I dont know what happened, but the truth of what happened to Dr. King should be made available for historys sake.. 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. He was constantly in and out of prison so he never voted. He was a segregationist but neither a Republican or a Democrat. Until 1993, Jowers maintained in several public statements that he was merely serving customers in his tavern when Dr. King was shot. Lincoln was assassinated by a Democrat, John Wilkes Booth in 1865. Hoover had ordered surveillance, wiretaps and listening devices placed in Kings rooms starting in 1963, apparently infuriated by Kings criticism of the FBI for not having black agents or investigating civil rights cases. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. John Campbell, who investigated the case for years in the Shelby County, Tenn., district attorneys office, said that Rays version of events kept changing. His office issued a report in 1998 saying Ray was responsible. The one thing the conspiracy rumor correctly states is a 1999 civil trial reached a verdict that cited the existence of a conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. What it neglects to mention is the relative worth of such a judgment: The verdict in question was civil rather than criminal, the sole named defendant was someone who stood to gain both publicity and money from repeating his claims, and the King family's motivation in bringing the suit was to validate their long-held suspicions a larger conspiracy was at play in the death of the civil rights leader. There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. According to Pew, the percentage of Americans who said they could trust the federal government to do the right thing nearly always or most of the time went from an all-time high of 77% in 1964 to 36% by the end of the 1970s. Jowers, however, has never made his conspiracy claims under oath. Since his television appearance, Jowers and his attorney have given additional statements about the assassination to the media, the King family, Ray's defenders, law enforcement personnel, relatives, friends, and courts. Even a 1978 special congressional committee said there was the "likelihood" that Ray did not act alone. In 1949 he left for Los Angeles, where in October of that year police arrested him for robbing a cafe. Biden befriended Byrd and shared the same policies that shackled Black America. Cities were burning. I say that in the hope of creating an awareness of how this happened, and that the involvement of government in these events may cease with respect to other leaders who will emerge.. [21], After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. [22], According to the FBI, on 4th April, 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. Joe Biden recently stated to Black America if you arent voting for me, you aint black. This arrogant comment is a reflection of how Biden and the Democrat Party feel about Black America. Three decades of legal machinations never succeeded in reopening the case, but they revealed new details and led to new theories of how King might have been killed. [42], In 1998, and continuing into 1999, Pepper represented the King family in a wrongful death civil suit against Memphis restaurant owner Loyd Jowers, whose restaurant was near the Lorraine Motel. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Dexter King called his family together, his brother Martin said in an interview, and urged them to file a civil suit against Jowers as a means of seeking the truth. Jones responded, Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation., According to Biden and those Democrats who cannot enslave Black Americans anymore, You aint black., Frank Aquila is president of the San Joaquin Stanislaus Conservative Patriots and author of the book, Sarah Palin Out of Nowhere. Instead, our sole concern has been that the full truth of the assassination has been revealed and adjudicated in a court of law. [13], He considered emigrating to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where a predominantly white minority regime had unilaterally assumed independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. I dont know, but Im not assuming anything, and Im not going to make up a conspiracy, which seems to be a popular thing these days. John Karl Kershaw (October 12, 1913 September 7, 2010) was an American attorney best known for challenging the official account of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, claiming that his client James Earl Ray was an unwitting participant in a ploy devised by a mystery man named Raul to kill the civil rights leader. Fifty years later, some questions linger about why exactly the civil rights leader was targeted and whether the shooter acted alone. Frustrated with his results and jilted by the prostitute with whom he had formed a relationship, Ray left Mexico on or around November 16, 1967, [11] arriving in Los Angeles three days later. It is a great victory for truth itself. Jowers stashed the rifle behind the bar and said it was later picked up by Raul and tossed in the Mississippi River. He escaped from the prison in April 1967, and some believe he had help from prison authorities, as part of the opening stanza of the conspiracy. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. 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. Ray replied, "No. But Rays sudden guilty plea stopped all official investigations. In 1952, he served two years for the armed robbery of a taxi driver in Illinois. We were living in the period of assassinations,Young said. Twenty years later, I remain absolutely convinced this well-supported finding is correct., The King family disagrees, with Martin King III adopting Peppers theory of Hoover directing the assassination. Do you also find that others, including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant? As noted in the New York Times' report of the verdict, the one-sided presentation of the case allowed for no other result: John Campbell, an assistant district attorney in Memphis, who was not part of the civil proceedings but was part of the criminal case against Mr. Ray, said, "I'm not surprised by the verdict. On October 10, 1959, Ray and James Owens, an ex-convict, held up a Kroger store in St. Louis. James Earl Ray was a racist and quickly drawn to Wallaces segregationist platform. 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 confinement. Please try again later. When considered in light of all other available relevant facts, the trial's evidence fails to establish the existence of any conspiracy to kill Dr. King. So, despite 50 years of evidence fingering James Earl Ray and a consensus about his role among most scholars who study King, some people remain unconvinced. Pepper said Dexter King asked Ray, Did you kill my father? and that Ray answered, No, I didnt. He said Dexter King told Ray, We will do everything in our power to see that justice prevails.. He paid $8.50 for a weeks stay. A courtroom artist, Sandhu drew Ray during his trial for a prison escape attempt. I dont believe James Earl Ray killed my father. Recordings and photos of King having sex with women other than his wife were offered to reporters and government officials, often by Hoover himself, and sent to King associates. On July 19, he returned to U.S. and the following March he pleaded guilty to murdering King. Rather, it appears that Jowers contrived and promoted a sensational story of a plot to kill Dr. King. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. WebJames 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. He left Toronto in late May on a flight to England. The New York Times. [38] The tests ultimately proved inconclusive. In court, Ray answered the standard series of questions about whether he was knowingly and voluntarily admitting he committed murder. In the mid-1990s, Ray's defenders changed the spelling to "R-A-U-L" when they believed that a man living in New York state, whose first name is Raul, was the Raoul described by Ray. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Further, he has also renounced his confessions in certain private conversations without his attorney. For the King family and others in the civil rights movement, the FBIs obsession with King in the years leading up to his slaying in Memphis on April 4, 1968 pervasive surveillance, a malicious disinformation campaign and open denunciations by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover laid the groundwork for their belief that he was the target of a plot. After shooting King, Ray immediately fled, setting off a manhunt that would last more than two months and cover five countries. The Rays struggled to make ends meet, and as a consequence, the family moved several times during the early part of Ray's childhood. 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. Wednesday marks 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on the second-floor balcony near his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he had been supporting black sanitation workers on strike for better pay and working conditions. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? The rear of the boardinghouse faced the Lorraine Motel across Mulberry Street. The one time Jowers did testify under oath about his allegations in an earlier civil suit, Ray v. Jowers, he repudiated them. Given the minor sum of money awarded, a jury would have little incentive to not find in favor of an account supported by both sides of a flawed case. The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. Consequently, Jowers has only confessed in circumstances where candor has not been required by law or where he has not been required to reconcile his prior inconsistencies. After getting laid off in 1945, Ray enlisted in the Army, eventually getting stationed in West Germany. [32][33], Airport officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. In 1977, James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in the town of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee. The paper reported King's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee, which was scheduled for 1st April, 1968. All of this is therefore a very slender thread on which to hang the claim that the "U.S. government was proved responsible for King's assassination." Ray died while that campaign was ongoing, but though the King family did win $100 in a 1999 wrongful death suit after the man charged as being part of a conspiracy didnt show up to the trial an official inquiry reiterated that the evidence against Ray was overwhelming and that there was no credibility to various theories that anyone else had been involved. "Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing" 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 You can unsubscribe at any time. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. Loyd Jowers was a Memphis restaurant owner who inserted himself into the narrative about King's death in the course of a 1993 television interview during which he claimed to have been party to a larger conspiracy to assassinate King. In a statement about the 1999 civil suit, Coretta Scott King cited several unrelated and unspecified agents in her description of the parties she believed were responsible for her husband's murder: There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the civil court's unanimous verdict has validated our belief. The family accepted $100 in restitution to demonstrate they were not pursuing the case for financial gain, and they publicly stated that Ray, in their opinion, had nothing to do with the assassination. Campbell said Jowers had been recorded saying that he would tailor his story for financial gain. In March 1960 Ray started a 20-year sentence for the crimes. The Democrat Party and Biden are no longer slave owners to Black America as they have a right to make an independent and educated decision. [16] On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia. However, any claim made by Ray about his guilt or innocence should be weighed against his strong incentive to be freed from prison (where he died in 1998). James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Many leaders like Candace Owens in the black community have begun to spread the message of #Blexit, a movement that encourages Black America to leave the Democrat Party. By signing up you are agreeing to our, What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Campaigns, The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. [7], Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. In the U.S. Senate, Democrat Majority Leader, Robert KKK Byrd, was a former Grand Kleagle, a I want to make it clear that my family has no interest in retribution. Questions and speculation may always surround the assassination of Dr. King and other national tragedies. Pepper first visited Ray in prison in 1978 along with Ralph Abernathy, one of Kings closest associates. The original mug shot of James Earl Ray included with the memo from the FBI to the Belleville News-Democrat. A part of his life was shaped by tragedy. The full transcript of the trial remains posted on the King Centers website. In summary, we have determined that Jowers' claims about an alleged conspiracy are materially contradictory and unsubstantiated. 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. Moreover, Jowers' repudiations, even under oath, his failure to testify during King v. Jowers, his refusal to cooperate with our investigation, his reported motive to make money from his claims, and his efforts along with his friends to promote his story all suggest a lack of credibility. [17], Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house. Pepper said the CIA could have fabricated the records. Our investigation of these most recent allegations, as well as several exhaustive previous official investigations, found no reliable evidence that Dr. King was killed by conspirators who framed James Earl Ray. For example, in an impromptu, recorded conversation with a state investigator, Jowers characterized a central feature of his story that someone besides Ray shot Dr. King with a rifle other than the one recovered at the crime scene as "bullshit." The U.S. Justice Department concluded in June 2000 the "allegations originating with Loyd Jowers are not credible": After reviewing all available materials from prior official investigations and other sources, including the evidence from King v. Jowers, and after conducting a year and a half of original investigation, we have concluded that the allegations originating with Loyd Jowers and Donald Wilson are not credible. [50], Ray died on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70, at the Columbia Memorial Hospital from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.[51] His brother, Jerry, told CNN that his brother did not want to be buried or have his final resting place in the United States because of the way the government had framed him for living. Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 | Time On the map, the locations of the church and residence of Martin Luther King Jr. were circled. As Sides points out, it isnt surprising that members of Kings family and his fellow civil-rights leaders would have suspected that some larger government conspiracy to kill the minister must been at play. Your answer to that one is also yes. The man denied any involvement and cooperated with Justice Department investigators in 1999, who found work records showing he could not have traveled widely to meet Ray in 1967 and 68. James Earl Ray, a career criminal who had briefly served in the U.S. Army, shot the advocate of non-violent resistance. He defended Ray in a mock trial on HBO in 1993 (Ray was found not guilty), and filed and tried the Memphis civil suit that found the government liable for Kings death. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. And the total amount of damages you find for the plaintiffs entitled to is one hundred dollars. [38], In 1997, King's son, Dexter, met with Ray at the prison and asked him, "I just want to ask you, for the record, did you kill my father?" Most black families lacked fathers with policies encouraging the breakdown of the family through welfare programs. For example, he not only identified two different people as the assassin, but also most recently claimed that he saw the assassin and did not recognize him. Pastor Darrell Scott has endorsed Trump as the most pro-black president hes seen in his lifetime with prison reform, historically low black unemployment, and encouraging school choice. Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998. Astrological Sign: Pisces, Death Year: 1998, Death date: April 23, 1998, Death State: Tennessee, Death City: Nashville, Death Country: United States, Article Title: James Earl Ray Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/crime/james-earl-ray, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 3, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. Unfortunately, the jury who heard the case of King vs. Jowers (in which the King family was represented by James Earl Ray's former lawyer, William Pepper) returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, holding that Loyd Jowers had participated in a conspiracy to kill King, and that "governmental agencies" were party to the conspiracy: THE COURT: In answer to the question did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King, your answer is yes. James Earl Ray is infamous for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. [10], While in Mexico, Ray, using the alias Eric Starvo Galt, attempted to establish himself as a pornographic film director. By 1924, the KKK was part of the Democrats party platform as they marched in unison in New York City to the Democrat National Convention. Historical figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. tend to be the subject of complicated conspiracy theories, particularly when they are vectors for widespread societal change. Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. All Rights Reserved. I would not accept the fact that James Earl Ray pulled the trigger, and thats all that matters, said Young, who noted that Kings death came after the killings of John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X and just months before the slaying of Robert F. Kennedy. Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher." James Earl Ray was a career criminal, starting as far back as a 1949 conviction for armed robbery. As such, he would not have been able to vote reg [52], Ten years later, Ray's other brother, John Larry Ray, co-authored a book with Lyndon Barsten titled Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[39]. [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. He was trying to depart the United Kingdom for Angola, Rhodesia, or apartheid South Africa[30] using the falsified Canadian passport. That doesnt mean there are no questions left. I Am a Man: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers strike that led to MLKs assassination, The King family has lauded Pepper repeatedly, and he was honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for his unceasing commitment in the pursuit of justice., I think the people of this country are entitled to know the truth, Pepper said. His family believes James Earl Ray was framed. The Democrats were furious at Lincoln and resisted Black America gaining political power. "[45][46][47][48], Prompted by the King family's acceptance of some of the claims of conspiracy, United States Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a new investigation on August 26, 1998. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. He was believed to have been en route to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was at the time a haven for white supremacists. Later, in the early 1990s, he suggested a conspiracy involving the government had been behind the assassination. Ray had been treated for liver disease over the years and according to the Tennessee Department of Correction, he died from that and kidney failure. WebJames Earl Ray deceased in prison; was a U.S. prisoner, and a British prisoner, apprehended June 8, White was arrested after a citizen recognized him from an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper. He continued to visit Ray until his death and presided over his funeral. U.S. public has turned against Ukraine war intervention, Ceres needs safer bike lanes, more animal control, Angel Richardson's Christmas Parade | Studio209, CIF D-4AA State Championship: Escalon vs Northwood | The Blitz Season 10, CIF D5-AA Regional Championship: Hughson vs Ripon Christian | The Blitz Season 10. Republicans introduced the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to end slavery, give citizenship, and give Black America the right to vote. Then figure out what the total cost of the trip would be.? 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. With Biden, Democrats had a friend whose policies oppressed Black America. Born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, was the eldest of George and Lucille Ray's nine children. He then grabbed some belongings in a blanket, stashed the rifle in it, left the building and dropped the bundle in the doorway of a nearby building. By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism. Ballistics tests could not prove that the rifle dropped outside the boardinghouse, a Remington .30-06 Gamemaster, either did or didnt fire the fatal shot, because the gun did not create distinctive grooves on the bullet, as most guns do. He has claimed that while in Montreal he met a man named Raul, of varying physical descriptions over the years, who enlisted him in several small gunrunning schemes, and instructed him to buy a rifle in Birmingham, Ala. On the afternoon of April 4, Ray checked into a boardinghouse in Memphis, with a bar called Jims Grill on the first floor. More Memphis witnesses came forward, including a former girlfriend of Jowers, who said she saw him with the rifle shortly after the gunshot rang out, and saw him break it down and place it in the bar. Rays lawyer J.B. Stoner was a known white supremacist, and Ray who also made clear his admiration for Hitler had done volunteer work for the 1968 presidential campaign of Alabamas former segregationist Governor George Wallace, who had gone head-to-head with King in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), African American founding fathers of the United States, Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. (Pueblo, Colorado), Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. Who killed Bobby Kennedy? He shot and killed King in Memphis on April 4, 1968, confessing to the crime the following March. What Biden and the Democrats have done through the years is offer appetizers to Black America without ever delivering the full course meal. His family believes James Earl Ray was f Arnold Hirsch, influential historian of urban segregation, dies at 69. In the U.S. Senate, Democrat Majority Leader, Robert KKK Byrd, was a former Grand Kleagle, a recruiter, for the KKK and opposed every policy benefiting Black America. 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. [36] However, Ray spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a jury trial. King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine outside room 306 when a single rifle bullet was fired into his lower jaw at 6:01 p.m. An FBI Assassination Conspiracy Trial", "The Execution of Martin Luther King William Pepper (ONE of TWO)", "The Execution of Martin Luther King, William Pepper (TWO of TWO)", "Justice Dept. The verdict came as the Justice Department was reinvestigating the case because of Jowerss claims and those of a former FBI agent who said he had found evidence in Rays car in 1968 linking him to Raul but had withheld it until 1997. He got a 99-year prison sentence, which he served until he died of liver failure due to hepatitis C on Apr. They started the Ku Klux Klan as their league of fear to keep Black America in their place through terror, murdering black Republicans and implementing segregation, Jim Crow Laws, and Black Codes. Democrats fought a bloody civil war against Lincoln and the Republicans plan to free Black America. If the King family wanted a rubber stamp of their own view of the facts, they got it.". finds no conspiracy in King assassination", "Third Inquiry Affirms Others: Ray Alone Was King's Killer", "Autopsy confirms Ray died of liver failure". As well, the gravity of the trial's supposed conclusion, when contrasted with the relatively little public discussion of that addendum to King's life, has lent credence to the belief the trial in question and its outcome were deliberately omitted from the news. "I believe you," Dexter responded and shook his hand. The Rhodesian government expressed its disapproval. [1], In February 1935, Ray's father, known by the nickname Speedy, passed a bad check in Alton, Illinois, and then moved to Ewing, Missouri, where the family changed their name to Raynes to avoid law enforcement. In recent years,Pepper has tracked down witnesses in Memphis who support his theory of the case: that J. Edgar Hoover used his longtime assistant, Clyde Tolson, to deliver cash to members of the Memphis underworld, that those shadowy figures then hired a sharpshooting Memphis police officer, and that officer not Ray fired the fatal shot. Ray told this version of the assassination and his flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie. And their view of the case is shared by other respected black leaders. He spent much of his time in Los Angeles volunteering at the Wallace campaign headquarters in North Hollywood. Name: James Earl Birth Year: 1928 Birth date: March 10, 1928 Birth State: Illinois Birth City: Alton Birth Country: United States Gender: Male Best Known For: James Ray's life outside the Army proved even less stable. The Democrats opposed all Amendments. An avid newspaper reader, Ray passed his time reading The Atlanta Constitution. For this, he was imprisoned for four years in the federal United States Penitentiary Leavenworth. 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Historys sake an earlier civil suit, Ray enlisted in the period of,! Years is offer appetizers to Black America james Owens, an ex-convict, held up a store! Sentence, which was scheduled for 1st April, 1968, Ray v. Jowers, he repudiated them occurred your... I dont know what happened to Dr. King was shot in certain private conversations his. Answered, No, i didnt a cafe prior to james earl ray democrat murder 24,,... Police arrested him for robbing a cafe attempting to withdraw his guilty plea stopped all official.! Article title life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a jury trial adjudicated a! But the truth of the assassination has been that the full course meal a... Court, Ray spent the remainder of his time in Los Angeles volunteering at the State Penitentiary in,. Variety of crimes prior to the crime the following two months to journalist William Bradford.... Black leaders policies that shackled Black America death and presided over his.... The U.S. Army, eventually getting stationed in West Germany investigated this story and discovered Ray. Stashed the rifle behind the assassination of Dr. King and other national tragedies sentence the... The language links are at the State Penitentiary about why exactly the civil rights leader Martin Luther Jr.. A report in 1998 saying Ray was a segregationist but neither a Republican or a Democrat, John Wilkes in! Appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in Alton Illinois! He said Dexter King told Ray, we will james earl ray democrat everything in our power to see justice... Paper reported King 's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee Hirsch, influential historian urban! Site, you aint Black encouraging the breakdown of the case is shared other! Uk quickly extradited Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role the! Dexter King asked Ray, a career criminal, starting as far back as a 1949 conviction for robbery. He continued to visit Ray until his death and presided over his funeral escaped. ] on March 18, 1968 St. Louis 20-year sentence for the armed robbery Los and!
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