All three bore the fingerprints of an escaped convict named James Earl Ray. Since Ray's arrest for the assassination, he has become mythified. Some people had trouble, for example, believing Ray had arranged his international escape all by himself, since he had a track record of getting caught for more minor crimes. In one instance, the FBI sent him a tape that allegedly contained audio of him having an affair. 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. Further information about this communist was found in the book, Its Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, by the late author and speaker Alan Stang. Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), an extremist Black Nationalist organization, has conferred with King. Most recently, after Ray's death in . There were no cellblock TVs in Jefferson City in 1963 and 1964. James Earl Ray was white. "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? The date was November 9, 1963. Ray pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Born in a poor family, Ray had a difficult childhood as his father could not support his family. Ray replied that he did not commit the crime. James Earl Ray was a racist, but there was circumstantial evidence that a businessman in St. Louis had established a $50,000 bounty for King's death." . He is the one who sits in leadership and is the most powerful person of a country. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. 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. Shortly after Ray pled guilty to the King murder, Clay Blair's book The Strange Case of James Earl Ray was published. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthals story that he was innocent? An hour later, he was declared dead. He admitted to staying at the rooming house from where authorities said the bullet that struck Rev. There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta King said at a press conference in 1999, according to The King Center. During the original taped conversation, Milteer also revealed a plot against Martin Luther King, one that involved an NSRP hit man named Brown. I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. But Westberg had been told that the guard did not open the bread box. Whatever noble goals King proclaimed, the subversive company he chose to keep severely neutralizes any good he may have aspired to and creates serious doubts about the sincerity of his stated mission. All the seven prisoners who escaped from the prison were recaptured within two days and sent back to the prison. One day he walked away, and it was rumored he took $5,000 of state money with him. Ray told me several times, and I have it on tape, that he bought the rifle that was used in the King slaying. He filmed local prostitutes during their work hours in pursuit of his cinematographic dream, but he eventually left Puerto Vallarta after being jilted by his girlfriend who, coincidentally, was also one of the prostitutes he filmed. When ODell was again exposed, King went through the same routine of announcing his dismissal. In 1962, when King mentioned to Levinson that he was thinking of adding an administrative assistant to his staff, Levinson recommended ODell, who was then head of SCLCs New York office. After Ray was arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King, it was widely believed that those erroneous prints were proof that the King conspiracy began in Jefferson City, and that someone employed at the prison was involved. 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. However, the assessment of King got even worse. Benny Edmondson thought it was hilarious that William Bradford Huie thought he was "Raoul." But almost immediately after her husbands assassination, she suspected that the FBI, which had investigated the murder, was involved in it. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. He escaped from the prison hiding in a truck that was transporting bread from the prison bakery. Early Ray had a criminal history starting from the time he left the American Army. Even though he played an elitist liberal psychiatrist on "Frasier," Kelsey Grammer is a Republican in real life. It is clear why tyrants wish to keep people from learning about Price and reading the powerful words he wrote defending freedom and Is Christianity the enemy of science? Westberg once described Ray to me as, "Kind of countryfied, but he's okay." Therefore, I challenge your authority to hear it. After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. This is the real thing and as an officer of the court he should have known better. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. Just before Ray's escape from Jeff City he was visited by his brother. One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Martin Luther King Jr., and there should be no question about that fact. "[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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The coffee was contraband. Over the years, as book after book has been published on the King case, numerous conspiracy theories have been advanced: that the FBI was involved; that the CIA feared King would come out in opposition to the Vietnam War; that rival black leaders felt King's non-violent approach was a hindrance to black progress; that white supremacists wanted him out of the way for obvious reasons. Moreover, Jerry Ray and James Earl Ray are close. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. All rights reserved. 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. Stoner's hatred of blacks would not have been offensive to him Ray; he might have viewed it as a little extreme, but he would have admired Stoner for being a rebel and for having a network of trusted associates. In September 1961, I tried to escape and pulled six months in E-Hall, a 100-year-old building whose third floor was for solitary confinement. Milteer, a Stoner associate, as he discussed NSRP plans with a Miami police informer. King was shot by Earl Ray when the former was standing in the balcony of his motel room. Judge Horne did have the authority to hold him in contempt. If it hadn't been for the two escape attempts, Ray would almost certainly have been paroled by the time he actually did escape. James Earl Ray lowers his head as State Safety commissioner Greg O'Rear, white hat, and Highway Patrol Maj. Mickey McGuire, dark glasses, lead him to prison in Nashville, Tenn., March 11, 1969. Thorpe Menn, then book editor of The Star, sent it to me to review. "Somebody's gotta get him," Ray would say, his face drawn with tension, his fists clenched. Once, while pulling a robbery, the victims refused to give Ray the money, and he fell out of a window and damned near killed himself. [13], Brown is twice divorced and has two sons from his first marriage.[14]. There it was once again: A belief from the Rev. It was important for the government to have a lone killer-since blacks across the nation were rioting, and proof of a white conspiracy to kill the black civil-rights leader would have caused a racial explosion. None. He said that another person he met in Canada by the name Raoul was the actual person who plotted the murder and ultimately pulled the trigger. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. A man named Vincent Harding is credited with writing most of it. In her autobiography, Coretta Scott King wrote how glad she was that both Dexter and young Martin Luther King, III, had a chance to go with their father on . Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. I occasionally rented magazines from Ray, but other inmates usually had a larger selection, and better quality magazines. So, even if I conceded the possibility that Ray had sold drugs, it would have been in small quantities, and for a brief period of time. Warden Swenson of the Jeff City prison immediately issued an edict that convicts could no longer correspond with editors. pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 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. 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. James Earl Ray did it, case closed! Absence of witnesses to corroborate Raoul's existence, Rental of room 5-B at Bessie Brewer's roominghouse, Irreconcilable conflicts of interest of Foreman and Hanes, Foreman's failure to investigate the case, Coercion by Foreman and the Federal Government, Ray's belief a guilty plea would not preclude a new trial, How to File a FOIA Request for Archival Records. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Among the evidence was a recording of Jowers in which he suggested he was interested in fabricating his story for financial gain. In 1977, New Times magazine suggested that Jerry Ray and "Raoul" were one and the same. In the five decades since Martin Luther King Jr.was shot dead by an assassin at age 39, his children have worked tirelessly to preserve his legacy, sometimes with sharply different views on how best to do that, an article in the March 30 Washington Post said. (Several authors have said it was "common knowledge" in Jeff City that you could go to England and acquire an ID the way Ray did. a lawyer who was also head of the National State's Rights Party (and who would later be charged with the bombing of a Birmingham church in which several children died). That investigation declassified scores of memos detailing the bureaus abusive behavior, but did not reveal any evidence that the FBI had formally plotted his death. The introduction to the paper observed that since 1956, King had occupied a prominent role in the drive for equal rights for Negroes in the Untied States. It continued by noting, The course King chooses to follow at this critical time could have momentous impact on the future of race relations in the United States, and for that reason this paper has been prepared to give some insight into the nature of the man himself as well as the nature of his views, goals, objective, tactics, and the reason therefore., The papers summary of Kings planned Washington Spring project is contrary to the image of King painted by most historians as a man who employed only the most peaceful means. 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, John McAdams (The John F. Kennedy Assassination Information Center), Dr. King was killed by one shot fired from in front of him. One of Kings sons Dexter had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his fathers assassin. Early Ray fired a single shot by standing in the bathtub of his shared room and balancing the rifle on a window ledge. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, They Slew The Dreamer, had taken an interest in George Ben Edmondson. After he was recaptured, Ray hired attorney Jack Kershaw to promote his claim that he was not the person who actually shot King. McMillans false scenarios portray Ray as a rabid racist in prison. Also, after he moved to St. Louis he lived in south St. Louis, an area known for its racism. But they are unanimous on one key point: James Earl Ray did not kill Martin Luther King.. He was right, but he would never be that man. A year before, hed escaped from Missouri State Penitentiary while serving a 20-year sentence, and was on the lam at the time King was shot. James Earl Ray was an American assassin convicted for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After his conviction, he spent all his life in prison. On January 26, 1976, Time magazine devoted four pages to the King assassination, drawing heavily on material from McMillan's book, which was scheduled for publication later that year: In 1963 and 1964 Martin Luther King was on TV almost every day, talking defiantly about how black people were going to get their rights, insisting that they would accept with nonviolence all the terrible violence that white people were inflicting on them, until the day of victory arrived, until they did overcome. He began to call him Martin "Lucifer" King and Martin Luther "Coon." James. I spent virtually all of 1962 in solitary. Ray, whose previous history as a criminal was notable only for its ineptness, fled to Canada after the killing, assumed a new identity complete with credentials, then fled to England where he was arrested trying to fly out to another country. Stoner certainly wasnt the only radical white supremacist running around, however-just the best known. Although Westberg liked Ray, he never brought him around us. James Earl Jones. Ray said he wasnt in the room when King was shot, but he was unable to consistently explain where he had been, or keep other important details in his story straight. Dexter and his family too believed that he did not commit the crime and urged the government to grant a new trial to Ray. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. It endangers the premise of the place. I went to Memphis to deliver a rifle to this man called Raoul, Ray told me. 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