. Investigators announced that James Earl Ray, an escaped prisoner, had fatally shot King. King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The family accepted $100 in restitution to demonstrate they were not pursuing the case for financial gain, and they publicly stated that Ray, in their opinion, had nothing to do with the assassination. 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. At the time, it was said to be the FBI's most expensive and biggest investigation in its history. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. Most famously, in 1997 a dying Ray told Dexter King, his victims son, that he didnt do it. 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 April4, 1968. the result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. Who Was James Earl Ray? But that biography doesnt explain why or how Ray moved from committing property crime and supporting racists, to killing a national icon. Something triggered something in him, Sides says, but exactly what that trigger was is unclear. I found gaps in his movements that are mysterious and you just dont know who hes meeting with. He was 70. [6] Ray left school at the age of 12. Indeed, the House Select Committee on Assassinations later speculated that Ray had killed King in order to collect a $50,000 bounty offered by Wallace supporters in St. Louis who wanted the civil rights leader dead. 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. Using their logic, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. should be attributed to a Democratic U.S. Ray was sentenced to a 99 year sentence, with another year added after his escape in 1977. According to Harding, King had already severely angered Johnson by delivering that speech, which could have made Johnson quite receptive to Byrds sentiment. 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. He shot dead the minister as he was standing on a motel balcony. But then, he filed a motion to withdraw his plea. Over the next several years, Ray embarked on a number of small crimes, serving various jail times. They quickly found the rifle with Rays fingerprints on it. Ray replied, "No. In 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. finds no conspiracy in King assassination", "Third Inquiry Affirms Others: Ray Alone Was King's Killer", "Autopsy confirms Ray died of liver failure". The Rays struggled to make ends meet, and as a consequence, the family moved several times during the early part of Ray's childhood. [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. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. He was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest, before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability in 1948. And he began to tell an unsettling story. James Earl Ray has 7 siblings in His family: John Larry Ray, Suzan Ray, Melba Ray, Marjorie Ray, Franklin Ray, Jerry Ray . 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. James Earl Ray was a racist and quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. 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.. 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. 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 source of his money is the single biggest question.. Entire books have been written about the role James Earl Ray played in the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. Less than a year after the assassination, Ray pleaded guilty to the crime. But despite having a suspect in mind, it took investigators much longer to actually track him down. But Ray offered no motive himself. 23, 1998, at the age of 70. His father's name was George Ellis Ray and his mother's name was Lucille. Ray risikerede ddsstraf, sfremt han . His spouse is Anna Sandhu Ray (m. 1978-1993). Finally, Americans anguished over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had the who. But what about the why?. Trending. 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. [13], He considered emigrating to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where a predominantly white minority regime had unilaterally assumed independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. 1. 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. 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.). He maintained that he was innocent of killing MLK until his own death in 1998. And it is committed, as Barack Obama once promised, to fundamentally transforming America. American fantasy and horror author Ray Bradbury is best known for his novels 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'The Illustrated Man' and 'The Martian Chronicles.'. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. 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. 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. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. James Earl Ray died, in prison, on April 23, 1998. Then, the House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case., James Earl Ray did it, case closed! Some believe the facts are just as history . 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. 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 was a racist and was quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. Ray was born into a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois. His claim was that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy of the otherwise unidentified man named "Raul who was a blond Cuban. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, but the lockup did little to reform him. 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. Ray, who was feeble and sick from hepatitis C, was asked by King about his involvement in the assassination. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. James Earl Ray. 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. It didnt take long for investigators to determine a suspect. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. An hour later, he was declared dead. Ray told Huie that he purposefully left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. "I . Surprisingly, it is indeed possible that officials recovered the wrong gun at the scene. James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 - April 23, 1998) was an American criminal who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.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. Later in life his pleas for a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the King family. 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. After the assassination, King's family did not trust the findings of the FBI, which had harassed the civil rights leader while he was alive. He had Ulster Scots and Irish ancestry and had a Catholic . Bettmann/Getty ImagesJames Earl Ray in 1966, two years before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 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. He had Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry and had a Catholic upbringing. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder. 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. He signed an account of the murder in March 1969, and in exchange for his . He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. A. History has largely forgotten much of the story of Martin Luther King's convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, a serial prison escapee. James Earl Jones thinks he knows makes the tea party tick: racism. [14] The notion of living in Rhodesia continued to appeal to Ray for several years afterwards, and it was his intended destination after King's assassination. James Earl Ray on July 19, 1968, shortly after he was arrested for killing MLK. On the night of the shooting, I had left the rifle with Raoul.. While there, Ray attended a local bartending school and took dance lessons. On April 2, 1968, Ray packed a bag and drove to Memphis. And teachers at his school where Ray often showed up barefoot and in ragged clothes noted that he violated all regulations. They said he lacked credibility and seemed largely motivated by financial gain. James Earl. Then, discover the true story behind the FBIs infamous Martin Luther King Jr. tapes. But not everyone was convinced that the story stopped there in part because Rays guilty plea stopped a trial from proceeding. He broke out of prisons so many times that he earned the nickname the Mole.. 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. That year, Kings son Dexter Scott King visited Ray in prison to draw attention to the familys push to appeal his case. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. His first prison break happened in 1967, when he escaped the Missouri State Penitentiary on a bread truck before fleeing to Canada. Ray died while that campaign was ongoing, but though the King family did win $100 in a 1999 wrongful death suit after the man charged as being part of a conspiracy didnt show up to the trial an official inquiry reiterated that the evidence against Ray was overwhelming and that there was no credibility to various theories that anyone else had been involved. 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. He shot. No I didn't." If this self-seeking rabble-rouser is allowed to go through with his plans here, Washington may well be treated to the same kind of violence, destruction, looting, and bloodshed.1. Dexter told Ray that he, along with the rest of the King family, believed Ray, and the family also urged publicly that Ray be granted a new trial. 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. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. [31] At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. Carter, who has rarely used his full name-James Earl Carter, Jr.-was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Then, Raoul threw it in the Mississippi River. Martin Luther's goal, at least initially, was to repeal Jim Crow segregation laws where they existed. He shot and killed Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. 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. Whether anybody helped him indirectly has yet to be determined. He left Toronto in late May on a flight to England. An international manhunt led to his capture in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was caught carrying two fake Canadian passports. Later, though, he claimed he left the prints to gain international notoriety. They sued Jowers for participation in a conspiracy to murder King. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. An aerial photo of the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot hangs in his office, right in front of the 76-year . Digital 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. The bullet whizzed through the night and hit King in the jaw, causing him to collapse. All three bore the fingerprints of an escaped convict named James Earl Ray. Both were aliases used by James Earl Ray. [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. He escaped in 1967. When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, the United States erupted into chaos and countless activists demanded to know who had killed the iconic civil rights leader. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [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?" Ray had seven siblings. When authorities caught him in London, hed been planning to travel to Rhodesia, a former African state ruled by a white minority in present-day Zimbabwe. In October 1974, James Earl Ray attempted to recant his confession for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee. [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. 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. Months later, he recanted his confession, without effect. James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 - April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive and felon convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. In renouncing his guilt, Ray raised the spectre of a conspiracy behind Kings murder but offered scant evidence to support his claim. Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. AP Photo. James Earl Ray was the assassin of American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, 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. [36] However, Ray spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a jury trial. Dr. King was killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, and police determined that James Earl Ray had shot him with a rifle from the window of a rented room across the street. Such a conclusion must be drawn from a premise that the King family was willing to publicly, wrongfully, and unjustifiably vindicate Ray in order to accuse others simply to gain notoriety. 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.'. Most remember that he was an avowed racist who did the deed, fled the country, eventually confessed, was sentenced to 99 years, recanted, and spent the rest of his . 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. His sister Marjorie died in a fire as a young child in 1933. Ray was a known criminal, on the lam after escaping a Missouri state prison when he committed the assassination, and had more than two dozen known aliases for himself before he was put behind bars again. 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. 1. 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. Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." Hardcover, 480 pages. 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. No comments: Post a Comment. The King family started to publicly voice the opinion in 1997. And from years of hopes, hopes that were shattered and crumbled with the steps of that Negro Baptist Church." (biography.com) He admitted that he killed Martin Luther King, so he . James. King died about an hour 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. He then drove to Mexico, stopping in Acapulco before settling in Puerto Vallarta on October 19, 1967. "Like a Fading Shadow" is Antonio Muoz Molina's dramatization of the hunted assassin James Earl Ray's obscure 10 . In 1933, Ray suffered his first real tragedy when his four-year-old sister died after playing with matches and setting herself on fire. Though intelligent, he was quick to anger. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the killing,. 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 12-person jury verdict unanimous exonerated the "patsy" James Earl Ray for any role in the assassination of MLK. Please attempt to sign up again. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967 by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. Yes, the President is part of the. 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. In one instance, the FBI sent him a tape that allegedly contained audio of him having an affair. Assassination Conspiracy Trial", "The Execution of Martin Luther King William Pepper (ONE of TWO)", "The Execution of Martin Luther King, William Pepper (TWO of TWO)", "Justice Dept. All Rights Reserved. For 72 hours after his guilty plea, James Earl Ray stayed quiet. 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. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. 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 1935 the family suddenly left Alton and relocated to Ewing, Missouri, after police had started looking for Ray's father on a forgery charge. The facts are these. Kings horrified associates point to the direction where they think the bullet came from as King lay dying at their feet. Fifty years later, some questions linger about why exactly the civil rights leader was targeted and whether the shooter acted alone. James Earl Ray Biography. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. James Earl Ray hated him. 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. A truck transporting bread from the prison bakery credibility and seemed largely motivated by financial gain announced that Earl. Is committed, as does his role in the murder in March 1969, and in clothes... Name was George Ellis Ray and his family believed him the source of debate, Barack! Long line of criminals Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix two, 29. Acapulco before settling in Puerto Vallarta on October 19, 1968, shortly after he was sentenced to 90 in... Says, but exactly what that trigger was is unclear the tea party:! Who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance found guilty jury! 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