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. Martin Luther King Jr.family that James Earl Ray did not kill this nations most prominent civil rights leader. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! That was a bunch of baloney. But what do you know about James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King? Ostensibly only a New York City attorney and businessman, Levison is, in fact, a shrewd, dedicated communist. Dwight Lewis served in a variety of roles at The Tennessean, including reporter and columnist, from 1971 to 2011. 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). In her autobiography, Coretta Scott King wrote how glad she was that both Dexter and young Martin Luther King, III, had a chance to go with their father on . Updates? There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta King said at a press conference in 1999, according to The King Center. 14. It got so that the very sight of King would galvanize Ray. As the paper continued, it provided documentation that what King planned for after the civil disobedience would not be so innocuous. He began to call him Martin "Lucifer" King and Martin Luther "Coon." 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. Spouse/Ex-: Anna Sandhu Ray (m. 19781993), siblings: Carol Pepper, Franklin Ray, Jerry Ray, John Larry Ray, Marjorie Ray, Melba Ray, Suzan Ray, place of death: Nashville, Tennessee, United States, See the events in life of James Earl Ray in Chronological Order, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25196041/james-earl-ray, http://yourblackworld.net/2012/06/23/james-earl-rays-map-used-get-out-prison-being-sold-history-teacher/, https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-EARL-RAY-Mugshot-Glossy-8x10-Photo-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Print-Poster-/202043577078, https://shannonyarbrough.com/tag/james-earl-ray/, http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-james-earl-ray-the-yankee-who-shot-mlk-burning-in-hell-now. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. Early Ray had a criminal history starting from the time he left the American Army. There was, however, some question in our minds about Ray's coordination. It was then learned he'd been the site engineer for the West German Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. nitrites would have indicated a close-range discharge). Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), an extremist Black Nationalist organization, has conferred with King. Certainly not enough to finance his travels to Mexico, Canada, England, etc., after his escape. On January 26, 1976, Time magazine devoted four pages to the King assassination, drawing heavily on material from McMillan's book, which was scheduled for publication later that year: In 1963 and 1964 Martin Luther King was on TV almost every day, talking defiantly about how black people were going to get their rights, insisting that they would accept with nonviolence all the terrible violence that white people were inflicting on them, until the day of victory arrived, until they did overcome. The Q2 rifle-had general class characteristics of six lands and 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. 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. 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. 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. For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. Senator) that an investigation be conducted into the allegations. James Earl Ray was an American assassin convicted for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After his conviction, he spent all his life in prison. For years after Ray's capture there was a close association between Stoner and Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's brother. 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. This doesnt mean that Ray couldnt have received assistance. 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. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. Ray fled to Toronto, secured a Canadian passport through a travel agency, flew to London (May 5), then to Lisbon (May 7? He was immediately extradited to USA. Raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Brown graduated as valedictorian[full citation needed] from Dorsey High School. None. Although Westberg liked Ray, he never brought him around us. King was shot by Earl Ray when the former was standing in the balcony of his motel room. No one else I knew did either. James Earl Ray did it, case closed! . Now confident that he could not be recognized, he again began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. After his capture, his sentence was extended by one more year to 100 years. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. Over the years, as book after book has been published on the King case, numerous conspiracy theories have been advanced: that the FBI was involved; that the CIA feared King would come out in opposition to the Vietnam War; that rival black leaders felt King's non-violent approach was a hindrance to black progress; that white supremacists wanted him out of the way for obvious reasons. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The shot that killed Dr. King was fired from the bathroom window at the Although it is often. Wait Who? 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. I occasionally rented magazines from Ray, but other inmates usually had a larger selection, and better quality magazines. But a check by United Press International found him still employed by Kings organization. Benny Edmondson thought it was hilarious that William Bradford Huie thought he was "Raoul." It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. 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. 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. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. 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. 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. Unfortunately, the scene described by McMillan could not have happened. Who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968? 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. In that atmosphere, escape became almost impossible. Lee Harvey Oswald James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan . 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. and other allegedly exculpatory evidence are not worthy of belief. But they are unanimous on one key point: James Earl Ray did not kill Martin Luther King.. ", 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. That description comes closer to Jerry Ray than to James Earl Ray. That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. Westberg was warned, and hurriedly got out of the box, which was then filled with bread. This should have been driven home years ago when a surreptitious tape recording was made of J.A. Months later, he recanted his confession, without effect. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. Thorpe Menn, then book editor of The Star, sent it to me to review. She told a congressional subcommittee that while she was a member of the Communist Party, she knew Martin Luther King to be closely connected with the Communist Party. Brown joined The American Opinion Speakers Bureau, and while on the lecture circuit, she told audiences that King was the hero of Americas Communists. 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. Undercover Agent, was an undercover agent for the FBI in the Cleveland area. He was a democrat. Starting with his contribution to the presidential campaign of Wallace, Ray developed a strong animosity towards Martin Luther King Jr. Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. With the release of this FBI document, however, it seems that the FBI and the JBS were on the same page regarding King. When I tried to mail my review to The Star, the prison officials refused to allow it to leave the prison. 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. 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. Read More:How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages. A staunch segregationist, Earl Ray could not stomach the integration policies of King. 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. 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. In March 2014, Brown was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and charged with five counts of contempt of court and getting "verbally abusive" during a child support case overseen by Magistrate Harold Horne. More:Manhunt in the mountains: James Earl Ray and the Brushy Mountain Prison breakout of 1977. (Benny had taken two years of civil engineering in college.). 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. He was transferred to the maximum security facility called Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville which had hospital facilities. James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan Jack Ruby. While he was still in Los Angeles, Ray had the desire to immigrate to Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) where a white minority regime declared independence from England in the year 1965. 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). Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead. Doesnt the controversy between Galileo and the Catholic Church prove this? Moreover, Jerry Ray and James Earl Ray are close. Although Ray had been sentenced from St. Louis, he was not part of the St. Louis "crowd.". 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