The Case Against James Earl Ray

The murder of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King continues to be an open wound as the fight for civil rights and equality continues. The trial following his murder, by a white man by the name of James Earl Ray, and the history of the murderer, only further enraged those already mourning Dr. King's loss. Ray, a previously convicted criminal of multiple counts of robbery and armed battery escaped from prison twice. In his first escape, he made his way to Canada, where he claims to have met the shady man who instructed him how to kill Dr. King. To the day he died, he claimed that this shadowy man told him where to buy the rifle and exactly how to kill him, however, although he admitted to doing everything but shooting the rifle, he claims the rest was conducted by the Canadian. His trial continued to be a large controversy, especially after Dr. King's son visited Ray in jail and believed in his innocence. He then held a mock trial in which Ray was acquitted of murder, further confusing the situation. At the end of his life in 1998, Ray was living in a maximum security prison in the psychiatric ward, having been constantly repeating that he had not worked alone and that he was innocent in the physical murder of Dr. King.