10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. Yes, the President is part of the political party. This time, Ray rented an apartment for $100 a month at 1535 N. Serrano Ave., a. Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. The US will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr on Monday, January 18, 2021, remembering all of the tremendous strides the activist-led in promoting civil liberties for all Americans. Who Was James Earl Ray? But almost immediately after her husbands assassination, she suspected that the FBI, which had investigated the murder, was involved in it. None. Based on the results of a civil trial in 1999, Byrds speech would have almost necessarily have played an even more direct role if the verdict is to be accepted. Although Ray had been sentenced from St. Louis, he was not part of the St. Louis "crowd.". Different convicts had different hustles to make money. 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. The facts are these. Tray after tray of bread would be stacked into a large box, and then the box would be loaded onto a pickup truck and hauled to the farms. . 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.. 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. The verdict did convict Loyd Jowers and "other parties known and unknown" for their parts in the vast US government conspiracy to assassinate King. When ODells position as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party was revealed in 1961, King supposedly fired him. The murder of Lee Harvey Oswald had closed the door to an open trial that might have answered the question of whether Oswald acted alone, or was part of a conspiracy. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. No one else I knew did either. 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. He is a male registered to vote in Wayne County, Michigan. "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? Ray was never that type. The box was picked up, and Ray successfully escaped on April 23, 1967. He decided to assassinate him to stop blacks from getting equal status to the whites. In the meantime James Earl Ray had also heard about the bread box, probably through Westberg. On the night of the shooting, I had left the rifle with Raoul.. Because of the 1959 incident, Jerry had so much heat on him that if the guards lost sight of him for even a few minutes, they panicked. Ray believed in white supremacy and had strong prejudice against the black people. 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. Corrections? Jerry Ray had moved in with Stoner, and shot an intruder who broke into Stoner's office which was in the same building as the living quarters. 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. It would later be learned that Ray's classification card contained erroneous fingerprints, which were initially distributed nationally. He volunteered for Wallaces campaign and was very disappointed when Wallace could not win the campaign. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. The Ray brothers, however, are too unsophisticated to have pulled off the assassination of King, and Ray's subsequent escape to England. Those of us who had been involved in escape attempts did not consider Ray a joke. We miss you, James. Ray, was found by bloodhounds about eightmiles away from the prison shortly after the escape attempt. King's killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Rays fingerprints were the only ones found on the gun, and there were no witnesses who had seen him with Raoul during the nine months they supposedly knew each other (Rays description of Raoul also changed a few times). But it turned out that rather than discharging this key Red, he had transferred and promoted ODell to a higher post within Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. six grooves with a right twist. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Benny was eventually placed on the FBI's 10-Most-Wanted list and was captured in Canada, where he was posing as an engineer and had married a school teacher. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations, she said. Just before Ray's escape from Jeff City he was visited by his brother. Starting with his contribution to the presidential campaign of Wallace, Ray developed a strong animosity towards Martin Luther King Jr. James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, is arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. On April 4,. J.B. Stoner, however, would certainly have had the know-how for both, plus the white-supremacist background to explain why he would do it. Justice on Fire is OConnors detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Ray was also Stoner's bodyguard and chauffeur. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. Jerry Ray told me in the 1970s he had taken pictures of the countryside around the prison and had sent them into James Earl Ray. He was immediately extradited to USA. assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.: The assassin: James Earl Ray, 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). I don't recall that your name's ever been submitted, sir. There were always convict clerks assigned to the reception area, and the fingerprints could have been switched--either because Ray had paid someone to do it, or, just as likely, because some convict wanted to help Ray beat the system. Thorpe Menn, then book editor of The Star, sent it to me to review. Although Ray had two attempted escapes on his record, he did not have nearly as much heat on him as Westberg. In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. I have respect for the King family, however, as thousands of people converge on Memphis and in other places on Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of MLKs death, the King family is dead wrong. But what do you know about James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King? Manhunt in the mountains: James Earl Ray and the Brushy Mountain Prison breakout of 1977, How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. If it hadn't been for the two escape attempts, Ray would almost certainly have been paroled by the time he actually did escape. Stoner's hatred of blacks would not have been offensive to him Ray; he might have viewed it as a little extreme, but he would have admired Stoner for being a rebel and for having a network of trusted associates. In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. While taking dancing classes, he was attracted to the presidential campaign of George Wallace. 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. "Somebody's gotta get him.". 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 was a supporter of George Wallace - who was a democrat in the 1960's but was on the side of segregation, which when you hear about the "party switch" of that time, these Democrats became Republicans. The Rays would have had many opportunities to meet racists. He shot. and other allegedly exculpatory evidence are not worthy of belief. Each day he would go to the state capital to work as a programmer. Laster made several more desperate attempts to escape, including one attempt to saw out of death row (during which a guard captain was blinded). It was then learned he'd been the site engineer for the West German Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal. Then other inmates would blame Don for Ray's capture. Brown then said, "OK, OK, I'll tell you what. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on April 23, 1967; and in Memphis, Tennessee, nearly a year later, on April 4, 1968, from a window of a neighbouring rooming house, he shot King, who was standing on the balcony of a motel room. Under the sub-head Communist Exposed, the paper went on to reveal more about ODell: King was forced to get rid of Hunter Pitts ODell in October, 1962, when several newspaper articles exposed ODells connection with SCLC and his communist affiliations. Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? Some in the community took offense to this assertion since the incident took place during Brown's Shelby County district attorney campaign and Brown brought his own lawyer with him during the 2014 incident, causing many to wonder if it was a ploy for publicity. King was one of the worst enemies my people ever had. Her reference to my people was to her race, since she was black. in the Q2 rifle. He was right, but he would never be that man. So, even if I conceded the possibility that Ray had sold drugs, it would have been in small quantities, and for a brief period of time. 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. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. This is the real thing and as an officer of the court he should have known better. . Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More, Contents Copyright 1998-2020 by Crime Magazine | J. Patrick O'Connor Editor | E-mail CrimeMagazine.com, Designed by Orman. Although it is possible to live in the same prison with someone for 10 years and never speak to him, it is still an intimate atmosphere. After this Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. Dexter King, son of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., meeting with James Earl Ray the man who confessed to killing King. The New American magazine, published twice a month in print and daily online, is the essential news source for freedom-loving Americans. The 12-person jury verdict unanimous exonerated the "patsy" James Earl Ray for any role in the assassination of MLK. James Earl Ray From the viewpoint of a man who served time with Ray in prison, then went on to become a journalist, . 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. 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. Davis and Laster were both shot during that attempt. This claim got some support from the 1978 special congressional committee which opined that Ray might not have acted alone in the assassination as it required meticulous planning. After he was recaptured, Ray hired attorney Jack Kershaw to promote his claim that he was not the person who actually shot King. 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.. 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. When The John Birch Society first made Kings communist connections known almost 50 years ago, most people were skeptical. Anyone who remembers the looks on their faces, their resolve and their anger would have to concede that it would have required nothing short of cold hard facts. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. But a restaurant owner from Memphis was brought to the civil court in the year 1999 for being a part of the murder conspiracy. George M. Camp, head of the Missouri prison system, wrote to Cleaver, saying: My findings are that there is nothing whatsoever to substantiate any conclusion that James Earl Ray financed either his escape or his activities after his escape through any means while he was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary. 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. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Page 388 also a racist, was allegedly connected with the late Leander Perez, Louisiana political boss and virulent segregationist. Drupal theme by ThemeSnap.com, That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. A staunch segregationist, Earl Ray could not stomach the integration policies of King. In 1962, when King mentioned to Levinson that he was thinking of adding an administrative assistant to his staff, Levinson recommended ODell, who was then head of SCLCs New York office. ), where he secured a second Canadian passport (May 16), and back to London (May 17?). The first year and a half I paid little or no attention to Ray. Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however . 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. In any event, the prison officials never placed him in the same category as Davis, Laster and Westberg, who would unhesitatingly use weapons while escaping. Senator) that an investigation be conducted into the allegations. In the 1960s John Larry Ray (another brother) owned a tavern in St. Louis, and that tavern was an unofficial headquarters for the Wallace for President campaign. Martin Luther King Jr.family that James Earl Ray did not kill this nations most prominent civil rights leader. The President, Milteer said, would be shot "from an office building with a high-powered rifle," and a patsy would be picked up within hours . As one example, Dan Smoot, a former FBI agent, was a steadfast anti-Communist who became associated with The John Birch Society and wrote for the societys American Opinion and The Review Of The News magazines. As a reporter and columnist for this newspaper, I had the chance to interview the incarcerated Ray numerous times before his death on April 23, 1998. people lost faith in the political system. Never afraid to share his political views, Grammer is known for his conservative values. 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. 14. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/james-earl-ray-30416.php. Ray fled from the scene immediately and could not be located immediately by the police. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, One of the most intriguing aspects of the, John Wayne Gacy Confessed to Killing Dozens (December 22, 1978). Although it is often. There was, however, some question in our minds about Ray's coordination. The verdict in King vs. Jowers found a government conspiracy involving city, state, and federal agents complicit in the murder. The paper then listed some of the ways Levison had supported and influenced King, as far back as 1956: He actively involved himself in fundraising drives for King. Even after Ray died in 1998 from complications caused by hepatitis C, the family continued to assert there was, as Coretta King said in 1999, overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.. A consequence of Kings alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. 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 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. I've seen it happen again and again. a right twist by the rifle from which it had been fired. After Ray was arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King, it was widely believed that those erroneous prints were proof that the King conspiracy began in Jefferson City, and that someone employed at the prison was involved. Ostensibly only a New York City attorney and businessman, Levison is, in fact, a shrewd, dedicated communist. When Ray pled guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, his role in the assassination was a matter of serious dispute. While on the lam in the 1950s, Ray lived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico under the pseudonym Eric Stalvo Galt. While there, Eric Galt ordered video equipment through the mail to start up a business as a small-time pornographer. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. For some 50 years, the federal. [12], Brown is an Independent candidate for the 2023 Memphis mayoral election. 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. 2023 www.tennessean.com. Warden Swenson of the Jeff City prison immediately issued an edict that convicts could no longer correspond with editors. During this period James Earl Ray was most noticeable as a guy who rented out magazines on the yard. (In the period 1963-64, there were 550 serious assaults inside Jefferson City, including hundreds of stabbings, which is why, An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book. "[11], Responding to a bar discipline complaint filed regarding the contempt incident, Brown declared himself unable to adequately defend himself as a result of health issues including type II diabetes, hypertension, and stress. Ray, who was on escape from a Missouri prison in 1968 claimed, however, that he had gone to a service station to get a tire repaired when the shot was fired. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. 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. All rights reserved. They were not going to have me, or any other convict, expounding on the subject of Ray. James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167 and has no known political party affiliation. It stated that King had allied himself with black nationalist groups that planned to seize the initiative and escalate the nonviolent demonstrations into violence. It continued: King has met with black nationalists and attempted to solicit their support. He got a 99-year prison sentence, which he served until he died of liver failure due to hepatitis C on . King's convicted killer, James Earl Ray, pled guilty to his murder, received a life sentence, and died in prison of natural causes 29 years later. It is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. One thing never mentioned about Ray's time in Jefferson City is the fact he had a nearly exemplary conduct record, with the exception of the two escape attempts. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick OConnor, the factsor a lack of themdidnt add up. James Earl Ray did it, case closed! Months later, he recanted his confession, without effect. He is the one who sits in leadership and is the most powerful person of a country. One of Kings sons Dexter had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his fathers assassin. Stoner is the following: Over the years, state and federal authorities have come to suspect that Stoner's violent rhetoric cannot be dismissed merely as fascist ravings. Just before Ray escaped from prison in Tennessee he was visited by his brother. He was named after the church where his father held his first pastorate. That was a bunch of baloney. 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. One of Kings principal advisors is Stanley David Levison. The project, while stopping short of violent riots, nevertheless advocated widespread civil disobedience (a nonviolent, but nevertheless illegal activity) that King said he and 3,000 of his followers planned on staging in Washington that spring. 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. (Benny had taken two years of civil engineering in college.). Judge Brown's lawyer filed an appeal, but the appeal was refused. But within Martin Luther Kings family, there remains a persistent belief that Ray is innocent, and was set up to take the fall. And, although the FBI later claimed to have interviewed every convict in Jefferson City who had served time with Ray, they never tried to interview me, or Davis, or Laster, or Westberg or anyone I knew. Who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968? Indeed, a former agent from the FBIs field office in Atlanta said the bureaus tracking of King was second only to the way they went after Jimmy Hoffa. In 1975, a group of former FBI agents called on Congress to investigate this harrassment. It endangers the premise of the place. He guided King in deciding whether to accept or reject public appearances. Some of the books written about the assassination describe him as a major drug dealer in Jefferson City, which is ludicrous. McMillan is the primary source for the widespread belief that Ray was a major drug dealer in Jeff City; that he smuggled large sums of money out of prison; that he used that money to finance his travels after his escape. James Earl Ray was the assassin of American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was born in on March 10, 1928 in a poor Irish-American family of Alton, Illinois, and was raised a Catholic. Hunter Pitts ODell, former National Committee member of the CPUSA, was employed by SCLC. "Somebody's gotta get him," Ray would say, his face drawn with tension, his fists clenched. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthals story that he was innocent? As President Ronal Reagan once wrote to former New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson, who had sent a letter to Reagan urging the president not to sign the bill for a holiday honoring King, On the national holiday you mentioned, I have the reservations you have, but here the perception of too many people is based on an image, not reality. That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. I got to know him better when he came to Jeff City with a sentence for robbery. As the paper notes: Through Levisons influence, other subversives were attracted to SCLC [The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found]. The restaurant owner named Memphis Police . Along with the rifle, he also bought a 2X-7X scope to aim the target well. It's a seductive thought. The introduction to the paper observed that since 1956, King had occupied a prominent role in the drive for equal rights for Negroes in the Untied States. It continued by noting, The course King chooses to follow at this critical time could have momentous impact on the future of race relations in the United States, and for that reason this paper has been prepared to give some insight into the nature of the man himself as well as the nature of his views, goals, objective, tactics, and the reason therefore., The papers summary of Kings planned Washington Spring project is contrary to the image of King painted by most historians as a man who employed only the most peaceful means. As a former judge here, we have a rule in the 30th Judicial Districtit says every single Magistrate Referee has to be unanimously approved by every Circuit, Chancery, and Criminal Court Judge. Later in life his pleas for a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the King family. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. Ray watched it all on the cell-block TV at Jeff City. On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the citys firefighters. 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. James. The same NSRP member said there were plans to kill Martin Luther King. One day he walked away, and it was rumored he took $5,000 of state money with him. It was important for the government to have a lone killer-since blacks across the nation were rioting, and proof of a white conspiracy to kill the black civil-rights leader would have caused a racial explosion. The date was November 9, 1963. Even though he played an elitist liberal psychiatrist on "Frasier," Kelsey Grammer is a Republican in real life. He filmed local prostitutes during their work hours in pursuit of his cinematographic dream, but he eventually left Puerto Vallarta after being jilted by his girlfriend who, coincidentally, was also one of the prostitutes he filmed. Milteer, a Stoner associate, as he discussed NSRP plans with a Miami police informer. Indeed, to them the perception is reality. (Emphasis in original.). Kings convicted killer, James Earl Ray, pled guilty to his murder, received a life sentence, and died in prison of natural causes 29 years later. Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however, because no mainstream lawyer wanted anything to do with him. As a loner, it would be impossible for Ray to deal large quantities of drugs, because one of the cliques would simply rob him, and there wouldn't be much he could do, alone, against a clique with a dozen members. He is a male registered to vote in Wayne County, Michigan. Declassified FBI Paper Reveals Martin Luther Kings Sexual Aberrations, Martin Luther King Day Based on MLKs Image, Not Reality, Martin Luther King: The Celebration of a Myth. Each year, the third Monday in January is a celebration to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., the tireless civil rights activist who was gunned down in Memphis, TN, in 1968. Fired him. `` in escape attempts did not consider Ray a joke with tension, his drawn... One who sits in leadership and is still regarded as a landmark that Ray 's capture a joke Puerto,... Society first made Kings communist connections known almost 50 years ago, he was recaptured, Ray rented apartment... Would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have me, on what authority do sit... Opportunities to meet racists injustice that followed most powerful person of a country would blame Don for Ray classification... Claim that he was not the person who actually shot King was rumored took! 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