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James Earl Ray | |
|---|---|
 Ray testifying before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979 | |
| Born | March 10, 1928 Alton, Illinois, United States |
| Died | April 23, 1998 Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Nationality | Statesian |
James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was a Statesian criminal who was accused of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. The House Select Committee on Assassinations claimed that he shot King in order to get a bounty from two St. Louis racists even though they were both dead.[1]
Military and intelligence career
Ray enlisted in the Army in 1946 and served in the 7892nd Infantry Regiment and the 382nd Military Police Battalion in Germany. He then joined the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. Army doctors gave him two spinal taps, likely used to inject him with drugs as part of MKUltra. As a military police officer, he shot a Black soldier named Washington who was falsely accused of raping an officer's family member. He later regretted the shooting and said that the government was "messing with his mind."[1]
After his military service, Ray saw two hypnotists in Los Angeles, including Xavier von Koss, a Nazi scientist recruited during Operation Paperclip. From 1949 to 1952, Ray infiltrated communist organizations in Chicago for the FBI.[1]
First imprisonment
Ray was arrested for robbery and sentenced to 20 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. The director of the prison was Fred T. Wilkinson, a U.S. intelligence operative. After a failed escape attempt, Donald Peterson, head of psychiatry for the Far East Command during the Korean War, prescribed him with the hypnosis drug Librium. He escaped from prison in April 1967, by hiding in the back of a bakery truck. Donald Wyrick, a former intelligence officer and the prison ward, said that he let Ray escape so he could be framed for King's assassination.[1]
Post-escape
While on the run, CIA and KKK associate Jules Ricco Kimble flew Ray to Montreal, Canada, where Ray met a man named Raoul (possibly the CIA identities specialist Raoul Miora). Kimble and Ray were hypnotized at the Memorial Institute at McGill University, the headquarters of project 68 of MKUltra. Raoul gave Ray the fake identity of Eric S. Galt, a Canadian operative of U.S. Army intelligence. Raoul made Ray export contraband across the border before sending him to Alabama, where he bought his white Mustang and rifle.[1]
MLK assassination
Background
On April 3, 1968, Ray booked into a rooming house owned by Bessie Brewer in Memphis, Tennessee, across from the Lorraine Motel. However, his fingerprints were never found in the room. At 3 p.m. on April 4, Raoul met with Ray at Jim's Grill and told him to go to the rooming house.[1]
Shooting
Map of the shooting area. Mainstream media claims that the shot came from the rooming house while many witnesses believe it was from the bushes next to the fire station.
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in the face on April 4 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Mainstream media claims that Ray shot King from the bathroom of the rooming house, which would have required him to be hanging out of the window while shooting.[1]
Aftermath
Ray was waiting in his car for Raoul at the time of the shooting. Shortly after hearing the shot, his handler jumped into the backseat before jumping out a few blocks later. Ray then drove to Atlanta, Georgia, where he abandoned his car.[1]
Police found a rifle wrapped in a bedspread in the doorway of the Canipe Amusement Company. The rifle had Ray's fingerprints, but its could not be matched to the bullet that killed King. Guy Canipe said that a person who did not match Ray's appearance dropped the rifle there two to five minutes before the shooting.[1]
Charles Quitman Stephens, another tenant in the rooming house, said he saw a man running out after the assassination, but said that his appearance did not match Ray's. Stephens's cab driver, James McCraw, said that the bathroom was empty at the time of the shooting. He also saw two white Mustangs, one with an Alabama plate and another with an Arkansas plate. Grace Walden, who was in the rooming house at the time, said the gunshot noise came from the bushy area between the motel and rooming house.[1]
After arriving in Toronto, Canada, a mysterious "fat man" gave Ray money. A month later, he flew to Portugal and then England.[1]
Later imprisonment
Ray was captured in June 1968 while trying to board a flight in Brussels, Belgium. At his trial, he pled guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Three days later, he fired his lawyer, Percy Foreman, saying that he pressured him into pleading guilty.[1]