King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 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. 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. Digital 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]. Ray risikerede ddsstraf, sfremt han . En route to Americas northern border, he would soon escape to Canada on April 6th. 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. 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. [37] A year was added to Ray's previous sentence, increasing it to 10 decades. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. He spent many hours volunteering at the campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. The mock trial jury finally acquitted Ray. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom . After shooting King, Ray immediately fled, setting off a manhunt that would last more than two months and cover five countries. He broke out of prisons so many times that he earned the nickname the Mole.. Was Abraham Lincoln Black? Neither party made his goals part of their platform. 23, 1998, at the age of 70. 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. He even upheld his claims to the King family. Then in 1977 to 1978, following a . For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. They might not have been involved in the murder, McMillian observes of the FBI, but I wish people knew the really shameful things that they did.. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. [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. He was a democrat. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray replied, "No. After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. 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. Top of Page 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.'. "I . At the time, it was said to be the FBI's most expensive and biggest investigation in its history. The pastor-turned-activist had orchestrated boycotts, led historic marches, and spoken to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington, D.C. about his dream of a more equal country. Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille Ray (ne Maher) and George Ellis Ray. Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." I think there was a major conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the American scene, Lewis said. Since fleeing Memphis, hed gone to Canada, then London, then Portugal, before returning to the U.K. Joseph Louw/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesKings horrified associates point to the direction where they think the bullet came from as King lay dying at their feet. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. I went to Memphis to deliver a rifle to this man called Raoul, Ray explained to a journalist from The Tennessean. And after passing through Canada, Alabama, Mexico, and Los Angeles, he eventually made his way to Memphis, Tennessee in April 1968. James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 - April 23, 1998) was an American claimed to have been responsible for the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, which he was convicted of.Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. In October 1974, James Earl Ray attempted to recant his confession for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee. But almost immediately after her husbands assassination, she suspected that the FBI, which had investigated the murder, was involved in it. James Earl Ray died, in prison, on April 23, 1998. By then, Ray was long gone. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. He is a male registered to vote in Wayne County, Michigan. 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. 1. James Earl Ray walked through the gates of Brushy Mountain for the first time March 21, 1970, one year into a 99-year sentence and not quite two years since the death of King, gunned down by a . 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. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the killing,. Read an Excerpt. There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. He maintained that he was innocent of killing MLK until his own death in 1998. Findings by federal authorities and the House Select Committee on Assassinations are confident about some things. He was 70. On September 16 th 1963 a young Southern White lawyer in Birmingham Alabama spoke these words after a black church was bombed and the police attacked peaceful protesters: "from anger and despair, from frustration and empathy. Kershaw convinced Ray to submit to a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. In Truth at Last, we read how "James met CIA asset Jules Ron 'Ricco' Kimble. Despite a stint in prison, Ray continued on this path into the 1950s. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. But until the day he died of liver disease and kidney failure on April 23, 1998, he never again admitted to killing Martin Luther King Jr. No I didn't." James. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. Martin Luther King Jr. was a scholar and minister who led the civil rights movement. His sister Marjorie died in a fire as a young child in 1933. According to Pew, the percentage of Americans who said they could trust the federal government to do the right thing nearly always or most of the time went from an all-time high of 77% in 1964 to 36% by the end of the 1970s. 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. [31] At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He paid for a nose job in cash. In 1959, he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a Kroger store in St. Most famously, in 1997 a dying Ray told Dexter King, his victims son, that he didnt do it. 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. Omissions? Who that James earl ray? He left Toronto in late May on a flight to England. Over the decades, the story twisted and turned. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK,' explained G. Robert Blakey, a law professor who previously served as the chief counsel for the House Assassinations Committee. 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.). Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Personal life 3.1 Legal issues Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to . They sued Jowers for participation in a conspiracy to murder King. 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. Louis. The magazine reported that the test results showed "Ray did, in fact, kill Martin Luther King Jr. and that he did so alone." Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. Later in life his pleas for a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the King family. [18] He bought a map of the city. I do think [Ray] had help, but I never found any proof that a group helped him, says Sides. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? He drifted around the Midwest, committing more crimes. But while at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Ray took a fateful step. Whether he was guilty or innocent, James Earl Ray led an eventful life from behind bars. James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old convicted armed robber who had escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Mo., on April 23, 1967, pleaded guilty on March 10, 1969, in Shelby County (Tenn.) Criminal Court to the first degree murder of Dr. King. He was believed to have been en route to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was at the time a haven for white supremacists. James Earl Jones thinks he knows makes the tea party tick: racism. 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. The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). [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. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. 4777. With rates currently down to half that in 2018 (18%), these theories seem unlikely to go away any time soon. 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. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. But among legal and historical scholars, there is a broad consensus that James Earl Ray, though he may not have acted alone, is the gunman who shot Martin Luther King. To people whod known Ray, the answer seemed obvious. And after he returned to Illinois and robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint for $11, police easily arrested him in a dead-end alleyway. As with most cases, the answer is yes. Each year, the third Monday in January is a celebration to commemoratethe life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., the tireless civil rights activist who was gunned down in Memphis, TN, in 1968. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Pointing to the FBIs deep hatred of King, they suggest that his assassination was part of a larger conspiracy. The other people involved in this conspiracy, Jowers said, included Memphis police officers, a Mafia member and the infamous Raoul. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. I Do Understand Racism'. Yet given the way the bureau had treated her and her family, her suspicion of the FBI and its conclusions about her husbands killer came from a very reasonable place, says John McMillian, a history professor at Georgia State University. In 1961, Russian spy Gordon Lonsdale used a false Canadian passport for his espionage activities in England, as did his associates in the British naval . James Earl Ray was a racist and quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. The King familys belief in Rays innocence was partly influenced by the strange case of Loyd Jowers, whod owned the restaurant below Rays rented room in Memphis. The evidence brought forth by attorney William Pepper was so powerful . That year, Kings son Dexter Scott King visited Ray in prison to draw attention to the familys push to appeal his case. He signed an account of the murder in March 1969, and in exchange for his . When Kings son, Dexter, visited Ray in prison, Dexter asked Ray point-blank: Did you kill my father?. 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. [13], He considered emigrating to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where a predominantly white minority regime had unilaterally assumed independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. James Earl Ray is infamous for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Indeed, compelling evidence including Rays fingerprints on the rifle that was later determined to be the murder weapon seemed to point to him. So, are there are still remaining questions about how everything happened the day of Kings assassination? Published Jan 19, 2003. 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. 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. Evidence does suggest that Ray had little stomach for the integration policies that were sweeping the country. On June 8 he was apprehended by London police at Heathrow Airport as he was about to embark for Brussels; the FBI had established him as the prime suspect almost immediately after the assassination. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167and has no known political party affiliation. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder. His home life was no better. 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. Ray confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969 and received a 99-year prison sentence, which increased to a 100-year sentence after he briefly escaped in 1977. Joseph Blakeney Brown Jr. (born July 5, 1947), known as Judge Joe Brown, is a former American lawyer and television personality. I dont know what happened, but the truth of what happened to Dr. King should be made available for historys sake.. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was a former California governor who also headed the commission that investigated the JFK assassination. 1. [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. The facts are these. His spouse is Anna Sandhu Ray (m. 1978-1993). He said that a Memphis police officer was the one who had actually killed King and that Jowers had stashed the gun. James Earl Ray's FBI wanted poster featured 1960 booking shots and a list of nine aliases. Second Edition, Tennessee Waltz - the Making of a Political Prisoner. Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998. 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