James Earl Ray

James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr..

Related Topics:
March 10 - 1928 - April 23 - 1998 - Assassin - Martin Luther King Jr.

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Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London's Heathrow Airport while trying to leave Great Britain on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder, confessing to the assassination on March 10, 1969, (though he recanted this confession three days later) and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray, a presumed white supremacist and segregationist, had allegedy killed King because of the latter's extensive civil rights work. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray had taken a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the definite possibility of receiving the death penalty although it was highly unlikely that he would have been executed even if he had been sentenced to death, as the US Supreme Court's 1972 decision in the case of Furman v. Georgia invalidated all state death penalty laws then in force.

Related Topics:
James Earl Ray - Heathrow Airport - Great Britain - Tennessee - Murder - March 10 - 1969 - White supremacist - Segregationist - Furman v. Georgia - Death penalty

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Ray had fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher") claiming that a man he met in Montreal, Canada with the alias "Raoul" was involved, as was his brother Johnny, but not himself, further asserting that although he didn't "personally shoot Dr. King," he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea.

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Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee on June 10, 1977 shortly after Ray testified that he did not shoot King to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, but were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison.http://knoxville.fbi.gov/hist.htm More years were then added to his sentence for attempting to escape from the penitentiary.

Related Topics:
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary - Petros, Tennessee - June 10 - 1977 - June 13

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In 1997 Martin Luther King's son Dexter King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial. Loyd Jowers was brought to a civil court and was prosecuted as being part of a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King, Jowers was found guilty and the King family was awarded one hundred dollars in retribution as a sign that they were not following the case for monetary reasons. Dr. William Pepper fought as James Earl Ray's lawyer up until Ray's death and then carried on, on behalf of the King family. The King family does not believe Ray had anything to do with the murder of Martin Luther King

Related Topics:
1997 - Dexter King - Loyd Jowers - Conspiracy - Martin Luther King

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Ray died in prison April 23, 1998 at age 70 from complications related to kidney disease, caused by hepatitis C. The hepatitis C was probably contracted as a result of a blood transfusion given after a stabbing whilst at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.

Related Topics:
Hepatitis C - Blood transfusion - Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

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