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Evidence in King killing points to Ray
April 23, 1998
Ray
Web posted at: 7:59 p.m. EDT (2359 GMT)From National Correspondent John Holliman
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (CNN) -- The case against James Earl Ray as the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., was never judged by a jury once Ray pleaded guilty to the crime.
But analysts who have studied the case in depth say that despite Ray's later protestations of innocence, there is a significant amount of evidence pointing to his involvement in King's murder.
For starters, Ray came to Memphis the day before the killing. He rented a hotel room and a room at a flophouse near the Lorraine Motel, where King was staying -- and where the civil rights leader would be shot down on a balcony on April 4, 1968.
Ray had come to Memphis with a hunting rifle that he had purchased in Alabama. That rifle was found a few feet from the murder scene, with Ray's fingerprints on it.
"There's no question at all. The overwhelming evidence is that Ray is the trigger man who killed King 30 years ago in Memphis," said Gerald Posner, a historian whose investigation of the case was the basis for the book, "Killing the Dream."
But two days after he pleaded guilty to King's murder, Ray tried to retract his plea. He said he was coerced into admitting guilt to avoid a death sentence. He claimed he had been in Memphis not to kill King but to meet a mysterious gunrunner named Raoul, who directed him to rent the various rooms.
Ray meets Dexter King in March 1997 As for the hunting rifle, Ray claimed he bought the gun as part of his role in Raoul's gunrunning operation. He said he gave the gun to Raoul before the shooting and that the rifle and other personal belongings were left outside the murder scene to frame him.
But Posner tracked down the elusive Raoul -- and says he was not involved in King's murder.
"I've been through his work records, his pension records. I've interviewed him, investigated him every way to Sunday. He's an absolutely innocent man who has no connection to the case. But Ray could care less. He was doing anything he could to get out of jail in his last days," Posner said.
Members of King's family insist that conducting a trial of Ray would have brought more evidence out into the open. Now that Ray is dead, that trial will never happen, and that evidence -- if it even exists -- could be buried with him.
Special section:
Related stories:
- James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies - April 23, 1998
- Brother says James Earl Ray near death - April 22, 1998
- James Earl Ray hospitalized again - April 21, 1998
- James Earl Ray in coma - March 13, 1998
- James Earl Ray off critical list - February 21, 1998
- James Earl Ray hospitalized again - October 30, 1997
- James Earl Ray loses bid for hearing - September 18, 1997
- King assassin near death in hospital - December 25, 1996
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