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. Back in Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, forfeiting a trial, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. It got so that the very sight of King would galvanize Ray. 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. King's killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark. Read More:People died for your right to vote. Although Westberg liked Ray, he never brought him around us. 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. 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. Top of Page Westberg was the first to learn that the bread box wasn't searched. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! "[21], Brown was warned that he would be held in contempt before these comments. 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." . 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 April 4, 1968. But within Martin Luther Kings family, there remains a persistent belief that Ray is innocent, and was set up to take the fall. [6] It was during this time that Brown caught the attention of the producers of Judge Judy. The box was picked up, and Ray successfully escaped on April 23, 1967. This doesnt mean that Ray couldnt have received assistance. Never afraid to share his political views, Grammer is known for his conservative values. Guys told me he would hound you relentlessly if you owed him a quarter, but he wouldn't threaten you with violence. Among the evidence was a recording of Jowers in which he suggested he was interested in fabricating his story for financial gain. He boiled when King came on the tube. In my interviews with him, I've found him to be eerily unflappable. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. It seems clear to me that there was a conspiracy to murder King, and that James Earl Ray was involved. [17] In audio obtained by WREG[18] and an available transcript on eonline.com,[19] Brown can be heard arguing that the judge didn't have the authority to sit on the bench. The prison officials knew that Ray's escape, and involvement in the King assassination, would forever blemish their professional records as penologists. Charley McCracken, a friend from the St. Louis City Jail, pointed him out to me in H-Hall, where the newly arriving convicts at the maximum-security penitentiary were oriented. Those of us who had been involved in escape attempts did not consider Ray a joke. 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. 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. King was fired. 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.. Benny was fascinated with the idea of escaping, although he never actually tried while inside the walls. Certainly not enough to finance his travels to Mexico, Canada, England, etc., after his escape. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. Ray replied that he did not commit the crime. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. Ray spent the rest of his life in prison and suffered with kidney and liver ailments in his last years. Since Ray's arrest for the assassination, he has become mythified. After he was recaptured, Ray hired attorney Jack Kershaw to promote his claim that he was not the person who actually shot King. "doesn't know anything.". 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. 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. During the 1950 and 60s, the FBI surveilled and harassed King, his family and his associates. [4] By 1978, Brown became the first African-American prosecutor in Memphis, and he later directed the Memphis public defender's office. It wasn't until November 9, 1970--years after Ray escaped from Jefferson City--that inmates were allowed to purchase small black-and-white television sets, which they could keep in their cells. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration B. King was visiting Memphis to settle a strike by garbage workers. When I got out the third time, I worked in the Tag Plant. 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. Martin Luther King Jr. 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. Drupal theme by ThemeSnap.com, That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. ", The Miami police were sufficiently impressed with Milteer's seriousness that the Secret Service was alerted, and an imminent presidential motorcade into the city was canceled. The verdict did convict Loyd Jowers and "other parties known and unknown" for their parts in the vast US government conspiracy to assassinate King. 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. Ten years after his death, Rays brother John Larry Ray wrote a book along with writer Lyndon Barsten called Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 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 man named Vincent Harding is credited with writing most of it. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. Over several decades, federal investigators have routinely concluded that Raoul doesnt exist. That was a bunch of baloney. 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.''. For some 50 years, the federal. Then, the (U.S.) House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case. On the night of April 4, 1968 50 years ago now James Earl Ray killed the Rev. His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to the land of his forefathers, viz. In subsequent disclosures, Ray said that he was not the only person involved in the murder of King. Almost everyone felt sure the government would want to avoid a never-ending search for conspirators in the King case, and would accomplish that by presenting its evidence at Ray's trial. Ray was never that type. Ray was finally caught hiding in London in February 1968. Read More:How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages. 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. 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.'. 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. Milteer, a Stoner associate, as he discussed NSRP plans with a Miami police informer. The bureau wiretapped his phone and monitored his movements, taking advantage of times when he seemed particularly upset or depressed. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. 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). 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. 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. [3], After graduating from law school, Brown moved to Memphis, Tennessee to work as an attorney for the Legal Services Corporation. Although Benny was eventually released from prison and returned to work for the engineering firm he'd been employed by at the time of his arrest in Canada, interest in him by then had died out, and the book was never published. 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. He is a male registered to vote in Wayne County, Michigan. 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. Shortly after Ray pled guilty to the King murder, Clay Blair's book The Strange Case of James Earl Ray was published. James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167 and has no known political party affiliation. Ireland. Thorpe Menn, then book editor of The Star, sent it to me to review. Now confident that he could not be recognized, he again began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. Further information about this communist was found in the book, Its Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, by the late author and speaker Alan Stang. UN Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in Schools. "[20] 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. He was a founder and the long-time chairman of the National States' Rights Party as well as the publisher of its newsletter, The Thunderbolt. Ray watched it all on the cell-block TV at Jeff City. He was of Irish, Scots, and Welsh ancestry. 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. [16] Brown surrendered to the Shelby County Sheriff on August 27, 2015, to serve his five-day sentence at the Shelby County Corrections Facility in Memphis. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. . Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however, because no mainstream lawyer wanted anything to do with him. The 20-page paper, which was classified as. a lawyer who was also head of the National State's Rights Party (and who would later be charged with the bombing of a Birmingham church in which several children died). . Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. 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. When ODells position as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party was revealed in 1961, King supposedly fired him. This tribunal on a General Sessions Court's authority is insufficient to establish you. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. 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). We had no contact, however, since he was on the other side of the building. During the six years that James Earl Ray was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, he kept primarily to himself and, other than for the fact that he attempted to escape on more than one occasion, he had only one conduct violation during that entire time and that was for the possession of three packages of cigarettes, a ball point pen and one pound of coffeeIn addition, you might be interested to know that prior to the Governor's receiving your Mailgram, I personally discussed the allegations and conclusions in the Time magazine article with the author himself, Mr. George McMillan. Doesnt the controversy between Galileo and the Catholic Church prove this? Earl Rays family had problems with the law enforcement ever since he was a child. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. An international manhunt led to his capture in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was caught carrying two fake Canadian passports. 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. Indeed, to them the perception is reality. (Emphasis in original.). [23] After his release, he compared himself to notable civil rights activists who spent significant time imprisoned for their activism like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Stokely Carmichael. There was, however, some question in our minds about Ray's coordination. James Lawson, a Memphis pastor and civil rights institution who helped mentor King, said he began visiting Ray in the Memphis jail in 1969 when Ray complained about being held in solitary. The Galileo Case Revisited | Beyond the Cover. Then Benny was transferred to L-Hall, an honor unit just outside the walls of the main penitentiary. In prison I knew men who would stab you to death over a carton of cigarettes, or for even a slight insult. 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). 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,. What Political Party was James Earl Ray part of? In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. 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. 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. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. (Credit: State of Tennessee, Earl Warren/AP Photo), Coretta Kings specific belief in Rays innocence is a little tougher to explain. "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? Davis and Laster were both shot during that attempt. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. PRPhotos. Whatever noble goals King proclaimed, the subversive company he chose to keep severely neutralizes any good he may have aspired to and creates serious doubts about the sincerity of his stated mission. After buying the rifle, he came back to Atlanta where he came to know that King was planning a return trip to Memphis, Tennessee. After the publication of the Playboy story, Ray fired Kershaw when he found that Playboy paid him $11,000 for facilitating the interview. 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. 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. There were half a dozen guys who rented magazines, and they hawked their wares by the yard shack (a small rock building where the guards stayed). It would later be learned that Ray's classification card contained erroneous fingerprints, which were initially distributed nationally. An hour later, he was declared dead. I served my six months, got out and was put right back in for using amphetamine. 15. The next section of the FBI paper was subheaded Strong Communist Influence. It pulled no punches in stating: Another complicating factor in the picture is the degree of communist influence on King. Ray, was found by bloodhounds about eightmiles away from the prison shortly after the escape attempt. About two months later, Ray tried to escape, and he came to E-Hall. For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown. The 20-page paper, which was classified as secret, was reviewed by the FBI/JFK Task Force in 1994, which denied the release of its contents. (153) He guided King in deciding whether to accept or reject public appearances. Unfortunately, the scene described by McMillan could not have happened. Benny and I studied programming together, and in 1966 we worked in the programming office together. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. in the Q2 rifle. My review took issue with many assumptions in the book, such as those centering on Ray's involvement with drugs in prison, and how he escaped from Jefferson City. You tend to know a great deal about people you've never met. 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. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. On 30 January 1961, Dexter Scott King, the third child of Martin and Coretta Scott King, was born. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The scandal was so bad it led to the downfall of Warden Nash, who then shot himself.). ), where he secured a second Canadian passport (May 16), and back to London (May 17?). One of Kings sons Dexter had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his fathers assassin. For the television series, see, "I left the Demo Pty Plantation long ago I'm an Independent", "Voters verdict: Weirich over TV's Joe Brown", "TV's Judge Joe Brown Arrested In Tennessee", "Former TV Judge Joe Brown Stumbles In Bid To Become Tennessee District Attorney", Judge Joe Brown uncorks a shocker taunting Weirich about her sexuality Memphis Flyer Jackson Baker July 2, 2014, "District Attorney Weirich sails to victory over challenger Joe Brown", "Judge Joe Brown in Jail for Contempt of Court", "Former TV judge Joe Brown can't practice law in Tennessee", "MSCS Chairwoman Michelle McKissack considers mayoral run", "Judge Joe Brown: The rant, the mugshot, the jokes", "TV's Judge Joe Brown jailed by real judge after courtroom argument, court says", "TV judge Joe Brown begins 5-day jail term", "Judge Joe Brown: Hear What He Said That Got Him Arrested", "Judge Joe Brown Begins Jail Sentence for Contempt of Court After 2014 Courtroom Outburst", "Joe Brown loses appeal over juvenile court outburst", "After the Campaign - Memphis Daily News", "Was Judge Joe Brown's Arrest A Publicty Stunt? 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