RAY WANTED POSTER Rare original wanted poster, 10 1/4" x 16", issued by the FBI on April 19, 1968, seeking information leading to the arrest of JAMES EARL RAY (1928-1998), the assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. on charges of "Civil Rights - Conspiracy - Interstate Flight - Robbery". Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. Until his last day, James Earl Ray denied the crime, saying that it was part of a larger conspiracy involving contacts from Canada and even insinuating that the U.S. government had a role in it as well. Those who express skepticism at the results of the 1999 trial in which James Earl Ray was found innocent of assassinating King have an incredible hurdle to overcome the belief of the King family, which sides with Ray. Finally, on July 19, 1968, the FBI caught up with Ray in London and extradited him to the United States. James Earl Jones thinks he knows makes the tea party tick: racism. King and his associates came to town on April 3 and checked into the Lorraine Motel. I had met with him twice while in Memphis at Jims Grill, which was near the boarding house. Updates? A confirmed racist and small-time criminal, James Earl Ray began plotting the assassination of revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in early 1968. Yes, the President is part of the. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. By then, Ray was long gone. He was a democrat. The next day, Ray checked into a room in a boarding house just across the street from where King was staying, according to the Washington Post. He carried a picture of Hitler, his idol. 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. He shot dead the minister as he was standing on a motel balcony. An hour later, he was declared dead. In the mock trial, the prosecutor was Hickman Ewing. And it is committed, as Barack Obama once promised, to fundamentally transforming America. He considered moving to Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), a country with a predominantly white minority government. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Ray had seven siblings. (biography.com) He admitted that he killed Martin Luther King, so he . Ray had continued using the Galt alias after his stint in Mexico, but when he made this purchase, he gave his name as Harvey Lowmeyer. James Earl Ray died, in prison, on April 23, 1998. His brother said that Ray admired Hitler and that Ray had said that he would make the U.S. an all-white country, no Jews or Negroes. Ray was also known to have been a supporter of George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama running for president, according to the Los Angeles Times. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967 by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. In no uncertain terms, Byrd was calling on Johnson to stop Kings march on D.C. I think there was a major conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the American scene, Lewis said. He maintained that he was innocent of killing MLK until his own death in 1998. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the killing,. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. And he began to tell an unsettling story. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Kershaw claimed the prison escape was additional proof that Ray had been involved in a conspiracy that had provided him with the outside assistance he would have needed to break out of prison. 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.After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. (2009), Gridiron Gang (2006) and The Lazarus Effect (2015). If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! 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. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. Actor James Earl Jones perhaps best known as the melodious, mellifluous voice of Darth Vader (or Mufasa, depending on your generation and general geekitude) was . The source of his money is the single biggest question.. As Kings horrified associates shouted and pointed to where they thought the bullet had come from, Ray wrapped his gun in a blanket, dumped it in a doorway of a nearby building, and fled the scene. Ray was born to a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille and George Ellis Ray. 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. Corrections? James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment. James Earl Ray Martin Luther King Assassin--- === April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King was killed by a single rifle bullet on , while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw a man believed to be James Earl Ray fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel. Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998. Anyone who remembers the looks on their faces, their resolve and their anger would have to concede that it would have required nothing short of cold hard facts. Its important to note that this verdict was not a criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online. He paid for a nose job in cash. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin Ryleigh Nucilli January 17, 2017 83.5k views10 items Each year, the third Monday in January is a celebration to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., the tireless civil rights activist who was gunned down in Memphis, TN, in 1968. A package was abandoned close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both found with Ray's fingerprints. Martin Luther's goal, at least initially, was to repeal Jim Crow segregation laws where they existed. The mock trial jury finally acquitted Ray. (Credit: State of Tennessee, Earl Warren/AP Photo), Coretta Kings specific belief in Rays innocence is a little tougher to explain. King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. The most serious of those came in 1959, when Ray, on parole for an earlier theft, robbed two St. Louis grocery stores, as well as another in Alton. [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. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the. [28] He stayed briefly in Lisbon, Portugal, and returned to London. But despite having a suspect in mind, it took investigators much longer to actually track him down. Neither party made his goals part of their platform. Most famously, in 1997 a dying Ray told Dexter King, his victims son, that he didnt do it. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. I dont know what happened, but the truth of what happened to Dr. King should be made available for historys sake.. Most of the public . Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? In 1959, he was sentenced to 20 years for holding up a grocery store in St. Louis. James Earl Ray in 1977. It didnt take long for investigators to determine a suspect. "I had nothing to do with killing your father," Ray said. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. By signing up you are agreeing to our, What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Campaigns, How Black Filmmakers Are Reclaiming Their History Onscreen. Labels: James Earl Ray, MAGA, Martin Luther King Jr., Racism, Republican Party, Republicans. His friends in prison remember Ray flying into a rage whenever King appeared on TV, sneering, Somebodys got to get him. In fact, the idea that there had been a conspiracy to kill King that, even if Ray fired the gun, he did so at the behest of larger forces began to spread right away, and not without some reason. [50], Ray died on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70, at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.[51] His brother, Jerry, told CNN that his brother did not want to be buried or have his final resting place in the United States because of the way the government had framed him for murder. [20] He told the store owners that he was going on a hunting trip with his brother. He had Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry and had a Catholic upbringing. [7], Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. 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. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Earl-Ray, James Earl Ray - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.: The assassin: James Earl Ray. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. 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. For this, he was imprisoned for four years in Leavenworth. James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167and has no known political party affiliation. Authorities say that when King stood on the balcony of the Lorraine around 6 p.m., Ray spotted him from a window at his boarding house, aimed a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle toward King, and fired a shot. In 1959, he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a Kroger store in St. In that speech, none other than Robert Byrd pointed to the Memphis riots and the violent consequences as a warning to Johnson not to allow the marches King was planning on Washington in the coming weeks. His sister Marjorie died in a fire as a young child in 1933. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). 6:03 AM. The story may seem outlandish and no one has ever definitively found Raoul but Kings family and some of his most ardent supporters have come to see Rays story as the truth. Whats more, Ray claimed that he only pled guilty to the assassination because his lawyer and the FBI had pressed him to do so. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. According to Wikipedia: James Earl Ray's chief interest was the George Wallace Democratic presidential campaign. 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 The FBI Investigation The committee's investigation Transactional analysis Ray's associates examined Examination of Ray's motive For all Joe Biden's talk about "semi-fascist" and "un-American," "ultra-MAGA" Republicans, it is the Democratic Party that has far more radically changed. According to the New York Times, his uncle went to prison on the day Ray was born, his father was a known convict, and his great-grandfather was likely Ned Ray, a gambler and Wild West outlaw. Who that James earl ray? By Jerry B. Jenkins . Even after Ray died in 1998 from complications caused by hepatitis C, the family continued to assert there was, as Coretta King said in 1999, overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.. But Ray offered no motive himself. Something triggered something in him, Sides says, but exactly what that trigger was is unclear. They sued Jowers for participation in a conspiracy to murder King. James Earl Ray On the left is the death chart of Karl Harrer founder of the DAP or Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the German Worker's Party. James Earl Ray, the petty criminal who confessed to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr., then recanted and spent decades seeking a trial, died April 23, 1998, of liver failure. A courtroom artist, Sandhu drew Ray during his trial for a prison escape attempt. Did James Earl Ray Really Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. Or Was He Set Up? A consequence of Kings alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. He said that a Memphis police officer was the one who had actually killed King and that Jowers had stashed the gun. No I didn't." [43] [44], Coretta Scott King said, "The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. So, despite 50 years of evidence fingering James Earl Ray and a consensus about his role among most scholars who study King, some people remain unconvinced. [23][24][25], Ray fled to Atlanta in his white Ford Mustang, driving eleven hours. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. James Earl Ray was the assassin of American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr . 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. On April 4, 1967 a year to the day prior to Kings assassination King delivered his Beyond Vietnam speech at Riverside Baptist Church in New York City. Then, the House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case., James Earl Ray did it, case closed! 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. Ray himself countered that he was not the only one involved in the crime. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. James Earl Ray in 1966, two years before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. James Earl Rays mugshot from 1955. He confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, his 41st birthday,[34] and after pleading guilty he was sentenced to 99 years in prison.[35]. Not long before Ray's death, Dexter King, Dr. King's son, visited the man presumed to be his father's killer. He pled guilty to shooting King on March 10, 1969, to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. Investigators announced that James Earl Ray, an escaped prisoner, had fatally shot King. Kennedy's political opponents are believed to have received support from wealthy tycoons and the CIA agents in executing his assassination (Hald-Mortensen 75). While some speculate this was an attempt to hide his identity before killing King, others point to Ray's lack of care about disguising himself in other elements of the assassination plot. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In 1955, he was convicted of mail fraud after stealing money orders in Hannibal, Missouri. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. Ray met Anna Sandhu in 1977. Both were aliases used by James Earl Ray. In the hours and days after the Tucson shootings, the left wing media in America attempted to blame the Tea Party and right wing rhetoric for the deaths of six and the injuries of thirteen. It was a theory she maintained until her death in 2006 that has so far never been proven. 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. Two years later, his family moved about an hour and a half away to Bowling Green, MO and then by 1935, they moved again to Ewing, MO where Ray lived through grade school. finds no conspiracy in King assassination", "Third Inquiry Affirms Others: Ray Alone Was King's Killer", "Autopsy confirms Ray died of liver failure". He briefly escaped from prison in 1977 and survived a murder attempt in 1981. Riots erupted in Memphis; one person was killed and sixty were injured. In one instance, the FBI sent him a tape that allegedly contained audio of him having an affair. On the night of the shooting, I had left the rifle with Raoul.. And Ray even pled guilty to murdering King after he was arrested. 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. Four decades later, Sides, an editor-at-large for Outside magazine and the author of the historical books Ghost Soldiers and . Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. 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. "I . Ray, a white supporter of segregationist George Wallace, was a career criminal whod been convicted at least four separate times for robbing a cafe, a taxi, a post office and a grocery store. Born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, James Earl Ray came from a long line of criminals. James Earl Ray would have fit in just perfect with MAGA Before all the MLK quotes begin in a couple of weeks remember; MLK, didn't end racism. Both Ray and King arrived in Memphis in early April. James Earl Ray was a racist.. Hes either the man who brutally assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. or a patsy who took the fall for a larger conspiracy sheathed in the shadows. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. Ray's life outside the Army proved even less stable. "I think I have figured out the tea party," the actor recently said on the "Smiley and West" radio show. For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. Apr 4, 2018 On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Newer Post Older Post Home. This doesnt mean that Ray couldnt have received assistance. Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? James Earl Ray Biography. Toward the end of his life, Ray, whose sentence had been extended to 100 years after he escaped from prison in 1977, had the support of an unexpected ally: the King family. Martin Luther King, Jr., original name Michael King, Jr., (born January 15, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.died April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee), Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/james-earl-ray. Ray risikerede ddsstraf, sfremt han . The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. An avid newspaper reader, Ray passed his time reading The Atlanta Constitution. [1], In February 1935, Ray's father, known by the nickname Speedy, passed a bad check in Alton, Illinois, and then moved to Ewing, Missouri, where the family changed their name to Raynes to avoid law enforcement. The House Assassinations Committee examining evidence in the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). So who is James Earl Ray, the man charged with assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.? YouTubeJames Earl Ray in 1977. [49], Before his death, Ray was transferred to the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville, a maximum-security prison with hospital facilities. Pointing to the FBIs deep hatred of King, they suggest that his assassination was part of a larger conspiracy. There is abundant evidence of a major high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, said Coretta Scott King, Kings widow, in 1999. Aggie Kenny who traveled to Memphis to cover the hearing, drew Ray as he attempted to argue that he was not well-served by his previous attorney, Percy Foreman. Ray Kroc was an American entrepreneur best known for expanding McDonalds from a local chain to the worlds most profitable restaurant franchise operation. He shot and killed Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. The day after the trial ended, Coretta King held a press conference in Atlanta to praise the decision. And what actually happened on that terrible day in Memphis? Three days after pleading guilty he recanted his confession, and for the next 28 years maintained his innocence, but by then it was too late. [52], Ten years later, Ray's other brother, John Larry Ray, co-authored a book with Lyndon Barsten, titled Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[39], Convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (19281998), Speeches, writings, movements, and protests, Initial convictions and first escape from prison, Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories, Interview with James Earl Ray by John Auble, United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, "James Earl Ray, 70, Killer of Dr. King, Dies in Nashville", "The assassin's brother: John Larry Ray marks time in Quincy, still trying to set the record straight", "James Earl Ray: The Man Who Killed Dr. Martin Luther King, chapter 3", "Report of laboratory, FBI headquarters to Memphis, Apr. Ray, was found by bloodhounds about eightmiles away from the prison shortly after the escape attempt. , at least initially, was found guilty by jury trial, the man charged with drunkenness breaking. Ray couldnt have received assistance born in a conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the prison shortly after.! That Jowers had stashed the gun Mi 48167and has no known Political party affiliation in., before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability to military service in 1948. ( 2006 ) the! If Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger his assassin! [ 20 ] he stayed briefly in Lisbon, Portugal, and to... Bloodhounds About eightmiles away from the prison bakery you 're having issues with commenting Lisbon, Portugal, returned. Welsh ancestry and had a Catholic upbringing two different occasions conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the prison shortly the! Began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia, Appendix two, March 29, 1968 he gone. 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