Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. He spent much of his time in Los Angeles volunteering at the Wallace campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. En route to Americas northern border, he would soon escape to Canada on April 6th. 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 . A package was abandoned close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both found with Ray's fingerprints. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. Ray was sentenced to a 99 year sentence, with another year added after his escape in 1977. Ray was a racist and was quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. 191 Ben Barrack 18 Jan 2011 0 In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. the result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. Bettmann/Getty ImagesJames Earl Ray on July 19, 1968, shortly after he was arrested for killing MLK. The evidence brought forth by attorney William Pepper was so powerful . In King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown, there were 70 witnesses called; twelve jurors found in favor of the King family, which held a press conference after the verdict. James Earl Ray hated him. He signed an account of the murder in March 1969, and in exchange for his . 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. In 1959, he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a Kroger store in St. If I ever get to the streets, I am going to kill him.. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/james-earl-ray. Whats more, Ray claimed that he only pled guilty to the assassination because his lawyer and the FBI had pressed him to do so. 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 James Earl Ray (fdt 10. marts 1928, dd 23. april 1998) var en amerikansk morder, der blev dmt for at have drbt Martin Luther King jr. den 4. april 1968, fem r efter Kings verdenskendte "I Have a Dream" tale i 1963.. James Earl Ray blev idmt 99 rs fngsel for mordet p King. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the killing,. Whether he was guilty or innocent, James Earl Ray led an eventful life from behind bars. Ray himself countered that he was not the only one involved in the crime. Two years later, his young sister Marjorie, died in a fire after playing with matches and accidentally catching herself on fire. A former theater and television producer, Edward remains active in charity. 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 . 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. 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 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. He pled guilty to shooting King on March 10, 1969, to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. After getting laid off in 1945, Ray enlisted in the Army, eventually getting stationed in West Germany. 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. He drifted around the Midwest, committing more crimes. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. He left Toronto in late May on a flight to England. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. Ray met Anna Sandhu in 1977. King and his associates came to town on April 3 and checked into the Lorraine Motel. The 12-person jury verdict unanimous exonerated the "patsy" James Earl Ray for any role in the assassination of MLK. The verdict did convict Loyd Jowers and "other parties known and unknown" for their parts in the vast US government conspiracy to assassinate King. 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. font size decrease font size increase font size; . ''. [49] On June 9, 2000, the United States Department of Justice released a 150-page report rejecting allegations that there was a conspiracy to assassinate King, including the determination of the Memphis civil court jury. For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. 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. They quickly found the rifle with Rays fingerprints on it. 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 was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to . Some have indicated that King vs. Jowers was nothing more than a promotional stunt. But Ray offered no motive himself. Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? An international manhunt led to his capture in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was caught carrying two fake Canadian passports. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. 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. All Rights Reserved. In renouncing his guilt, Ray raised the spectre of a conspiracy behind Kings murder but offered scant evidence to support his claim. YouTube James Earl Ray in 1977. James Earl Ray in 1977. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the. Ray Kroc was an American entrepreneur best known for expanding McDonalds from a local chain to the worlds most profitable restaurant franchise operation. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. 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 Using mail-ordered equipment, he filmed and photographed local prostitutes. After reading about James Earl Ray, learn about the first and only time that Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm X. He said that a Memphis police officer was the one who had actually killed King and that Jowers had stashed the gun. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? Kershaw and his client met with representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and convinced the committee to conduct ballistics tests that they believed would prove Ray had not fired the fatal shot. 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 was a racist, but there was circumstantial evidence that a businessman in St. Louis had established a $50,000 bounty for King's death." . 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.'. But while at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Ray took a fateful step. 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. With it came a letter threatening King with public exposure if he didnt kill himself, and claiming that the sender had evidence of other affairs. 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. ), where he secured a second Canadian passport (May 16), and back to London (May 17?). Was Abraham Lincoln Black? Second Edition, Tennessee Waltz - the Making of a Political Prisoner. AP Photo. He was 70. He considered moving to Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), a country with a predominantly white minority government. 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. Maybe you would like to learn more about one of these? Actor: Fired Up!. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. James Earl Ray was a Democrat. More answers below In fact, King's family was as convinced of Ray's innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpson's guilt. Finally, on July 19, 1968, the FBI caught up with Ray in London and extradited him to the United States. His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to Ireland, the home of his maternal family's ancestors. He shot and killed King in Memphis on April 4, 1968, confessing to the crime the following March. YouTubeJames Earl Ray in 1977. [21], After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. And he began to tell an unsettling story. To people whod known Ray, the answer seemed obvious. Those prints were already among the FBIs records for wanted individuals. Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." James Earl Ray was a racist.. Riots erupted in Memphis; one person was killed and sixty were injured. "I . It is descended into a woke, neo-socialist, radically green party. [31] At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. A part of his life was shaped by tragedy. On the night of the shooting, I had left the rifle with Raoul.. And what actually happened on that terrible day in Memphis? Who Was James Earl Ray? James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were . 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 said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. Ray was arrested at Londons Heathrow Airport on June 8, 1968, a few weeks after the crime. Both his Ray, Jerry, as told to Tamara . [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. In addition to his segregationist beliefs, he also saw a big payday, some historians have said, in killing Black leaders like H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael and, of course, King. 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. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [20] He told the store owners that he was going on a hunting trip with his brother. 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. Findings by federal authorities and the House Select Committee on Assassinations are confident about some things. (2009), Gridiron Gang (2006) and The Lazarus Effect (2015). He then drove to Mexico, stopping in Acapulco before settling in Puerto Vallarta on October 19, 1967. 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. No comments: Post a Comment. Kershaw convinced Ray to submit to a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. The Rhodesian government expressed its disapproval. One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Surprisingly, it is indeed possible that officials recovered the wrong gun at the scene. Less than a year after the assassination, Ray pleaded guilty to the crime. 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. 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.. He died on April 23, 1998, Nashville, TN. But he found it difficult to adapt to the military's strict codes of conduct. 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. A courtroom artist, Sandhu drew Ray during his trial for a prison escape attempt. Evidence does suggest that Ray had little stomach for the integration policies that were sweeping the country. He insisted that a man he'd met in Canada, who went by the name of Raoul, had orchestrated the murder and ultimately shot King. 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 (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167and has no known political party affiliation. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. Rendering their verdict on December 8 of that year, the jury found that Jowers and others, including government agencies, had conspired to murder King, and he was therefore legally liable to pay compensation to the King family. He got a job back in Illinois at the International Shoe Company but was laid off in 1945. 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. "Like a Fading Shadow" is Antonio Muoz Molina's dramatization of the hunted assassin James Earl Ray's obscure 10 . 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. And teachers at his school where Ray often showed up barefoot and in ragged clothes noted that he violated all regulations. The parents of James Earl Ray are James Gerald Ray,Lucille Ray. 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. Yes, the President is part of the. At one point, he claimed a person named Raul told him to kill King, but theres no convincing proof of such an idea, according to Sides. Joseph Blakeney Brown Jr. (born July 5, 1947), known as Judge Joe Brown, is a former American lawyer and television personality. 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. He shot. 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. Then in 1977 to 1978, following a . 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. 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. James Earl Ray was an American criminal with a Danish background, convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was convicted on March 10, 1969, after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. [28] He stayed briefly in Lisbon, Portugal, and returned to London. "I think I have figured out the tea party," the actor recently said on the "Smiley and West" radio show. 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. [19], Ray was soon on the road again and drove his Mustang to Birmingham, Alabama. Pointing to the FBIs deep hatred of King, they suggest that his assassination was part of a larger conspiracy. That doesnt mean there are no questions left. After returning to Alton and moving back in with his grandmother, he blazed through a number of odd jobs. 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. He got a 99-year prison sentence, which he served until he died of liver failure due to hepatitis C on Apr. He travelled there on a Canadian passport. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Ray was born into a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. One of Kings sons Dexter had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his fathers assassin. He claimed that, as a fugitive, he had met a blond Cuban named Raoul or Raul. Ray said he worked for Raoul in a gun-running enterprise, and he bought a .30-06 hunting rifle for him in Birmingham, Alabama. The rifle with Rays fingerprints didnt create tell-tale grooves on bullets, which ballistic tests usually use to match a gun to a bullet. For now, James Earl Rays legacy depends on who you believe. Eventually, Ray drifted west to Los Angeles. [8] He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses. 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. He enlisted in the U.S. Army but was discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability to military service in 1948. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. Ray replied, "No. The jury awarded the money to the estate, deciding that Kings assassination had likely beenthe result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies.''. Ray then fired Kershaw after discovering the attorney had been paid $11,000 by the magazine in exchange for the interview and instead hired attorney Mark Lane to provide him with legal representation. Just a few days later, however, James Earl Ray changed his story. [49], Before his death, Ray was transferred to the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville, a maximum-security prison with hospital facilities. The other people involved in this conspiracy, Jowers said, included Memphis police officers, a Mafia member and the infamous Raoul. 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. 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. Its important to note that this verdict was not a criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online. In October 1974, James Earl Ray attempted to recant his confession for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. . James Earl Ray Biography. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. 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. James Earl Ray is the disturbed man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. 23, 1998, at the age of 70. What We Know About Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr. [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?" It didnt help that Rays story kept changing. [18] He bought a map of the city. History has largely forgotten much of the story of Martin Luther King's convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, a serial prison escapee. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 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. 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. The two married in 1978 and divorced in 1992. James. He maintained that he was innocent of killing MLK until his own death in 1998. 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. He spent many hours volunteering at the campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. [15], On March 5, 1968, Ray underwent a rhinoplasty, performed by physician Russell Hadley. Said Byrd: Yesterday, Mr. President, the Nation was given a preview of what may be in store for this city by the outrageous and despicable riot that Martin Luther King helped to bring about in Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray is infamous for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. To escape from prison on two different occasions innocent as children, longing for the past people... Was born in a civil trial was discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability to service... In Lisbon, Portugal, and he bought a map of the city pointing to the FBIs records wanted... Border, he returned to U.S. and the House Select committee on Assassinations are confident about things. Gun at the International Shoe Company but was laid off in 1945, Ray was spotted at the close World! Innocent as children, longing for the first 25 years after Kings,! 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