Who Killed MLK Jr.?

Posted by BooMan | Apr 4, 2013 | 16 |

From November 15 to December 8, 1999 a civil trial was held in Memphis, Tennessee. The plaintiffs were Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III, Bernice King, Dexter Scott King, and Yolanda King. The defendants were Loyd Jowers and “other unnamed co-conspirators.” You can read a transcript of the entire trial here. Loyd Jowers was accused of being part of a conspiracy to kill Martin Luther King, Jr. That crime occurred 45 years ago today. Mr. Jowers had already confessed to his small part in the conspiracy to Sam Donaldson and to Dexter Scott King and Andrew Young. However, he feared criminal liability and changed his story. His lawyer didn’t really contest that a conspiracy existed. The stakes were quite low. The King family was only seeking $100 in wrongful death damages. Instead, his lawyer merely stated that his client had a small role, was repentant, in ill health, and undeserving of a guilty verdict.

Because Jowers wasn’t really contesting his role in the murder, the defense in this civil case was not exactly rigorous. Nonetheless, the evidence advanced was compelling. The defendant had fingered Memphis police officer Lieutenant Earl Clark as the man who shot Martin Luther King, Jr. Jowers had concealed the rifle until it was picked up by another man and disposed of in the Mississippi River.

You will still hear today that James Earl Ray murdered Martin Luther King, Jr. Maybe he did. But a jury of six whites and six blacks ruled unanimously that Loyd Jowers was guilty of taking part in a conspiracy to kill King, and that it was a “conspiracy involving the Memphis police as well as federal agencies.”

You can read the transcript of the trial if you are curious. I’d strongly advise you to read a lot of it before you dismiss the jury’s findings.

About The Author

BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

16 Comments

seabe on April 4, 2013 at 9:36 pm

Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses
Read more at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/491/#1aB4Z6AeUBzXix7d.99
The Voice In The Wilderness on April 4, 2013 at 9:50 pm

I certainly don’t dismiss the jury’s findings and I’m not surprised at all that the police were involved. I am surprised that this case went to trial 14 years ago and was not front page news.
- on April 4, 2013 at 11:01 pm
  
  That DOESN’T surprise me at all.
- Marie2 on April 4, 2013 at 11:49 pm
  
  … I’m not surprised at all that the police were involved …
  
  Really dislike thinking about the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, but would it surprising if all three involved the police?
  
  A little factoid I never knew:
  
  On November 15-20, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Wallace announced his intention to oppose the 35th U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, for the Democratic nomination for President.
  - on April 5, 2013 at 8:12 am
    
    No it wouldn’t be surprising. But in all three it didn’t involve just the police.
    
    As for Wallace that’s interesting on the timing and locale. But he would have gone nowhere running against Kennedy for the nom and probably would have gone third party as he did do. And while some extremists like him may have heard through the grapevine about what was about to happen in Dallas, I can’t see him being involved in the plotting.
    - Marie2 on April 5, 2013 at 11:27 am
      
      But in all three it didn’t involve just the police.
      
      And we know this how? Oh, right all the post assassinations police reports. Not that anyone hasn’t noticed how inept the Dallas and LA police appeared to be. Not that it is unknown that police departments are rife with violent racists.
      
      It is intriguing to learn/recall that Wallace ran for the Democratic nomination in 1964.
      
      …Wallace campaigned strongly by expressing his opposition on integration and a tough approach to crime. In Democratic primaries in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Maryland, Wallace garnered at least a third of the vote running against three Johnson-designated surrogates …
      
      Not in any way suggesting that Wallace was involved in the assassinations. Or even that there was some top-down, coordinated, and wide-ranging conspiracy. All three could have been simpler and local.
      - on April 5, 2013 at 7:32 pm
        
        No not just local. That’s even more … Narrow-minded in looking at all these cases than saying any or all were just Mafia hits and no more.
        
        Recall that major police depts have long been infiltrated by FBI and CIA and with presidential visits they coordinate with the Secret Service as well as county sheriffs and the local contingent of military intel.
        
        Did you not notice for instance how criminally negligent all but one SS agents were in Dallas?
      - Marie2 on April 6, 2013 at 6:25 pm
        
        Narrow minded or taking another look from a different perspective? One without all the complex conspiracies that have been proposed and have never been cracked. It’s easy to forget that there is a lot of “noise” and seeming professional incompetence in singular events.
- Arthur Gilroy on April 5, 2013 at 12:23 am
  
  Why are you surprised, VITW? “Front page news” in the U.S. is nothing more than disinformation at the highest possible level.
  
  It was consensus “front page news” that Iraq had WMDs. Remember? By the time that lie was was uncovered it was too damned late to do anything much about it.
  
  Same for the MLK Jr. thing.
  
  Same for so many things.
  
  No surprise here, VITW. Just business as usual.
  
  How do you know the media is lying?
  
  Whenever it’s saying something.
  
  Bet on it.
  
  Later…
  
  AG
angelagigih on April 4, 2013 at 11:41 pm

Her deadly is god

trik sulap
ImNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet on April 5, 2013 at 8:03 am

Chasing perfect knowledge of human events is chasing a chimera. Questions can always be raised that don’t have perfect answers. And of course, juries and judges get it wrong more often than they should. And innocent people confess more often than they should. But the answer is clear in this case.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22033212

Ray killed King. There were, of course, others who wanted him killed – but Ray did it.

The later civil case was front page news at the time – e.g. http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/17/king.trial.01/index.html

Snopes has a page on some of the rumors about King, the FBI, etc., etc. – http://www.snopes.com/history/american/mlking.asp

Oh, and JFK was killed by Oswald, too.

HTH.

FWIW. :-/

Cheers,
Scott.
- BooMan on April 5, 2013 at 8:25 am
  
  your link has literally nothing to say on the subject.
  - ImNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet on April 5, 2013 at 8:53 am
    
    some peripheral information that had been questioned here (e.g. the FBI involvement).
    
    That’s all.
    
    Cheers,
    Scott.
- BooMan on April 5, 2013 at 8:41 am
  
  For your edification, I will provide you with the defense’s opening statement to the jury:
  
  MR. GARRISON: If Your Honor please and Dr. Pepper and ladies and gentlemen, as you know, I’m Lewis Garrison. I represent Mr. Jowers, who is the defendant in this case.
  
  I’d like to say this: I started forty years ago in this practice of law in August, and on April the 6th, 1968, I was about three hundred feet from this very spot in my desk when Dr. King was assassinated.
  
  Now, [the plaintiff’s attorney] Dr. Pepper and I agree on probably eighty percent of the things that he is advocating and stating to you. There are some areas that we do not agree upon. I’ll touch on those now.
  
  Ladies and gentlemen, April 4th, 1968, this city was racially divided. November 16, 1999, it is still racially divided. I’m sorry to tell you, it is. It is an error we need to work on, and I hope this trial will bring out some things that perhaps will have some bearing on that.
  
  Mr. Jowers has been around the City of Memphis a long time. He is a former police officer. When this occurred in 1968, he was operating a small restaurant called Jim’s Grill.
  
  Now, you’ll find that any part that he – he has conferred with Mr. Dexter King and Ambassador Young and told them some things that he knew and heard, but I think you will find that he was a very small part, if any – if any – in the assassination of Dr. King. He was simply operating a little restaurant down on South Main Street.
  
  Anything that Mr. Jowers may have had to do with this certainly was unknown to him. He was never told that the target of an assassination was Dr. King. Certainly his feelings are that he was at sympathy with Dr. King and certainly for the things that Dr. King was seeking.
  
  Certainly Ms. King and her family have been made to suffer more than any family should. There is no question about that. They’ve had to go through more than a family should have to go through. We’re certainly in sympathy with them and have always been,
  always have been behind Dr. King and the things that he was seeking. When I was growing up, not too far from here, we had separate rest rooms, separate water fountains, those type things, separate schools. It doesn’t seem like it was very long ago. But after Dr. King came along, those things came to some extent, but we still take too much of our rights for granted. It has not always been the way it is now.
  
  In this trial you will hear from different persons that will bring forth things that you probably never heard before. For instance, there will be a police officer that will testify here about the United States government sending in agents just before Dr. King’s assassination. You’ll hear a lady here testify about a police officer who was her husband who was very prejudiced against people whose skin was not white.
  
  You’ll hear, ladies and gentlemen, from a gentleman who will also tell you that he had a chance to be with Mr. James Earl Ray for some months before the assassination, and he’ll provide information to you as to what Mr. Ray disclosed to him as to how he escaped from the Missouri prison, who helped him, and the purpose of it.
  
  I think, ladies and gentlemen, you’ll find in this case that Mr. Jowers was a very, very small cog in a big wheel, if he was a party at all. He never knowingly did anything that would have caused the death of Dr. King or brought any hardship on Ms. King or her family.
  
  Now, this has been a long process. I’ve been involved it seems like forever. It has been many, many years. Dr. Pepper has been involved in this three times as long as I have. But this is the final chapter.
  
  Whatever historians may write, your verdict will be the final chapter in this case. So in this case I think when you hear all the testimony here and all the proof that Dr. Pepper will offer and I’ll offer, I’m going to be able to stand here and ask you not only if you find that Mr. Jowers had anything to do with it, but there are others who are much more responsible than he was who knew what they were doing and who brought about the commission of this hate crime. That’s what it was. And that others are responsible and that they should be held liable instead of Mr. Jowers. It will be an interesting trial. I think that you will certainly find it interesting, and I hope that you do. If you will listen attentively, because this is a very important case in the history of this country.
  
  Thank you.
  
  And this is the end of the defense’s closing statement:
  
  If you will study over the reports I’ve provided for you and the exhibits, think about all the testimony that has been given here and what really happened, ladies and gentlemen, your verdict would have to be that the United States government, the FBI, the Memphis Police Department and others were involved in this conspiracy to murder Dr. King.
  
  It is a shameful, terrible thing that happened here in Memphis. I’m sorry and apologize to Mr. King that it did, but think about it. It is a very serious matter. You’ll never have a more serious opportunity to sit on a jury than this where the issues are more serious than this.
  
  Whatever you say will be recorded in history, and this will be it. We expect this case to end after this. It has been going on for years, but we think it is going to end with your decision in this case.
  
  Please give it serious consideration and please think about a judgment against others besides Mr. Jowers. He played a very small part, you know he did, in this case.
  
  Think about the other part that Mr. Ray played, Mr. Liberto played. You’ve got testimony here from a witness that is uncontradicted saying that Mr. Liberto told me he had Martin Luther King assassinated. Go over it. Think about it. Read over it.
  
  There is only one thing to do, that’s to say that we, the jury, find that the United States government, FBI, State of Tennessee, Mr. Liberto, Mr. James Earl Ray, they were all involved in a conspiracy to murder Dr. Martin Luther King. That’s the only decision you can make.
  
  Thank you.
  
  Imagine if they taught that in our public schools.
  - ImNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet on April 5, 2013 at 8:57 am
    
    is lower than in a criminal case.
    
    I submit that if one questions the standard story in the MLK, jr. and JFK cases because of unanswered questions, then one won’t get more satisfactory answers in looking into various conspiracies. There are more unanswered questions going down those rabbit holes.
    
    Some people naturally disagree. That’s fine. That doesn’t mean those who accept the standard stories in these cases are rubes or incorrect.
    
    FWIW.
    
    Cheers,
    Scott.
    - BooMan on April 5, 2013 at 9:34 am
      
      I submit that the defense didn’t even try to dispute the role of the Memphis police, the FBI, or other elements of the federal government because the evidence at trial was overwhelming.

Who Killed MLK Jr.?

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