After he was recaptured, Ray hired attorney Jack Kershaw to promote his claim that he was not the person who actually shot King. He was named after the church where his father held his first pastorate. On the first one he'd fallen and stunned himself; on the second he'd hidden in a ceiling. During this period James Earl Ray was most noticeable as a guy who rented out magazines on the yard. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman - in a civil trial. 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. 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. Whether anybody helped him indirectly has yet to be determined. Don told me later he was stunned; but he knew if he hesitated too long, a guard would catch Ray. Christopher S. Bond (now U.S. [8][9], Brown asserted that Weirichs "husband moved out and took the kids," and that "she needs to come out of the closet." 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. An hour later, he was declared dead. Yes, the President is part of the political party. Page 388 also a racist, was allegedly connected with the late Leander Perez, Louisiana political boss and virulent segregationist. In the year 1959, he was caught stealing $120 from a Kroger Store in St. Louis. As with most cases, the answer is yes. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! James Earl Ray was white. 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. [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. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. There were half a dozen guys who rented magazines, and they hawked their wares by the yard shack (a small rock building where the guards stayed). Among the first to rear his head in Ray's defense was J.B. Stoner, 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). So Westberg, who was assigned to work in the kitchen at that time, figured a man could get in the bread box, have a tray of bread placed on top of him, and pass right out of the prison (the box also had a lid over the top tray of bread). 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. For some 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated King that day. Drupal theme by ThemeSnap.com, That is why he could never have been a major drug dealer. 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? Brown then said, "OK, OK, I'll tell you what. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. He was first convicted for a burglary in California in the year 1949. The George Wallace Democrat of the 1960's aligns with the and is the Republican Party we know today. He was deemed not fit for military service due to the lack of discipline. There were those who joked about Ray, because of the nature of his attempted escapes. He edited most of the chapters of Kings book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? it near 424 South Main Street, It is highly probable that James Earl Ray stalked Dr. King for a In fact, King's family was as convinced of Ray's innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpson's guilt. If you saw the movie Boyz n the Hood, that was the way I grew up. 2023 www.tennessean.com. The prosecutors have enough efficient evidence in establishing guilt against James Earl Ray concerning the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. First, James Earl Ray was in close enough vicinity of the Lorraine Hotel to successfully fire a clear shot to kill Dr. King from only a block away. It contained a pair of binoculars, a newspaper with a story about King staying at the Lorraine Motel, and a .30-06 Remington Gamemaster that had fired one shot. He is the one who sits in leadership and is the most powerful person of a country. In my many discussions with people such as Laster, Westberg and Davis on the subject of escape--and how to avoid capture afterward--no one mentioned that method.). Jerry was returned to solitary in 1963 for making zip-guns, and a few days later I was put in B-Basement on suspicion of stabbing an inmate who'd volunteered to help the guards search the Tag Plant for the rest of the zip-guns, which were never found. In fact, Kings family was as convinced of Rays innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpsons guilt. Some of the books written about the assassination describe him as a major drug dealer in Jefferson City, which is ludicrous. The same NSRP member said there were plans to kill Martin Luther King. So, are there are still remaining questions about how everything happened the day of Kings assassination? PRPhotos. 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. The day after a stabbing, for example, virtually everyone in the prison who is considered "solid" would know who had done the stabbing. [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. King was visiting Memphis to settle a strike by garbage workers. James Earl Ray. 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. In King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown, there were 70 witnesses called; twelve jurors found in favor of the King family, which held a press conference after the verdict. His first prison break happened in 1967, when he escaped the Missouri State Penitentiary on a bread truck before fleeing to Canada. But even if Ray had help, the evidence strongly pointed to him pulling the trigger. 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. In the year 1968, Earl Ray brought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box with 20 cartridges. One of Kings principal advisors is Stanley David Levison. 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 . After several days, the prison officials concluded that Ray had actually escaped, and they put out an alarm. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The Q64 bullet was a .30-06 caliber bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture. Jerry Ray told me in the 1970s he had taken pictures of the countryside around the prison and had sent them into James Earl Ray. When I got out the third time, I worked in the Tag Plant. He was a founder and the long-time chairman of the National States' Rights Party as well as the publisher of its newsletter, The Thunderbolt. His law license was entered on the disability inactive list (suspending his ability to practice law in Tennessee), and the discipline case was placed on indefinite hold until such a time as Brown is healthy enough to face the complaint. Over the years, as book after book has been published on the King case, numerous conspiracy theories have been advanced: that the FBI was involved; that the CIA feared King would come out in opposition to the Vietnam War; that rival black leaders felt King's non-violent approach was a hindrance to black progress; that white supremacists wanted him out of the way for obvious reasons. Ray fled from the scene immediately and could not be located immediately by the police. the Democratic Party won the presidency. He was unable to give me any specifics but just responded that "it was common knowledge.". The crisis at the Democratic National Convention marked a . (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 result of a conspiracy that involved Jowers, not Ray, as well as ''others, including governmental agencies. [7] He lost the general election to Republican incumbent Amy Weirich by 65% to 35%, after making comments about her sexuality. It is known that, after escaping from Jeff City, James Earl Ray went to Chicago, where Jerry Ray was living. 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. Milteer, a Stoner associate, as he discussed NSRP plans with a Miami police informer. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. You would also know who had just gotten a shipment of dope. The 20-page paper, which was classified as. The facts are these. Ray believed in white supremacy and had strong prejudice against the black people. 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). Of the 2,500 men in the prison, fewer than 20 had ever tried to escape from inside the walls. No one else I knew did either. 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). 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