He shot. They were recaptured on June 13. For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. 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. 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. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. He spent many hours volunteering at the campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. James Earl White (born July 16, 1964) is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 19, which encompassed Polk, Hardin, Jasper, Newton, and Tyler counties. 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. A. Whether he was guilty or innocent, James Earl Ray led an eventful life from behind bars. They said he lacked credibility and seemed largely motivated by financial gain. "I believe you," Dexter responded and shook his hand. He pleaded guilty to murder on the advice of his attorney in order to avoid a jury trial. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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. The rifle with Rays fingerprints didnt create tell-tale grooves on bullets, which ballistic tests usually use to match a gun to a bullet. First, a little background on James Earl Ray's upbringing to set up his path to St. Louis. His prints were found all over the hotel room in Memphis where the shots that killed King were thought to have come from, and they covered the murder weapon -a Remington hunting rifle he purchased in Birmingham, AL. Just a few days later, however, James Earl Ray changed his story. 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. His father's name was George Ellis Ray and his mother's name was Lucille. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? But Ray offered no motive himself. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Updates? Did James Earl Ray Really Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. Or Was He Set Up? Something triggered something in him, Sides says, but exactly what that trigger was is unclear. The paper reported King's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee, which was scheduled for April 1, 1968. He was 70. 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. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. "I . Two years later, his father abruptly decided to move the family from Alton to Ewing, Missouri, after he was caught passing a bad check. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Magazines, Digital Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. James Earl Ray was raised as a catholic and had conservative religious beliefs from his childhood. A consequence of Kings alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. Ray was a racist and was quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. Actor James Earl Jones perhaps best known as the melodious, mellifluous voice of Darth Vader (or Mufasa, depending on your generation and general geekitude) was . Corrections? Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. 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. [29] Ray was then arrested at London Heathrow Airport attempting to leave the United Kingdom for Brussels. It contained a pair of binoculars, a newspaper with a story about King staying at the Lorraine Motel, and a .30-06 Remington Gamemaster that had fired one shot. 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. But officials dont believe Jowerss story. Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille Ray (ne Maher) and George Ellis Ray. To believe that the King family was motivated exclusively by publicity, one must believe that all of its members were involved in selling out the truth of their loved ones assassination for three figures. In Truth at Last, we read how "James met CIA asset Jules Ron 'Ricco' Kimble. He considered moving to Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), a country with a predominantly white minority government. Later, though, he claimed he left the prints to gain international notoriety. Louis. Doubleday. 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.. In the mock trial, the prosecutor was Hickman Ewing. He was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest, before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability in 1948. A guilty. 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. [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. 1. Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Personal life 3.1 Legal issues 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 . The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). After reading about James Earl Ray, learn about the first and only time that Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm X. 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." . [23][24][25], Ray fled to Atlanta in his white Ford Mustang, driving eleven hours. 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. ''. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. 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. 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. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, but the lockup did little to reform him. He shot and killed Martin Luther King 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. Three days later, Ray recanted his confession. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace. 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. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. Ray told this version of the assassination and his own flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie. Kershaw convinced Ray to submit to a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. Despite a stint in prison, Ray continued on this path into the 1950s. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. It didnt take long for investigators to determine a suspect. Back in Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, forfeiting a trial, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. The two married in 1978 and divorced in 1992. No comments: Post a Comment. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. His home life was no better. For now, James Earl Rays legacy depends on who you believe. 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. By then, Ray was long gone. 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. 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. Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? Using their logic, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. should be attributed to a Democratic U.S. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. 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