On June 11, 1977, while housed at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, TN, Ray and five other inmates escaped. The first year and a half I paid little or no attention to Ray. In 1997, Kings son Dexter met Ray in prison and asked him whether he had killed his father. The 20-page paper, which was classified as. Some even said Ray was a racist, but he claimed to me that he was never hostile toward anyone. Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. He was found to be legally liable and a sum of $100 was accepted by Kings family in restitution. They were not going to have me, or any other convict, expounding on the subject of Ray. Don told me later he was stunned; but he knew if he hesitated too long, a guard would catch Ray. James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan Jack Ruby. B. Based on the results of a civil trial in 1999, Byrds speech would have almost necessarily have played an even more direct role if the verdict is to be accepted. Weirich responded: "Its a sad day that someone that out of touch with reality considers himself a viable candidate for one of the important positions in Shelby County. 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. 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. 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. During the original taped conversation, Milteer also revealed a plot against Martin Luther King, one that involved an NSRP hit man named Brown. 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. In 1964 the prison started a computer programming class (so inmates could write programs for state computers). The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically 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. Among the evidence was a recording of Jowers in which he suggested he was interested in fabricating his story for financial gain. James Earl Ray (born 1965) is listed at 42036 Queen Anne Ct Northville, Mi 48167 and has no known political party affiliation. [4] By 1978, Brown became the first African-American prosecutor in Memphis, and he later directed the Memphis public defender's office. On June 8 he was apprehended by London police at Heathrow Airport as he was about to embark for Brussels; the FBI had established him as the prime suspect almost immediately after the assassination. 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. Rays father forged a check and hence had to shift his family to Ewing, Missouri to escape enforcement authorities. In June 1977 Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain (Tennessee) Prison and remained at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. 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. An hour later, he was declared dead. Ray was also Stoner's bodyguard and chauffeur. The first time I saw James Earl Ray, he had just arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Shortly after Ray pled guilty to the King murder, Clay Blair's book The Strange Case of James Earl Ray was published. Ray was born in Alton, IL,in 1928, the son of working class Scots-Irish parents. The only thing publicity could do was further humiliate them. rear of a roominghouse at 422 1/2 South Main Street, Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray purchased the rifle that was used to shoot Dr. King and transported Brown was thrust into the national spotlight while presiding over James Earl Ray's last appeal of his conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Brown was removed from the reopened investigation of King's murder due to alleged bias. McMillans false scenarios portray Ray as a rabid racist in prison. The George Wallace Democrat of the 1960's aligns with the and is the Republican Party we know today. As with most cases, the answer is yes. Doesnt the controversy between Galileo and the Catholic Church prove this? James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to assassinating King, was renting a room above Jower's establishment and was allegedly an unwitting scapegoat. 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 . The greatest sin a convict can commit in prison is to escape. and chemically, revealed the presence of lead from a disintegrating His first prison break happened in 1967, when he escaped the Missouri State Penitentiary on a bread truck before fleeing to Canada. George M. Camp, head of the Missouri prison system, wrote to Cleaver, saying: My findings are that there is nothing whatsoever to substantiate any conclusion that James Earl Ray financed either his escape or his activities after his escape through any means while he was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary. On January 26, 1976, My findings are that there is nothing whatsoever to substantiate any conclusion that James Earl Ray financed either his escape or his activities after his escape through any means while he was an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Happy 300th Birthday, Richard Price! When ODells position as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party was revealed in 1961, King supposedly fired him. 15. In 1967, he returned to the United States (Los Angeles) from Mexico and took dancing classes in a bartending school. When ODell was again exposed, King went through the same routine of announcing his dismissal. 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.. In the year 1952, he served a two year prison sentence for the armed robbery of a cab driver. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison. 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. Kings convicted killer, James Earl Ray, pled guilty to his murder, received a life sentence, and died in prison of natural causes 29 years later. 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 . Senator) that an investigation be conducted into the allegations. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. James Earl Jones. . The facts are these. I watched my parents tough it out on a daily basis, and I saw that what really kept them going was making a difference to others. Mr. Kershaw was a Tennessee lawyer who argued that James Earl Ray, convicted in the 1968 assassination of the Rev. As the paper continued, it provided documentation that what King planned for after the civil disobedience would not be so innocuous. McMillan, and through him Time magazine, are also the primary sources for the general belief that Ray financed his after-escape activities with money earned in Jeff City. But Westberg had been told that the guard did not open the bread box. Jerry Ray had moved in with Stoner, and shot an intruder who broke into Stoner's office which was in the same building as the living quarters. Benny was eventually placed on the FBI's 10-Most-Wanted list and was captured in Canada, where he was posing as an engineer and had married a school teacher. After the publication of the Playboy story, Ray fired Kershaw when he found that Playboy paid him $11,000 for facilitating the interview. Wait Who? The manhunt was the most expensive and biggest for the FBI (at that time). Although it is often. In order to hang onto your drugs, people had to know that you would kill them without hesitation. 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. King's killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark. He guided King in deciding whether to accept or reject public appearances. The scandal was so bad it led to the downfall of Warden Nash, who then shot himself.). The shot that killed Dr. King was fired from the bathroom window at the He believed that King was a serious threat to the dominance of white people in the USA and wanted to stop him through any means. Somehow, Ray managed to escape from prison on two different occasions. This doesnt mean that Ray couldnt have received assistance. Ray pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. 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. In the course of our conversation, I pressed him for details regarding drug sales or any other illegal activities in which staff and/or inmates might have been involved. Then, the (U.S.) House Assassinations Committee spent two years and $2.5 million investigating the case. The same NSRP member said there were plans to kill Martin Luther King. "Excuse me, on what authority do you sit by the way? None. 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). Moreover, Jerry Ray and James Earl Ray are close. I first met Benny Edmondson at the Algoa Reformatory in 1956, where he was teaching typing at the school. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. During this period James Earl Ray was most noticeable as a guy who rented out magazines on the yard. But, having tried to escape from the maximum-security prison, we both had joined a small list of convicts who would be watched at all times by the guards. The 12-person jury verdict unanimous exonerated the "patsy" James Earl Ray for any role in the assassination of MLK. (Benny had taken two years of civil engineering in college.). His body was cremated and his ashes were flown to the land of his forefathers, viz. Ray was never that type. Stoner had trouble getting into the case, however . 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. "Somebody's gotta get him.". Warden Swenson of the Jeff City prison immediately issued an edict that convicts could no longer correspond with editors. The US will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr on Monday, January 18, 2021, remembering all of the tremendous strides the activist-led in promoting civil liberties for all Americans. A staunch segregationist, Earl Ray could not stomach the integration policies of King. [3], After graduating from law school, Brown moved to Memphis, Tennessee to work as an attorney for the Legal Services Corporation. 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. For years after Ray's capture there was a close association between Stoner and Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's brother. He is a male registered to vote in Wayne County, Michigan. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. 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? The New American magazine, published twice a month in print and daily online, is the essential news source for freedom-loving Americans. He escaped from the prison hiding in a truck that was transporting bread from the prison bakery. The New Times article also asserted that Jerry Ray, if he were involved, might have been duped himself-might have thought he was setting up something other than an assassination. McMillans false scenarios portray Ray as a rabid racist in prison. Soon after his release from prison, he was again convicted for mail fraud in Hannibal, Missouri and served three prison sentences at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. 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. The bullet was imprinted with six lands and six grooves and "[11], Responding to a bar discipline complaint filed regarding the contempt incident, Brown declared himself unable to adequately defend himself as a result of health issues including type II diabetes, hypertension, and stress. Ray, was found by bloodhounds about eightmiles away from the prison shortly after the escape attempt. It endangers the premise of the place. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. 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. Most of my friends were people I'd known in reform school, or people I'd met through them. 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. [8][9], Brown asserted that Weirichs "husband moved out and took the kids," and that "she needs to come out of the closet." They laid out the evidence before he entered his plea, and he said, OK. He said his lawyers were incompetent, and that proved false. [4] While on the bench he was known for his sometimes unusual sentences, such as, sentencing a child molester to confess to his church congregation and ordering a drug trafficker to apologize in a newspaper letter.[5]. Benny taught me how to type. Meanwhile, William Bradford Huie, gathering information for his book, They Slew The Dreamer, had taken an interest in George Ben Edmondson. I occasionally rented magazines from Ray, but other inmates usually had a larger selection, and better quality magazines. [13], Brown is twice divorced and has two sons from his first marriage.[14]. Between 1998 and 2000, the Department of Justice investigated Jowers claims and the evidence in the civil trial, and concluded that Jowerss claims werent credible. In the meantime James Earl Ray had also heard about the bread box, probably through Westberg. Judge Horne began increasing the quantity of days Brown could be held in contempt after Brown continued disrupting the court. But almost immediately after her husbands assassination, she suspected that the FBI, which had investigated the murder, was involved in it. Born in a poor family, Ray had a difficult childhood as his father could not support his family. [22] He was released from protective custody at the Shelby County Corrections Facility the morning of September 1, 2015. Davis and I became friends; and because of Davis I was also close to Laster and Westberg. Los Angeles was the site of Ray's first arrest, for burglary, in 1949, and he ended up serving 90 days in jail. 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.'. Ray watched it all on the cell-block TV at Jeff City. Different convicts had different hustles to make money. Read More:How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages. Was James earl ray white? Now confident that he could not be recognized, he again began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. 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. Very few conservatives are aware of the pledge's socialist origins. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. All Rights Reserved. His prints were found all over the hotel room in Memphis where the shots that killed King were thought to have come from, and they covered the murder weapon -a Remington hunting rifle he purchased in Birmingham, AL. There are records of Ray receiving plastic surgery in Los Angeles about a month before Kings murder in Memphis. I've seen it happen again and again. In 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. In the hours and days after the Tucson shootings, the left wing media in America attempted to blame the Tea Party and right wing rhetoric for the deaths of six and the injuries of thirteen. Brown apparently raised his voice and interrupted a magistrate judge while representing a woman seeking child support in Shelby County Juvenile Court. He later joined the American army at the end of the Second World War and served in Germany. Weeks before Kennedy was killed an informant quoted an NSRP member saying it would happen, and providing details that coincide with what did happen in Dallas. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Jerry began to follow my lead, and that became a source of friction among me, Laster and Westberg. Those of us who had been involved in escape attempts did not consider Ray a joke. 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. King was fired. As President Ronal Reagan once wrote to former New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson, who had sent a letter to Reagan urging the president not to sign the bill for a holiday honoring King, On the national holiday you mentioned, I have the reservations you have, but here the perception of too many people is based on an image, not reality. 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. When The John Birch Society first made Kings communist connections known almost 50 years ago, most people were skeptical. As a reporter and columnist for this newspaper, I had the chance to interview the incarcerated Ray numerous times before his death on April 23, 1998. He employed such Communists as Bayard Rustin and Hunter Pitts ODell; and he worked closely with Carl Braden and James Dumbrowski. In any event, the prison officials never placed him in the same category as Davis, Laster and Westberg, who would unhesitatingly use weapons while escaping. PRPhotos. The Q64 bullet was a .30-06 caliber bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture. In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. Westberg, in turn, liked James Earl Ray. No vehicle traffic would have been allowed in or out until he was found. people lost faith in the political system. 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. 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. James Earl Ray was born in a poor family on March 10, 1928 in Alton, Illinois, USA. Brown was sentenced to five days in jail,[7][15] but was later released on his own recognizance. James Earl Ray From the viewpoint of a man who served time with Ray in prison, then went on to become a journalist, . He shot. Ireland. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty pleathus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentenceand was sentenced to . The paper then listed some of the ways Levison had supported and influenced King, as far back as 1956: He actively involved himself in fundraising drives for King. assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.: The assassin: James Earl Ray, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Earl-Ray, James Earl Ray - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The day after the trial ended, Coretta King held a press conference in Atlanta to praise the decision. He began to call him Martin "Lucifer" King and Martin Luther "Coon." Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. That description comes closer to Jerry Ray than to James Earl Ray. It would later be learned that Ray's classification card contained erroneous fingerprints, which were initially distributed nationally. The restaurant owner named Memphis Police . I spent virtually all of 1962 in solitary. He did not want to be buried in the USA because he considered that the American government did not treat him fairly. The explanation is much simpler. Stoner is the following: Over the years, state and federal authorities have come to suspect that Stoner's violent rhetoric cannot be dismissed merely as fascist ravings. Declassified FBI Paper Reveals Communist Associates of Martin Luther King, UN Biodiversity Beijing-Wall Street Convergence. The Q2 rifle-had general class characteristics of six lands and 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. So, even if I conceded the possibility that Ray had sold drugs, it would have been in small quantities, and for a brief period of time. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to killing Dr. King; he challenged the plea and failed. He was immediately extradited to USA. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. Along with the rifle, he also bought a 2X-7X scope to aim the target well. 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. Joseph Blakeney Brown Jr. (born July 5, 1947), known as Judge Joe Brown, is a former American lawyer and television personality. 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. I don't recall that your name's ever been submitted, sir. Manhunt in the mountains: James Earl Ray and the Brushy Mountain Prison breakout of 1977, How The Tennessean covered Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in its pages, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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. pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early Ray fired a single shot by standing in the bathtub of his shared room and balancing the rifle on a window ledge. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his fathers assassin. Search for the Killer (April 4- June 8, 1968), the Young & Morrow rooming house Examine the rooming house where James Earl Ray stayed on the day of the assassination, the bathroom window documented as the site of the fatal shot, evidence recovered at the scene, and evidence leading to the capture and arrest of James Earl Ray. (Several authors have said it was "common knowledge" in Jeff City that you could go to England and acquire an ID the way Ray did. [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. When the day came, Ray walked up to the bread box, got in, and asked a guy named Don to cover him. But among legal and historical scholars, there is a broad consensus that James Earl Ray, though he may not have acted alone, is the gunman who shot Martin Luther King. Lee Harvey Oswald James Earl Ray Sirhan Sirhan . Brown claimed that the sentence was excessive, and that he should have only been fined; Dan Michael, the Shelby County Juvenile Court chief magistrate that found Brown in contempt, responded that "This is not Hollywood. King said he liked the idea. Stoner certainly wasnt the only radical white supremacist running around, however-just the best known. UN Pushing New Age Spirituality on Schoolchildren, Arizona Poised to Make Pledge of Allegiance Mandatory in Schools. After the assassination, King's family did not trust the findings of the FBI, which had harassed the civil rights leader while he was alive. The date was November 9, 1963. . King's convicted killer, James Earl Ray, pled guilty to his murder, received a life sentence, and died in prison of natural causes 29 years later. 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. 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. He was a skinny guy with sandy hair and a cultured, slightly arrogant manner. One week prior to Kings assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. 14. I went to Memphis to deliver a rifle to this man called Raoul, Ray told me. The damage to the clothing was consistent with the caliber Some of the books written about the assassination describe him as a major drug dealer in Jefferson City, which is ludicrous. Its important to note that this verdict was not a criminal conviction, as is sometimes erroneously implied when this case surfaces online. Julia Brown, author of I Testify: My Years as an F.B.I. 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