Description:

King Martin

A set of three documents, circa 1977, relating to Martin Luther King's assassination, and the conviction of James Earl Ray, his attempt at a retrial, his escape from prison, and his fears that the FBI is involved in a conspiracy and trying to kill him!


 

  1. A signed two typed document on tissue stock, 8.5" x 14", written by Ray to the United States Attorney General. Signed in blue pen, by James Earl Ray as "James E. Ray", and dated "June 16, 1977". This letter was cc'd to his attorney Jack Kershaw, the International commission of Free Jurists, the House Select committee on assassinations and the United Press International. Near fine

  2. A photocopy of a mailgram from Jack Kershaw to the Attorney General noting he was recently retained by Ray as counsel, and formal notice of request for a petition for a new trial

  3. A photocopy of a letter from Jack Kershaw to the Attorney General. Dated "June 18, 1977", and providing him a brief of his 8 points of consideration for his granting of a new trial

 

An incredibly revealing set of letters, written just days after the June 13th recapture of James Earl Ray from  his escape from Brushy mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee.  James Earl Ray composes a rather eloquent letter, in fact surprisingly so, which sounds as though he either was a quick legal study while in prison for nine years OR the letter was instead written by an attorney instead of a layman. He addresses the United States Attorney with numerous allegations, outrageous suppositions,  and puts forth negotiation tactics to secure his rights to a new trial for the added benefit of seeking the truth on the murder of Martin Luther King Junior. Such examples from Ray's letter are shown below:


 

"

  1. I am not a federal prisoner … nor do I have a federal detainer against me.
  2. The legal jurisdiction to transfer me, if any, would be to the State of Missouri it where I apparently have a detainer
  3. In December of 1973, the Federal Government … in collusion with several State politicians, attempted an illegal transfer of me to the Federal mental institution … (which) consisted of forcing prisoners to take drugs … and if the prisoner refused to participate … was placed in solitary confinement.
  4. … the federal prison system has an apparent history of permitting certain uncooperative prisoners to be maimed and murdered by the F.B.I. informant types.
  5. The F.B.I apparently has an agent-in-residence stationed in all federal prisons and if in fact the bureau was culpable in the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. then it would be a relatively easy matter for them to have me killed under their jurisdiction with impurity for the murderer …
  6. At the present I have the following legal suits before the courts … consequently a forced removal of me to a federal penitentiary of mental institution would not only be an illegal act but an imposition on the Tennessee Attorney representing me … I would most likely have to forego counsel, particularly if the federal bureau of prisons-justice department followed their sometimes-policy of transferring, for harassment purposes, prisoners to the furthermost point from counsel ..
  7. Further, if I should be foreceable transferred to a federal prison it would effectively terminate a final and speedy resolution to the MLK case …"

 

Here we are now 9 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King and Ray is once again seeking a new trial, a new attorney and permeant deferment from being moved to a federal prison.


 

James Earl Ray's newly appointed attorney, Jack Kershaw, chimes in with legalize to support Rays pleas as shown in part below which once again was written to the Attorney General:


 

"Dear Sir,

It has been reported in the press that you are considering an application … to place James Earl Ray in Federal prison…

Article 4 Paragraph ( e ) of the compact provides that "All inmates --- shall be treated in a "reasonable and humane manner" and confinement " --- shall not deprive any inmate of any legal rights which said inmate would have if confined in an appropriate institution of the sending state".


 

A perfect chess move on the part of James Earl Ray who manages to perfect a stale mate! Hire an attorney just to prevent a prison transfer away from counsel!


 

Kershaw continues on a massive firing line of reasoning to further defend the point:

1.. The validity of his guilty plea … is even now under investigation by the Congress …

  1. Counsel for Mr. Ray is co-operating with the Congressional committee in it search for truth …
  2. To properly perfect a Petition for a New Trial … it will be necessary for Mr. Ray to remain in Tennessee .. It would be an undue burden on counsel to be compelled to make frequent out of state visits to confer with his client …
  3. Brushy Mountain state prison … is one of the safest prisons in America. No one has successfully escaped…
  4.  …"Officials" in your office are quoted as fearing for Mr. Rays safety in a Federal Penitentiary, that he may be killed by other inmates
  5. Sadly, there is sound reasons for suspecting that the F.B.I.  Or other government elements may be involved in the murder of Dr. King, the ready access that F.B.I. agents have to Federal prisons may then be a dangerous situation for this particular inmate, Mr. Ray, since it is thought by serious students of the Ray case that he was used by a conspiracy …
  6. In connection with the above, Mr Ray himself informs me that one of the escapees (Hill) in the recent prison-break at Petros was brutally beaten by F.B.I agents …

 

All-in the combined letters certainly create reasonable doubt, make seemingly sound legal standpoints, and vie to accomplish their main task … to keep Ray out of Federal prison and to keep the channels open to allow for a new Trial.


 

However we ultimately know how this story ends-

Jack Kershaw promoted Ray's claim that he was not responsible for the shooting, which was said to have been the result of a conspiracy of the otherwise unidentified man named "Raul". Kershaw and his client met with representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations and convinced the committee to conduct ballistics tests—which ultimately proved inconclusive—that they felt would show that Ray had not fired the fatal shot. Kershaw further claimed the escape was additional proof that Ray had been involved in a conspiracy that had provided him with the outside assistance he would have needed to break out of jail. Kershaw convinced Ray to take a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy. The magazine said that the test results showed "that Ray did, in fact, kill Martin Luther King Jr. and that he did so alone." (This leaves our head's scratching … why the test, and then why publicize it?) Ray fired Kershaw after discovering the attorney had been paid $11,000 by the magazine in exchange for the interview and hired conspiracy theorist Mark Lane, an American attorney who investigated and championed the CIA and FBI conspiracy theories revolving around the death of JFK, to provide him with legal representation.


 

The odd and perplexing ending to this saga occurred in 1997,  a year before James Earl Ray's death, when King's son Dexter had a meeting with Ray and asked him, "I just want to ask you, for the record, did you kill my father?" Ray replied, "No. No I didn't," and King told Ray that he, along with the King family, believed him; the King family also urged that Ray be granted a new trial.

Dr. William Pepper, a friend of King in the last year of his life, represented Ray in a televised mock trial in an attempt to grant him the trial he never received. In November 1999 Pepper represented the King family in a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers, a restaurant owner in Memphis who was brought to civil court in December 1999 and sued for being part of a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King Jr. He was found legally liable, and the King family accepted $100 in restitution, an amount chosen to show that they were not pursuing the case for financial gain. The jury, concluding on December 8, 1999, found that Loyd Jowers as well as others, including governmental agencies had been part of a conspiracy. The King family has since concluded that Ray did not have anything to do with the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.


 

James Earl Ray died in 1998, along with his secrets.

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