In subsequent disclosures, Ray said that he was not the only person involved in the murder of King. 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. When prominent people die violently, they become martyrs in some peoples eyes, and there is a reluctance on their part even to consider anything that blemishes the heroic image they have formed of the individual. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. Born in a poor family, Ray had a difficult childhood as his father could not support his family. 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. [13], Brown is twice divorced and has two sons from his first marriage.[14]. Milteer told the informant that a scheme was in the works to kill President Kennedy. During the original taped conversation, Milteer also revealed a plot against Martin Luther King, one that involved an NSRP hit man named Brown. I got to know him better when he came to Jeff City with a sentence for robbery. 14. (In the period 1963-64, there were 550 serious assaults inside Jefferson City, including hundreds of stabbings, which is why, An egregious example of shoddy workmanship is the book. The George Wallace Democrat of the 1960's aligns with the and is the Republican Party we know today. He simply hounded you (not that Ray was a coward, or afraid to fight, but he wasn't the type to start the fight). 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. 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. From 1961 through 1965 I used a substantial amount of amphetamine, and so did many of the people I associated with, and I never bought any from James Earl Ray. 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), Evidence of Ray's contact with his brothers, 1967-68, Motive with respect to John and Jerry Ray, The backgrounds of Kauffmann and Sutherland, How to File a FOIA Request for Archival Records. James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to assassinating King, was renting a room above Jower's establishment and was allegedly an unwitting scapegoat. As an indication of just how much Robert Welch, the Founder of The John Birch Society, was on top of Kings communist connection, he wrote the following words for May 1968 John Birch Society Bulletin just two months after the FBI report, which had been classified as secret: During this career of a brief dozen years, [King] was constantly surrounded by, and associated with, Communists. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[3]. Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however . James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old convicted armed robber who had escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Mo., on April 23, 1967, pleaded guilty on March 10, 1969, in Shelby County (Tenn.) Criminal Court to the first degree murder of Dr. King. Ray, whose previous history as a criminal was notable only for its ineptness, fled to Canada after the killing, assumed a new identity complete with credentials, then fled to England where he was arrested trying to fly out to another country. 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. Stoner campaigned for several political offices as a Southern Democrat in order to promote his white supremacist agenda. The cartridge case (Q3) found in the Q2 rifle had been fired After this Ray was on the run and was captured in the UK. The bread box would have to pass through the truck tunnel, where all incoming and outgoing vehicles were searched. 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. The cells that I was associated with in Cleveland were continually being asked to raise funds for Martin Luther Kings activities. She also said, Mr. 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. Riots erupted in Memphis; one person was killed and sixty were injured. King was shot by Earl Ray when the former was standing in the balcony of his motel room. He was first convicted for a burglary in California in the year 1949. (153) Jack Kershaw Is Dead at 96; Challenged Conviction in King's Death. When authorities caught him in London, hed been planning to travel to Rhodesia, a former African state ruled by a white minority in present-day Zimbabwe. The first time I saw James Earl Ray, he had just arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Martin Luther King Jr. 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. It is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. Wait Who? Declassified FBI Paper Reveals Communist Associates of Martin Luther King, UN Biodiversity Beijing-Wall Street Convergence. At the Tag Plant I met Jerry Ward Davis, an Oklahoman who'd been shot in 1959 after kidnapping several guards (along with Rollie Laster and Ronnie Westberg) during an attempted escape that involved the use of zip-guns. A staunch segregationist, Earl Ray could not stomach the integration policies of King. That was a bunch of baloney. Sometime before 4:00 p.m. on April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray parked his white Mustang on South Main Street and, under an assumed name, rented a room in the second floor rooming house directly above the grill. In 1967, he returned to the United States (Los Angeles) from Mexico and took dancing classes in a bartending school. The murder of Lee Harvey Oswald had closed the door to an open trial that might have answered the question of whether Oswald acted alone, or was part of a conspiracy. . As a former judge here, we have a rule in the 30th Judicial Districtit says every single Magistrate Referee has to be unanimously approved by every Circuit, Chancery, and Criminal Court Judge. The shot that killed Dr. King was fired from the bathroom window at the 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. 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. The Q2 rifle-had general class characteristics of six lands and 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. He told Jerry and me that he'd actually gotten into the box once, but the guard missed him and launched a search. James Earl Ray. I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. He was a skinny guy with sandy hair and a cultured, slightly arrogant manner. McMillans false scenarios portray Ray as a rabid racist in prison. UN Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in Schools. It's a seductive thought. 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. [3] He would later open his own law practice before being elected as a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee in 1990. They were not going to have me, or any other convict, expounding on the subject of Ray. 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. He was transferred to the maximum security facility called Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville which had hospital facilities. PRPhotos. Why did James Earl Ray have cancer? He began to call him Martin "Lucifer" King and Martin Luther "Coon." [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. After several days, the prison officials concluded that Ray had actually escaped, and they put out an alarm. One thing never mentioned about Ray's time in Jefferson City is the fact he had a nearly exemplary conduct record, with the exception of the two escape attempts. They would rather ignore the facts than become disillusioned. He made the FBI Most Wanted List before his recapture. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. [8][9], Brown asserted that Weirichs "husband moved out and took the kids," and that "she needs to come out of the closet." The King family started to publicly voice the opinion in 1997. And, although the FBI later claimed to have interviewed every convict in Jefferson City who had served time with Ray, they never tried to interview me, or Davis, or Laster, or Westberg or anyone I knew. James Earl Ray lowers his head as State Safety commissioner Greg O'Rear, white hat, and Highway Patrol Maj. Mickey McGuire, dark glasses, lead him to prison in Nashville, Tenn., March 11, 1969. In a story published based on the test, Playboy claimed that Ray had committed the crime alone. 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. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. A mock trial of Ray in which he was represented by Dr. William Pepper was later telecast on TV to criticize the government for denying him the trial. For example, if you worked in the laundry you could charge people to starch and iron their clothes. Just before Ray's escape from Jeff City he was visited by his brother. 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.. Ray spent the rest of his life in prison and suffered with kidney and liver ailments in his last years. Brown, who retains his law license, was reviewing a child support matter as a favor to an acquaintance. He was right, but he would never be that man. 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). [3] Brown has spoken about how his upbringing shaped his philosophy. An international manhunt led to his capture in June 1968 at Heathrow Airport in London, where he was caught carrying two fake Canadian passports. The facts are these. But they are unanimous on one key point: James Earl Ray did not kill Martin Luther King.. Then Benny was transferred to L-Hall, an honor unit just outside the walls of the main penitentiary. But what do you know about James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King? 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. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. But almost immediately after her husbands assassination, she suspected that the FBI, which had investigated the murder, was involved in it. This should have been driven home years ago when a surreptitious tape recording was made of J.A. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. Doesnt the controversy between Galileo and the Catholic Church prove this? 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. 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. Martin Luther King Jr.family that James Earl Ray did not kill this nations most prominent civil rights leader. Ireland. [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. He shot. According to press accounts, Brown became combative and irate after Horne refused to discuss details of the case that were not on the schedule. 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. When I tried to mail my review to The Star, the prison officials refused to allow it to leave the prison. In 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. The New American magazine, published twice a month in print and daily online, is the essential news source for freedom-loving Americans. He did not want to be buried in the USA because he considered that the American government did not treat him fairly. For years convicts had dreamed of escaping in the bread box, but everyone assumed it was searched in the truck tunnel (that they would poke steel rods through the garbage, for example). 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. 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. Ray replied that he did not commit the crime. The paper quotes Kings statement explaining his strategy: To dislocate the function of a city without destroying it can be more effective than a riot, because it can be longer lasting, costly to society, and not wantonly destructive., Kings admission that the strategy he planned for Washington, D.C, would be costly to society is startling in view of a fact noted in The Urban Institute report, Our Changing City, which observed: 1950 also marked the start of the white exodus to the suburbs. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. "[20] 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. If this self-seeking rabble-rouser is allowed to go through with his plans here, Washington may well be treated to the same kind of violence, destruction, looting, and bloodshed.1. people lost faith in the political system. The President, Milteer said, would be shot "from an office building with a high-powered rifle," and a patsy would be picked up within hours . Ray, although not personally motivated by racism, comes from a rural background where blacks are not highly regarded. Some people had trouble, for example, believing Ray had arranged his international escape all by himself, since he had a track record of getting caught for more minor crimes. Early Ray had a criminal history starting from the time he left the American Army. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! When the day came, Ray walked up to the bread box, got in, and asked a guy named Don to cover him. Los Angeles was the site of Ray's first arrest, for burglary, in 1949, and he ended up serving 90 days in jail. 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. The date was November 9, 1963. Ray died on April 23, 1998 at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital due to Hepatitis C at the age of 70. For the first 25 years after Kings death, Jowers did not claim any involvement in the murder. it from Birmingham, Ala., to Memphis, Tenn., where he rented a room at 422 1/2 South Main Street, and moments after the assassination, he dropped As for how Welch was able to gather such damning information about King when the FBI files on the activist were classified, much has to do with the fact that there were many patriotic members of the FBI and other agencies who recognized that Welch and the society he founded constituted a trustworthy place to reveal what they knew. He escaped from the prison hiding in a truck that was transporting bread from the prison bakery. Law enforcement agencies believe that he started indulging in criminal activities as he could not support himself financially. Julia Brown, author of I Testify: My Years as an F.B.I. 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. 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. james earl ray political partymr patel neurosurgeon cardiff 27 februari, 2023 . Under the sub-head Communist Exposed, the paper went on to reveal more about ODell: King was forced to get rid of Hunter Pitts ODell in October, 1962, when several newspaper articles exposed ODells connection with SCLC and his communist affiliations. Although it is often. [7] He lost the general election to Republican incumbent Amy Weirich by 65% to 35%, after making comments about her sexuality. Of J.A Dead at 96 ; Challenged Conviction in King & # x27 ; s aligns the... 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