James Earl Ray in coma
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Ray
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March 13, 1998
Web posted at: 10:19 a.m. EST (1519 GMT)
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- James Earl Ray, the convicted
assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., remained in critical
condition in a coma Friday.
Jerry Ray first told WTVF-TV that his brother fell into a
coma Wednesday at Nashville Memorial Hospital, where he was
admitted Sunday with complications from liver disease.
Hospital spokeswoman Freda Herndon confirmed Friday that Ray,
70, is comatose and in critical condition.
Ray suffers from cirrhosis of the liver and has been in and
out of the hospital nearly a dozen times since December 1996.
He underwent hernia surgery last month and was returned to
prison 12 days later.
He is serving a 99-year prison sentence for King's 1968
murder in Memphis. Ray confessed to the killing but recanted
three days later and has been fighting since then to get a
trial.