Martin Luther King Jr. giving his last speech, Ive Been To The Mountaintop, on April 3, 1968. Did James Earl Ray Really Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. Or Was He Set Up? His claim was that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy of the otherwise unidentified man named "Raul who was a blond Cuban. Was James earl ray white? Though intelligent, he was quick to anger. 10 Disturbing and Unexplained Facts About James Earl Ray, MLK's Assassin. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. 1. James Earl Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, IL. As the official story goes, Ray followed through with the threat he made in prison. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. A plaque made for a 2002 Martin Luther King Day celebration mistakenly thanked James Earl Ray, King's assassin, instead of actor James Earl Jones. History has largely forgotten much of the story of Martin Luther King's convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, a serial prison escapee. But that biography doesnt explain why or how Ray moved from committing property crime and supporting racists, to killing a national icon. He shot. The mock trial jury finally acquitted Ray. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. James Earl Ray Biography. [28] He stayed briefly in Lisbon, Portugal, and returned to London. The paper reported King's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee, which was scheduled for April 1, 1968. Corrections? Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. Aggie Kenny who traveled to Memphis to cover the hearing, drew Ray as he attempted to argue that he was not well-served by his previous attorney, Percy Foreman. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. Later, though, he claimed he left the prints to gain international notoriety. He was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest, before getting discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability in 1948. Ex-wife of MLK assassin James Earl Ray charged with animal cruelty in Tennessee June 23, 2021 11:30am Updated Madison County Jail More On: The ex-wife of assassin James Earl Ray, who. No I didn't." He signed an account of the murder in March 1969, and in exchange for his . He is a former Shelby County, Tennessee Criminal Court judge and a former arbiter of the arbitration-based reality court show Judge Joe Brown . The parents of James Earl Ray are James Gerald Ray,Lucille Ray. He at first fled to Canada but, unable to get on a ship and flee overseas, he returned to the U.S. and made his way to first Alabama, then Mexico, and later Los Angeles. James Earl Ray made several trips to Montreal, Canada in the 1960's where he was hypnotically programmed by MK-ULTRA Dr. Ewen Cameron, who worked at Allen Memorial Hospital out of McGill University. A former theater and television producer, Edward remains active in charity. Edward, Earl of Wessex is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Findings by federal authorities and the House Select Committee on Assassinations are confident about some things. Ray dropped out of school around the age of 12 but had trouble making anything stick. What were James earl rays political views? James Earl Ray was a racist and quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. 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.'. Hardcover, 480 pages. 191 Ben Barrack 18 Jan 2011 0 In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. According to Wikipedia: James Earl Ray's chief interest was the George Wallace Democratic presidential campaign. Please attempt to sign up again. Author weaves memoir with fictional account of MLK's killer on the lam. King and his associates came to town on April 3 and checked into the Lorraine Motel. 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. 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. The two married in 1978 and divorced in 1992. I think there was a major conspiracy to remove Dr. King from the American scene, Lewis said. He drifted around the Midwest, committing more crimes. Not long before Ray's death, Dexter King, Dr. King's son, visited the man presumed to be his father's killer. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. After reading about James Earl Ray, learn about the first and only time that Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm X. [39][40][41] William Pepper, a friend of King during the last year of his life, represented Ray in a mock trial televised by HBO in an attempt to grant him the trial he never received. After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 - April 23, 1998) was an American claimed to have been responsible for the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, which he was convicted of.Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. I had met with him twice while in Memphis at Jims Grill, which was near the boarding house. But while at the Missouri State Penitentiary, Ray took a fateful step. The King family started to publicly voice the opinion in 1997. 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 would have fit in just perfect with MAGA Before all the MLK quotes begin in a couple of weeks remember; MLK, didn't end racism. Until his last day, James Earl Ray denied the crime, saying that it was part of a larger conspiracy involving contacts from Canada and even insinuating that the U.S. government had a role in it as well. Ray was born into a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois. Joseph Louw/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. Over the next several years, Ray embarked on a number of small crimes, serving various jail times. 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. Kings horrified associates point to the direction where they think the bullet came from as King lay dying at their feet. Unbeknownst to Ray, however, under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional. Ray was a racist and was quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. the result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. Using mail-ordered equipment, he filmed and photographed local prostitutes. According to Harding, King had already severely angered Johnson by delivering that speech, which could have made Johnson quite receptive to Byrds sentiment. By then, Ray was long gone. Ray Kroc was an American entrepreneur best known for expanding McDonalds from a local chain to the worlds most profitable restaurant franchise operation. 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. 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. More answers below 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. Free shipping for many products! Louis. They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK,' explained G. Robert Blakey, a law professor who previously served as the chief counsel for the House Assassinations Committee. He shot and killed King in Memphis on April 4, 1968, confessing to the crime the following March. 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. Ray was a known criminal, on the lam after escaping a Missouri state prison when he committed the assassination, and had more than two dozen known aliases for himself before he was put behind bars again. 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. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968. An hour later, he was declared dead. On April 4, 1968, Ray stood in the bathtub of the bathroom, balanced his rifle on a window ledge and shot King as the civil rights leader was standing on a balcony outside of his motel room. U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. 4777. AP Photo. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. [8] He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses. 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. He left school when he was 15 and later joined the US Army towards the end of World War II but he struggled to adapt to . In the mock trial, the prosecutor was Hickman Ewing. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Earl_Ray&oldid=1134341249, American people who died in prison custody, People extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States, Prisoners who died in Tennessee detention, United States Army personnel of World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 99 years in prison (1 year was added after his re-capture for a total of 100 years), This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 05:50. [7], Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. 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. But within Martin Luther Kings family, there remains a persistent belief that Ray is innocent, and was set up to take the fall. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. Later in life his pleas for a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the King family. During the four-week trial in Memphis, a 12-person jury heard testimony from over 70 witnesses; but not Jowers, who didnt testify because there were no criminal charges at stake. The first time he tried to steal from someone, he left behind his identification. They were recaptured on June 13. Ray replied, "No. They said he lacked credibility and seemed largely motivated by financial gain. But Ray offered no motive himself. Then, discover the true story behind the FBIs infamous Martin Luther King Jr. tapes. font size decrease font size increase font size; . 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 April4, 1968. Ray was born to a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille and George Ellis Ray. Second Edition, Tennessee Waltz - the Making of a Political Prisoner. 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.. 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. Ray struggled to adapt to military life and was eventually discharged for ineptitude and lack of adaptability in 1948. On the night of the shooting, I had left the rifle with Raoul.. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to . James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. 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. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. And after he returned to Illinois and robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint for $11, police easily arrested him in a dead-end alleyway. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. The Rhodesian government expressed its disapproval. The next day, Ray checked into a room in a boarding house just across the street from where King was staying, according to the Washington Post. The House Assassinations Committee examining evidence in the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). Indeed, compelling evidence including Rays fingerprints on the rifle that was later determined to be the murder weapon seemed to point to him. James Earl is known for Fired Up! Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raul," had been involved in the assassination. The pastor-turned-activist had orchestrated boycotts, led historic marches, and spoken to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington, D.C. about his dream of a more equal country. King died about an hour later. 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. Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998. An avid newspaper reader, Ray passed his time reading The Atlanta Constitution. 2023 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 1928. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was a former California governor who also headed the commission that investigated the JFK assassination. Ray, who was feeble and sick from hepatitis C, was asked by King about his involvement in the assassination. Neither party made his goals part of their platform. 4 There was no trial because of his confession. James Earl Ray has 7 siblings in His family: John Larry Ray, Suzan Ray, Melba Ray, Marjorie Ray, Franklin Ray, Jerry Ray . Both Ray and King arrived in Memphis in early April. Some believe the facts are just as history . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Most of the public . James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. According to the New York Times, his uncle went to prison on the day Ray was born, his father was a known convict, and his great-grandfather was likely Ned Ray, a gambler and Wild West outlaw. Magazines, Digital Indeed, Ray seemed to struggle from the start. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. [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. He insisted that a man he'd met in Canada, who went by the name of Raoul, had orchestrated the murder and ultimately shot King. Updates? Four decades later, Sides, an editor-at-large for Outside magazine and the author of the historical books Ghost Soldiers and . Maybe you would like to learn more about one of these? 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.After this, Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. He was of Irish, Scots, and Welsh ancestry. There are records of Ray receiving plastic surgery in Los Angeles about a month before Kings murder in Memphis. A consequence of Kings alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. Ray was sentenced to a 99 year sentence, with another year added after his escape in 1977. 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. Contents 1 Background 2 Murder of King, Incarceration, and Death 3 Motive 4 Conspiracy Theories 4.1 Ray's claims 4.2 Loyd Jowers 4.3 Other claims 5 Modus Operandi 6 Known Victims 7 On Criminal Minds 8 Sources Background Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. This organization would later morph into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei better known as the NAZI party. But not everyone was convinced that the story stopped there in part because Rays guilty plea stopped a trial from proceeding. Two years later, his young sister Marjorie, died in a fire after playing with matches and accidentally catching herself on fire. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. Ray himself countered that he was not the only one involved in the crime. Those prints were already among the FBIs records for wanted individuals. He died on April 23, 1998, Nashville, TN. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. He pled guilty to shooting King on March 10, 1969, to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. Ray was spotted at the scene and, almost immediately after the killing, his fingerprints were found on the gun. He then drove to Mexico, stopping in Acapulco before settling in Puerto Vallarta on October 19, 1967. Then, the House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case., James Earl Ray did it, case closed! He briefly escaped from prison in 1977 and survived a murder attempt in 1981. Evidence does suggest that Ray had little stomach for the integration policies that were sweeping the country. He pursued a life of crime but seemed to have been a clumsy criminal. 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. The verdict in King vs. Jowers found a government conspiracy involving city, state, and federal agents complicit in the murder. James Earl Ray is the disturbed man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. At one point, the owner of the bar beneath the boarding house where Ray stayed, Loyd Jowers, claimed that he had participated in a conspiracy to assassinate King. James Earl Ray is the man who shot and killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. [49] On June 9, 2000, the United States Department of Justice released a 150-page report rejecting allegations that there was a conspiracy to assassinate King, including the determination of the Memphis civil court jury. When Kings son, Dexter, visited Ray in prison, Dexter asked Ray point-blank: Did you kill my father?. Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille Ray (ne Maher) and George Ellis Ray. 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. The facts are these. Two years later, his family moved about an hour and a half away to Bowling Green, MO and then by 1935, they moved again to Ewing, MO where Ray lived through grade school. By signing up you are agreeing to our, What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Campaigns, How Black Filmmakers Are Reclaiming Their History Onscreen. He claimed that, as a fugitive, he had met a blond Cuban named Raoul or Raul. Ray said he worked for Raoul in a gun-running enterprise, and he bought a .30-06 hunting rifle for him in Birmingham, Alabama. Whats more, Ray claimed that he only pled guilty to the assassination because his lawyer and the FBI had pressed him to do so. First pu James. James Earl Jones is the American actor who voiced Darth Vader in the 'Star Wars' franchise. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Read an Excerpt. Ray had seven siblings. James Earl Jones thinks he knows makes the tea party tick: racism. James Earl Ray died, in prison, on April 23, 1998. "Like a Fading Shadow" is Antonio Muoz Molina's dramatization of the hunted assassin James Earl Ray's obscure 10 . 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. Ray met Anna Sandhu in 1977. Kershaw convinced Ray to submit to a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. Ray Charles was a pioneer of soul music, integrating R&B, gospel, pop and country to create hits like "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road Jack" and "Georgia on My Mind.". Three days after pleading guilty he recanted his confession, and for the next 28 years maintained his innocence, but by then it was too late. He even upheld his claims to the King family. 2. CAPTION: Ray was apprehended (harnessed and handcuffed) for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968 . He shot dead the minister as he was standing on a motel balcony. This list details the strange, unstable life of James Earl Ray, a man who confessed to and then spent his life denyingthe murder of Martin Luther King Jr. That doesnt mean there are no questions left. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! 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. On April 2, 1968, Ray packed a bag and drove to Memphis. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Tennessee Waltz : The Making of a Political Prisoner by James E. Ray (Hardcover) at the best online prices at eBay! In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. Please try again later. An aerial photo of the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot hangs in his office, right in front of the 76-year . During the 1950 and 60s, the FBI surveilled and harassed King, his family and his associates. 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 . He spent many hours volunteering at the campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. Born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, was the eldest of George and Lucille Ray's nine children. Kershaw and his client met with representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and convinced the committee to conduct ballistics tests that they believed would prove Ray had not fired the fatal shot. The evidence brought forth by attorney William Pepper was so powerful . Description. Who Was James Earl Ray? Hes either the man who brutally assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. or a patsy who took the fall for a larger conspiracy sheathed in the shadows. But within a few days of confessing, Ray began to claim his innocence, arguing that that he had been set up by a man he knew only as Raoul. It was Raoul, Ray said, who had directed him to buy the gun and the binoculars, and rent the room across the street from the motel. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. [31] At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. The Nazi party Is the president part of the political party? I do think [Ray] had help, but I never found any proof that a group helped him, says Sides. Its not clear when Coretta Scott King, widow of King, began to believe in Rays innocence. They quickly found the rifle with Rays fingerprints on it. His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to Ireland, the home of his maternal family's ancestors. He maintained that he was innocent of killing MLK until his own death in 1998. 6:03 AM. Bettmann/Contributor via Getty ImagesMartin Luther King Jr. giving his last speech, Ive Been To The Mountaintop, on April 3, 1968. Finally, Americans anguished over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had the who. But what about the why?. Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. James Earl Ray hated him. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. James Earl Ray, fdd 10 mars 1928 i Alton, Illinois, dd 23 april 1998 p Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary nra Petros, Tennessee, var en amerikansk brottsling dmd fr mordet p Martin Luther King den 4 april 1968 i Memphis, ett dd som gav 99 rs fngelse. Doubleday. [23][24][25], Ray fled to Atlanta in his white Ford Mustang, driving eleven hours. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw Ray fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the motel where he had been renting a room. Whether anybody helped him indirectly has yet to be determined. James Earl Ray was a Democrat. 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. Over the decades, the story twisted and turned. [18] He bought a map of the city. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. . His father's name was George Ellis Ray and his mother's name was Lucille. Inside The Curious Question Of The Great Emancipator's Race, Meet Shoji Morimoto, The Japanese 'Do-Nothing Guy' Who People Can Rent Out Just For Company, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. He pleaded guilty to murder on the advice of his attorney in order to avoid a jury 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. 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 . 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. 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And a former Shelby County, Tennessee Wikipedia: james Earl Ray & # x27 ; s name Lucille... Digital indeed, Ray and King arrived in Memphis the disturbed man who assassinated Martin King! Before Kings murder in Memphis at Jims Grill, which was scheduled for April,... Court show judge Joe Brown the direction where they think the bullet came from as King lay dying at feet! Chain to the direction where they think the bullet came from as King lay dying at their feet,. Years, Ray embarked on a number of small crimes, serving various jail times was that caught. Group helped him indirectly has yet to be the murder of Martin Luther King giving., MLK 's Assassin stopped a trial were encouraged by some civil-rights leaders, notably the family. To killing a james earl ray political party icon an avid newspaper reader, Ray followed through with the he! 'S murder, on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis, Tennessee, which had... Ray in prison, on April 3, 1968, Ray passed time. Ugly reach of that campaign has only become clearer over the years rifle! Become clearer over the years left the prints to gain international notoriety you would james earl ray political party to learn more about of... Repeated offenses father & # x27 ; s killer on the run and was quickly drawn to &. Powerful politicians had mounted to the worlds most profitable restaurant franchise operation run and captured! Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images ) bullet came from as King lay dying at their feet family!
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