196 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
196 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 10 Num. 19
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=======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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DYING JAMES EARL RAY SEEKS RE-TRIAL
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===================================
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Ray *NOT* Trigger-man In Martin Luther King Assassination?
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What Role Did the FBI Play In Dr. King's Death?
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On Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997, National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast
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news that James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of the Reverend Dr.
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Martin Luther King, Jr., is suffering from liver disease and
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probably has just months to live. Ray, who for more than 25
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years has insisted he did *not* murder Dr. King, has been
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fighting over the years for a re-trial of his case. Here are
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excerpts from the NPR broadcast (transcription by Conspiracy
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Nation):
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NPR: James Earl Ray has chronic liver disease, and doctors
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give him only months to live. Ray has long maintained that
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he is innocent. He says his lawyers coerced him into
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pleading guilty to the 1968 King assassination. Now, many
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civil rights leaders and members of King's family say James
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Earl Ray *should* go on trial before he dies so people can
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learn more about what happened 29 years ago. A hearing in
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February may be Ray's last chance of getting a trial.
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Joshua Lanz(?) of member station WABE(?) reports:
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JOSHUA LANZ: The single bullet that killed Martin Luther
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King, Jr., on April 4th, 1968, left a void in the civil
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rights movement that has never been filled. The fact that
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someone was convicted of the crime helped assuage some of
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the pain felt in the years after King's death. But in the
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nearly 3 decades since King was killed, civil rights
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leaders' doubts have grown over whether the assassination
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was actually solved.
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King was shot while standing outside his room on the
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second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
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Tennessee. Official reports said the shot came from a
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rooming house across the street. The evidence solidly
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implicated a petty thief and escaped convict named James
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Earl Ray: He had rented a room in the rooming house; his
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gun was found wrapped in a cloth on the sidewalk; and a
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witness named Charles Stephens said he saw Ray drive away
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in a white [Ford] mustang [automobile]. Later, authorities
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captured Ray in Europe, where he had fled, using a fake
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passport. They brought him back to Tennessee where, after
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9 months in jail, he pleaded guilty.
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John Pierotti is a former Memphis District Attorney who
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was in charge of Ray's case.
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JOHN PIEROTTI: I think the evidence is absolutely
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overwhelming, and I think that's why James Earl Ray pleaded
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guilty. I think James Earl Ray pleaded guilty, fearing if
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he did not he might receive the death penalty.
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JOSHUA LANZ: The day after his plea, Ray wrote a letter to
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the judge saying that he was innocent, he had been coerced
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as he walked into trial. The judge died before ruling on
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the request. Since then, Ray has gone into court 7 times
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requesting a trial. Each time he was denied.
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Two years ago, Ray asked to have his own experts test
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the murder weapon, claiming the latest technology could
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prove that his gun did not shoot the bullet. A judge
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granted permission, but the ruling was overturned on
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appeal. Ray's attorney, William Pepper, re-submitted the
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request and will be heard on February 20th. He says that
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could be Ray's last shot at a trial.
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WILLIAM PEPPER: He [Ray] was convinced to give a guilty
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plea because lawyers negotiated a plea bargain behind his
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back for two months, and then hit him with it under *every*
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conceivable means of pressure.
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JOSHUA LANZ: Ray claims he was framed by a man named
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Raoul. Raoul had paid him to deliver packages and buy
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things, he says, including a gun and a white mustang. And,
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Ray says, Raoul was staying with him in the rooming house
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on April 4th.
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In a mock trial, arranged and televised by HBO in 1993,
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Ray said he was not in the room during the shooting; he was
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driving, he says, and turned on the radio.
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JAMES EARL RAY: There was a report that they were looking
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for a white man in a white mustang, which could have been
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my description. Well I soon saw the strong possibility I
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was in some trouble, so I decided then I'd go back to
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Atlanta. But the news wasn't any better so [I decided] I'd
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best be out of the country.
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JOSHUA LANZ: Authorities say Raoul is pure fiction. They
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say Ray once described him as a Canadian and later as a
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Latino. William Pepper says Ray has identified Raoul in a
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stack of police photographs.
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When Ray was first captured, many civil rights leaders
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believed that the evidence proved he was guilty. Reverend
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Hosea Williams was among the few who doubted Ray's guilt
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immediately.
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HOSEA WILLIAMS: He ran out of the building, dropped the
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rifle on the sidewalk. Who in the *world* is gonna murder
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Martin Luther King, Jr. and leave the rifle on the
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sidewalk?
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JOSHUA LANZ: Over the last 28 years, more and more civil
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rights leaders aligned themselves with Ray. Martin Luther
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King's family and Reverend Jesse Jackson have called for a
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trial. Jackson wrote an introduction to Ray's book, saying
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"no thoughtful person can believe Ray organized the
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assassination."
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Representative John Lewis was a young follower of Dr.
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King and leader of the Selma march.
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JOHN LEWIS: How can someone like James Earl Ray have been
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in prison, get a gun, get a passport and a whole lot of
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money, get an airline ticket, travel to Europe... He
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needed help and assistance!
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JOSHUA LANZ: Longstanding resentment and suspicions about
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the FBI have contributed to speculation among civil rights
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leaders that some FBI agents may have been involved in the
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assassination or in a cover-up afterward. Under J. Edgar
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Hoover, the FBI harassed King and threatened him regularly.
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Agents broke into King's home and followed him on his
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travels.
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Dr. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian
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Leadership Conference, was a close associate of King's.
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JOSEPH LOWERY: It was no secret that J. Edgar Hoover had a
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terrible hatred -- a vicious, villainous hatred -- of Dr.
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King. He said so. He called him "one of the most
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notorious liars" and so forth. So we don't know *what*
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role they played. But something's *very* strange, that
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they couldn't either prevent [the shooting] or immediately
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go after [the shooter], even though they kept [King] under
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constant surveillance.
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JOSHUA LANZ: Lowery has a list of questions, including
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*why* a sworn affidavit says the FBI's chief witness,
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Charlie Stephens, was drunk on the day of the assassination
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and could not have seen anything.
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The NPR broadcast, excerpted above, touches on many things.
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Unfortunately it does not "plumb the depths," perhaps due to lack
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of time. (Yet on such an important story as this, it is hoped
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that much more in-depth coverage might be forthcoming from NPR.)
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Mentioned in the excerpted portion of the NPR broadcast is James
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Earl Ray's attorney, William Pepper. Pepper was closely involved
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with Dr. King and associates during the 1960s, and struggled with
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them for civil rights, labor, and anti-war causes. Pepper was
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also a major force behind the 1993 HBO broadcast of the "mock
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trial" of James Earl Ray. Not mentioned by NPR in their report is
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that Ray was found "not guilty" at the close of the HBO
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broadcast. Pepper has recently written a book on the King
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assassination: *Orders To Kill* by William F. Pepper (New York:
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Carroll & Graf, 1995. ISBN: 0-7867-0253-2). The book is
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admirably written, and presents an iron-clad case that Ray did
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*not* shoot Dr. King. If you are interested in getting the book,
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here's a tip: I was able to purchase an original, hard-copy
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edition, for just $4.98, at a Barnes & Noble store in their
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"Bargain Books" section. Alternatively, I plan to present an
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in-depth report on this subject in the April 1997 issue of the
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hardcopy Conspiracy Nation Newsletter.
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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