More than 55 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the second-floor balcony of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. According to Time Magazine, the man behind the shooting, James Earl Ray, was a career criminal and had briefly served in the US Army. Ray was reportedly the civil rights leader and was also present at the scene. Later, his fingerprints were found on the murder weapon.
The outlet reported that authorities arrested Ray on June 8, 1968, a few weeks after the shooting, at London’s Heathrow Airport. He returned to the US in July and pleaded guilty to King’s murder the following year in March. The killer received a 99-year prison sentence and eventually died of liver failure in April 1998. He was 70 years old at the time.
Martin Luther King Jr. assassination: Why did James Earl Ray murder him?
Time Magazine stated that theorists and experts continue to speculate on James Earl Ray’s motives to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., who was 39 at that time. Some believe that Ray’s guilty plea stopped the case from seeing a trial. People believed Ray was a racist.
Hampton Sides, an expert on the subject, claimed that “a huge amount of evidence” was never presented on a public forum. He believed “that contributed to the sense of conspiracy, like a ‘What are they hiding?’ kind of thing.”
The outlet further reported that three days after pleading guilty, Ray recanted his story. He then maintained his innocence in the matter for the next 28 years. In fact, at one point, the shooter even claimed that someone named ‘Raoul’ made him kill King.
Then again, in 1997, Ray told King’s son, Dexter, that he did not pull the trigger. The victim’s family even pushed for a new trial after this but were unsuccessful. A year later, the convict, known as ‘The Mole’ because of his several prison breaks, died.
Moreover, NPR reported that former Shelby County, Tennessee, assistant district attorney John Campbell believes there’s more to the story. Campbell said, “These people who are larger than life, can be killed by some nobody with a gun. You know, there has to be more involved. Well, sometimes there’s not more involved.”
Several theories surrounding King’s death continue to circulate even today as scholars and other people remain unconvinced about the government’s conclusion.
