He might have eked out enough money to meet his basic needs (he didn't smoke), but not much more than that. He told the clerks at the Aeromarine Supply Company in Brimingham, Alabama (from where he brought the rifle) that he was going on a hunting trip with his brother. That caused the Reverend Emanuel Cleaver, then executive director of the Kansas City Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (and now Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri) to send a request to Missouri Gov. As noted, the committee concluded that James Earl Ray was the assassin of Dr. King. Early Ray fired a single shot by standing in the bathtub of his shared room and balancing the rifle on a window ledge. PRPhotos. An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book The Making of an Assassin by George McMillan. According to press accounts, Brown became combative and irate after Horne refused to discuss details of the case that were not on the schedule. Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. 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. 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.''. 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, John McAdams (The John F. Kennedy Assassination Information Center), Dr. King was killed by one shot fired from in front of him. Now confident that he could not be recognized, he again began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 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 this Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. The first year and a half I paid little or no attention to Ray. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. The New Times article also asserted that Jerry Ray, if he were involved, might have been duped himself-might have thought he was setting up something other than an assassination. He said that another person he met in Canada by the name Raoul was the actual person who plotted the murder and ultimately pulled the trigger. King was shot by Earl Ray when the former was standing in the balcony of his motel room. Laster made several more desperate attempts to escape, including one attempt to saw out of death row (during which a guard captain was blinded). the result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The first time I saw James Earl Ray, he had just arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. In 1997, Kings son Dexter met Ray in prison and asked him whether he had killed his father. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. 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. 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. King was visiting Memphis to settle a strike by garbage workers. Judge Brown's lawyer filed an appeal, but the appeal was refused. Raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Brown graduated as valedictorian[full citation needed] from Dorsey High School. Ray was never that type. When ODells position as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party was revealed in 1961, King supposedly fired him. Each day the prison's bakery would bake enough bread to feed not only the 2,300 men at Jeff City, but also the convicts housed at Church Farm and Renz Farm (two satellite honor farms, where most of the prison's food was grown and raised). 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. The restaurant owner named Memphis Police . The Ray brothers, however, are too unsophisticated to have pulled off the assassination of King, and Ray's subsequent escape to England. 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). Jerry Ray was J.B. Stoner's campaign manager when Stoner ran for Governor of Georgia against Jimmy Carter. No one else I knew did either. He guided King in deciding whether to accept or reject public appearances. Ray spent the rest of his life in prison and suffered with kidney and liver ailments in his last years. Stoner certainly wasnt the only radical white supremacist running around, however-just the best known. Happy 300th Birthday, Richard Price! "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. He simply hounded you (not that Ray was a coward, or afraid to fight, but he wasn't the type to start the fight). 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. It was even rumored that on the second attempt he'd gotten tired of hiding out, and had deliberately set off an alarm so he could get caught and get something to eat. At the same time I was getting more involved in art, and my thoughts were turning away from escape and toward trying to make parole. Ray was finally caught hiding in London in February 1968. 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. A consequence of Kings alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. [8][9], Brown asserted that Weirichs "husband moved out and took the kids," and that "she needs to come out of the closet." There were no cellblock TVs in Jefferson City in 1963 and 1964. 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. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Jerry was returned to solitary in 1963 for making zip-guns, and a few days later I was put in B-Basement on suspicion of stabbing an inmate who'd volunteered to help the guards search the Tag Plant for the rest of the zip-guns, which were never found. In the year 1968, Ray underwent through a facial reconstruction surgery to hide his identity in Los Angeles. "Somebody's gotta get him," Ray would say, his face drawn with tension, his fists clenched. 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. Declassified FBI Paper Reveals Communist Associates of Martin Luther King, UN Biodiversity Beijing-Wall Street Convergence. Stoner campaigned for several political offices as a Southern Democrat in order to promote his white supremacist agenda. The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). 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. Very few conservatives are aware of the pledge's socialist origins. Dwight Lewis served in a variety of roles at The Tennessean, including reporter and columnist, from 1971 to 2011. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. Martin Luther King Jr., and there should be no question about that fact. But what do you know about James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King? Since Ray's arrest for the assassination, he has become mythified. Now he is presumed to be guilty until he proves his innocence. Westberg was warned, and hurriedly got out of the box, which was then filled with bread. Davis and Laster were both shot during that attempt. Then other inmates would blame Don for Ray's capture. For years after Ray's capture there was a close association between Stoner and Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's brother. We knew that anytime you try to escape from a maximum-security prison you run the risk of being shot. Top of Page During the 1950 and 60s, the FBI surveilled and harassed King, his family and his associates. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. Senator in Robert Byrd. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? The Q64 bullet was a .30-06 caliber bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture. Ray believed in white supremacy and had strong prejudice against the black people. Judge Horne did have the authority to hold him in contempt. The date was November 9, 1963. King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. This is the real thing and as an officer of the court he should have known better. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthals story that he was innocent? We miss you, James. Jack Kershaw Is Dead at 96; Challenged Conviction in King's Death. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Was James earl ray white? Never afraid to share his political views, Grammer is known for his conservative values. The facts are these. "[10], In August 2015, Brown served five days in the Shelby County Jail after having been held in contempt of court in March 2014. Ray replied that he did not commit the crime. In the hours and days after the Tucson shootings, the left wing media in America attempted to blame the Tea Party and right wing rhetoric for the deaths of six and the injuries of thirteen. James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan Jack Ruby. 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. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. The Galileo Case Revisited | Beyond the Cover. The explanation is much simpler. period immediately preceding the assassination, James Earl Ray fled the scene of the crime immediately after the assassination, James Earl Ray's alibi for the time of the assassination, his story of "Raoul," 14. 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. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. 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. it near 424 South Main Street, It is highly probable that James Earl Ray stalked Dr. King for a He employed such Communists as Bayard Rustin and Hunter Pitts ODell; and he worked closely with Carl Braden and James Dumbrowski. However, the assessment of King got even worse. His first prison break happened in 1967, when he escaped the Missouri State Penitentiary on a bread truck before fleeing to Canada. It would later be learned that Ray's classification card contained erroneous fingerprints, which were initially distributed nationally. Weirich responded: "Its a sad day that someone that out of touch with reality considers himself a viable candidate for one of the important positions in Shelby County. Ray fled from the scene immediately and could not be located immediately by the police. 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 is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. Most recently, after Ray's death in . Born in a poor family, Ray had a difficult childhood as his father could not support his family. 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. 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. I don't recall that your name's ever been submitted, sir. If it hadn't been for the two escape attempts, Ray would almost certainly have been paroled by the time he actually did escape. He was unable to give me any specifics but just responded that "it was common knowledge.". This should have been driven home years ago when a surreptitious tape recording was made of J.A. Ray pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. I occasionally rented magazines from Ray, but other inmates usually had a larger selection, and better quality magazines. Wait Who? 15. The bureau wiretapped his phone and monitored his movements, taking advantage of times when he seemed particularly upset or depressed. James Earl Ray was a racist, but there was circumstantial evidence that a businessman in St. Louis had established a $50,000 bounty for Kings death.. 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. [6] It was during this time that Brown caught the attention of the producers of Judge Judy. I'll be out of here very shortly on a Petition for Habeas Corpus and I'll bring up all these problems and guess what, you might not be operating tomorrow. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. Also available from Amazon, With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick OConnor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. He decided to assassinate him to stop blacks from getting equal status to the whites. 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. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. and condition of the Q64 bullet. 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. We had no contact, however, since he was on the other side of the building. Mr. Kershaw was a Tennessee lawyer who argued that James Earl Ray, convicted in the 1968 assassination of the Rev. When, without warning, Ray was allowed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 99 years, without a public trial, millions of people suspected a cover-up. Although it is often. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Brown_(judge)&oldid=1134528878, This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 03:56. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. He volunteered for Wallaces campaign and was very disappointed when Wallace could not win the campaign. James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to assassinating King, was renting a room above Jower's establishment and was allegedly an unwitting scapegoat. 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.. Long before Ray was captured-before anyone could have known the details of what had happened in Memphis--the U.S. government had committed itself to the lone assassin theory; to such an extent, I was told later by white extremists in the South, that they were surprised by the government's failure to question even such notable racists as J.B. Stoner or leading figures in the Ku Klux Klan. and other allegedly exculpatory evidence are not worthy of belief. There were those who joked about Ray, because of the nature of his attempted escapes. Jimmy Carter, in full James Earl Carter, Jr., (born October 1, 1924, Plains, Georgia, U.S.), 39th president of the United States (1977-81), who served as the country's chief executive during a time of serious problems at home and abroad. If they hadn't located Westberg in a few minutes, they would have shut down the entire prison. James Earl Ray From the viewpoint of a man who served time with Ray in prison, then went on to become a journalist, . 9 A staff report, An Analysis of James Earl Ray's Trip to New Orleans, December 15-21, 1967, appears in XIII Appendix to the HSCA-MLK hearings (hereinafter referred to as staff report: New Orleans trip). After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. In prison I knew men who would stab you to death over a carton of cigarettes, or for even a slight insult. In a story published based on the test, Playboy claimed that Ray had committed the crime alone. In the five decades since Martin Luther King Jr.was shot dead by an assassin at age 39, his children have worked tirelessly to preserve his legacy, sometimes with sharply different views on how best to do that, an article in the March 30 Washington Post said. It is clear why tyrants wish to keep people from learning about Price and reading the powerful words he wrote defending freedom and Is Christianity the enemy of science? It endangers the premise of the place. 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. The House Assassinations Committee examining evidence in the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Westberg was involved in several more escape plots, but he had so much heat on him he could never personally use the routes he discovered. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The bread box would have to pass through the truck tunnel, where all incoming and outgoing vehicles were searched. In the year 1977, Ray escaped from the prison for the second time along with six other convicts from the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary located in Petros, Tennessee. 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. rear of a roominghouse at 422 1/2 South Main Street, Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray purchased the rifle that was used to shoot Dr. King and transported He was a democrat. Different convicts had different hustles to make money. The prosecutors have enough efficient evidence in establishing guilt against James Earl Ray concerning the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. First, James Earl Ray was in close enough vicinity of the Lorraine Hotel to successfully fire a clear shot to kill Dr. King from only a block away. The 20-page paper, which was classified as. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. (Benny had taken two years of civil engineering in college.). Early life [ edit] . So Westberg, who was assigned to work in the kitchen at that time, figured a man could get in the bread box, have a tray of bread placed on top of him, and pass right out of the prison (the box also had a lid over the top tray of bread). 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. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. When The John Birch Society first made Kings communist connections known almost 50 years ago, most people were skeptical. James Earl Ray had traveled to Montreal while on the run, and claimed that he'd met a man named "Raoul" in Montreal, and that Raoul had furnished him with money, and eventually masterminded the King assassination-using Ray as the fall-guy. The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. 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. 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. 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