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. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Ex-wife of MLK assassin James Earl Ray charged with animal cruelty in Tennessee June 23, 2021 11:30am Updated Madison County Jail More On: The ex-wife of assassin James Earl Ray, who. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. (biography.com) He admitted that he killed Martin Luther King, so he . A plaque made for a 2002 Martin Luther King Day celebration mistakenly thanked James Earl Ray, King's assassin, instead of actor James Earl Jones. 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. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. A. No I didn't." Kennedy's political opponents are believed to have received support from wealthy tycoons and the CIA agents in executing his assassination (Hald-Mortensen 75). Unbeknownst to Ray, however, under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional. Using their logic, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. should be attributed to a Democratic U.S. He spent much of his time in Los Angeles volunteering at the Wallace campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. Ray had seven siblings. Bettmann/Getty ImagesJames Earl Ray in 1966, two years before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder. 2. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. And what actually happened on that terrible day in Memphis? Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. First pu Omissions? Despite a stint in prison, Ray continued on this path into the 1950s. He at first fled to Canada but, unable to get on a ship and flee overseas, he returned to the U.S. and made his way to first Alabama, then Mexico, and later Los Angeles. 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Whats more, Ray claimed that he only pled guilty to the assassination because his lawyer and the FBI had pressed him to do so. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. It didnt help that Rays story kept changing. 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. An international manhunt led to his capture in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was caught carrying two fake Canadian passports. But while at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Ray took a fateful step. James Earl Ray on July 19, 1968, shortly after he was arrested for killing MLK. Martin Luther's goal, at least initially, was to repeal Jim Crow segregation laws where they existed. Updates? Newer Post Older Post Home. [15], On March 5, 1968, Ray underwent a rhinoplasty, performed by physician Russell Hadley. Political party politics did not play a direct role in his activities. [19], Ray was soon on the road again and drove his Mustang to Birmingham, Alabama. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. He was trying to depart the United Kingdom for Angola, Rhodesia, or apartheid South Africa[30] using the falsified Canadian passport. But officials dont believe Jowerss story. [22], On April 4, 1968, Ray killed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. with a single shot fired from his Remington rifle, while King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 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." . [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 bureau wiretapped his phone and monitored his movements, taking advantage of times when he seemed particularly upset or depressed. They were recaptured on June 13. By 1969, James Earl Jones was no stranger to either the movie or TV screens. 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. More answers below He was believed to have been en route to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was at the time a haven for white supremacists. A guilty. 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. James Earl Ray is the disturbed man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. 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. Less than a year after the assassination, Ray pleaded guilty to the crime. 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. Ray was arrested at Londons Heathrow Airport on June 8, 1968, a few weeks after the crime. Public DomainJames Earl Rays mugshot from 1955. And after he returned to Illinois and robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint for $11, police easily arrested him in a dead-end alleyway. All three bore the fingerprints of an escaped convict named James Earl Ray. Contents 1 Background 2 Murder of King, Incarceration, and Death 3 Motive 4 Conspiracy Theories 4.1 Ray's claims 4.2 Loyd Jowers 4.3 Other claims 5 Modus Operandi 6 Known Victims 7 On Criminal Minds 8 Sources Background King died about an hour later. [38], In 1997, King's son, Dexter, met with Ray at the prison and asked him, "I just want to ask you, for the record, did you kill my father?" [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. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. This had long been a consequence of the compromise made a lifetime earlier to end Reconstruction. 1928. [26][27] He picked up his belongings and fled north to Canada, arriving in Toronto three days later, where he hid for over a month and acquired a Canadian passport under the false name of Ramon George Sneyd. "[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. And it is committed, as Barack Obama once promised, to fundamentally transforming America. But Ray offered no motive himself. Ray replied, "No. Finally, Americans anguished over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had the who. But what about the why?. Among the evidence was a recording of Jowers in which he suggested he was interested in fabricating his story for financial gain. 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. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. Later in life his pleas for a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the King family. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. Digital The drifter left after a 45-minute session and never came back. [21], After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. Surprisingly, it is indeed possible that officials recovered the wrong gun at the scene. 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. [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. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was of Irish, Scots, and Welsh ancestry. He said that a Memphis police officer was the one who had actually killed King and that Jowers had stashed the gun. His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to Ireland, the home of his maternal family's ancestors. He shot. Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." In the years following Ray's arrest, questions arose about his exact involvement in King's murder. Carter, who has rarely used his full name-James Earl Carter, Jr.-was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. James Earl Ray (1928-1998) Some of us may have heard of Dr. Pepper's efforts, as attorney for the King Family, to defend James Earl Ray (the man wrongly imprisoned for the assassination of Dr. King) as part of an effort to bring the actual killers to justice. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to . Using mail-ordered equipment, he filmed and photographed local prostitutes. Published Jan 19, 2003. He signed an account of the murder in March 1969, and in exchange for his . 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. [49], Before his death, Ray was transferred to the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville, a maximum-security prison with hospital facilities. In March 1960 Ray started a 20-year sentence for the crimes. According to Harding, King had already severely angered Johnson by delivering that speech, which could have made Johnson quite receptive to Byrds sentiment. At one point, the owner of the bar beneath the boarding house where Ray stayed, Loyd Jowers, claimed that he had participated in a conspiracy to assassinate King. Some have indicated that King vs. Jowers was nothing more than a promotional stunt. 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. [7], Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. All Rights Reserved. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations, she said. So who is James Earl Ray, the man charged with assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.? 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. The evidence brought forth by attorney William Pepper was so powerful . 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. He was a democrat. 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. And after passing through Canada, Alabama, Mexico, and Los Angeles, he eventually made his way to Memphis, Tennessee in April 1968. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. What were James earl rays political views? 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. [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. The King family started to publicly voice the opinion in 1997. He escaped in 1967. James Earl is known for Fired Up! After returning to Alton and moving back in with his grandmother, he blazed through a number of odd jobs. 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. James Earl Jones was the voice of Darth Vader What political part was Hitler part of? He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967 by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Then in 1977 to 1978, following a . [28] He stayed briefly in Lisbon, Portugal, and returned to London. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. 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. Finally, on July 19, 1968, the FBI caught up with Ray in London and extradited him to the United States. [8] He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Indeed, Ray seemed to struggle from the start. 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. James Earl Ray Biography. Hardcover, 480 pages. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. 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. Maybe you would like to learn more about one of these? He had Ulster Scots and Irish ancestry and had a Catholic . Please try again later. 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. There, James Earl Ray would cross paths with Martin Luther King Jr. By April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. had become the face of the civil rights movement. I think there was a major conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the American scene, Lewis said. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. INTERVIEW OF JAMES EARL RAY BY JOHN AUBLE, KST-TV ST LOUIS - National Archives and Records Administration 1977-11-03 - ARC 43297, LI 233-MLK-150170 - DVD Cop. 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. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. (Pueblo, Colorado), Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. Art Hanes Jr. thinks about the James Earl Ray case every day. Back in Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, forfeiting a trial, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. 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. And that Jowers had stashed the gun, to fundamentally transforming America convicted 1969... 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