The lfiing l?ial:What ttre Media Ilidntt TettYou

By Mike Vinson

DATE: APRIL 4. 1968TIME: APPROXIMATELY 6 PM.LOCATION: JIM,S GRILL, BE-

LOW BESSIE BREWER'S FLOP-HOUSE, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

What in the world. is a man who lcokslihe him doing in a rundown joint likefhis? Bessie Brewer, manager ofBessie Brewer's flophouse, quizzedherself. Trim, suit, well-groomed,, Iate30s, nice-Ioohing fellow, he... jrut seemsso out of plare.

"John Willard," the man said,answe ng Mrs. Brewer's question,as well as signing the guest regisreras such, a forced smile betraying hissomber attitude. However, he hadgood reason to have a somber atti-tude and be putting on a fronti Hisreal name wasJames Earl Ray white,40-years-old, a fugitive on rhe run and an es-capee from the Missouri State Penitentiary.

Typical for a spring day in Tennessee, rhetemperature was cool-yet the mood hor!Reverend Martin Luther King was back intown to lead another march in favor of theMemphis sanitation workers, the maiorityblack- The previous week's march, also ied byKing, had resulted in a disaster: one young,

,black male fatally shot, and many more blacksbeat€n and iailed. National Guardsmen on foot

. and in tanks were everywhere. Winos aim-lessly shuffled about, some, in an effort toenjoy their liquid vine in privacy, seeking con-cealment in the bushes that lined the back ofJim's Grill, just below Bessie Brewer,s flop-house, located on rhe second floor aboveJim'sGrill.

Betty Spares, an artractive, teenage, Afri-can American girl, as well as working atSeabrook Wallpaper Company, worked as awaitress atJim's Grill, across the street fromSeabrook. About an hour earlier, Betty, so shehas claimed in the past, had gone overtoJim,s

Grill to check on her man. Betty had a secrer,considered taboo in those days. She was themistress of Loyd Jowers, white, owner ofJim,sGrill. A good percentage ofboth the white andblack folks didn't corton to whites and blacksmixing. Howevet "Mr. Loyd," early forties,was his own man, had connections, was con-sidered, at least in some circles, somewhat ofa shaker and mover around Memphis, andBetty was an impressionable and healthy Af-rican-American female. Some things.just hadto be, no matter the insult ro the Dublic.

It was around 6 p.m., and Betiy had wan-dered back into the kitchen of Jim,s Grill.Strange, Loyd was nowhere in sighr. Sud-denly-POP! A firecracker? A b6mb? Asthough almost appearing out ofthin air, BeftywitnessedJowers, via the back door, which ledto the row of bushes at the reat of the grill,come into the kitchen. Loyd, appearing pale,disheveled, and nervous, a rifli-in his hand.said to Berry, You would.n't d.o anylhing to hurtm4 would you? I wouldn't want to iurt you. Rettyreplied,, Of aurse I wouldn't, Loyd..

Immediately, there was chaoseverywhere, and it became knownthat the Reverend Manin LutherKing Jr. had been shot and wasmortally wounded. Before the daywas up, rhe Memphis Police ques-tioned Loyd Jowers and BettySpates, as well as the other pauonsin Jim's crill thar day. The policewere searching for a suspect, awhite male in a white Musrang.Neither Loyd, Beny, nor arry of thepatrons present inJim's Grill at thetime of King's shooting had anysolid information that would aidthe police. The police concludedthat no one in Jim's Grill was in-volved in King's shooting, nor didany of them have anFhing worth-while to add to the investigation.However, time is a great factor in

any equation, and over a period of time theequation, for one reason or another, tends !oyield a product far removed from the originalone. Since rhar histodcally fateful day, thetheories have abounded: James Earl Ray did it

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alone; Hoover and the FBI did it; rhe CIA didiq it was a triumvirate involving the U.S. gov-emment-U.S. military-Mafia; Ray, having beenduped into the role of patsy, was unwitringlyled to Memphis by a mysterious Latin smug-gler known only as Raoul; Ray did it for re-ward money offered by rwo St. Louis-basedwhite supremacists; Jerry Ray, under the codename "Raoul," nonetheless, was the shooter;this one said he would tell what acually hap-pened if granted immuniry...

In 1993, a stanling revelation entered intothe picture: Loyd Jowers came public claim-ing he was directly involved in the assassrna-tion of Martin Luther KingJr. Jowers, claimedthat he, acting on orders from a Memphiscrime figure, Flank Liberto, performed thefollowing: handled the money appropriated tokill King; handled the murder rifle; was withthe killer when King was killed; and couldname King's killer, whom was not Ray, accord-ing to Jowers. As expected, the Jowers, rev-elation drew keen interest from the mediaworld, making headlines almost everywhere.Jowers even appeared (in 1993) on the televi-sion show Prime Time Live, hosted by SamDonaldson, and ralked abour his claimed in-volvement in King's assassination.

Jowers'claimed role in King's assassina-tion proves perplexing because, even tioughhis statements have been inconsistent, whathe has said, and, possibly, has yer so say, can-not be totally dismissed, at least by those withal open mind, who do not always nod ,,yes,,to the words spoken by the politically correctmouthpieces. For the record,Jowers, himself,when he came forward in 1993, was accom-panied by a host ofrumors: An African-Ameri-can man named Frank Holt had been hired tokill King... On the dayofKing,s assassination,Jowers had witnessed James Earl Ray, insideJim's Grill, sir nerc to arrd conversi wirh aLatino male (Raoul?)... Jowers denied his re-lationship with Spates... Jowers admitted hisrclationship with Spates... Jowers had threat-ened Spates... A Memphis policeman was theshooter... Jowers was behind Jim's Grill hid-den in the bushes with the shooter and bokthe actual murder rifle from him and hid it inthe kitchen ofjim's crill... Even thoughJowersvoiced his role to the public, he said the onlyway he would go under oath and tell what heknew was if he was gnnted immuniry by boththe Tennessee and U.S. Attomey Generals. Atone point, Attomey Barry Kowalski, appointedby U.S. Attomey General Janet Reno to heada special Justice Department investigation into

the King assassination, said he would considerimmunity for Jowers; however, such nevermaterialized. The Attomey General,s Officeout ofMemphis said rhey would not considerimmuniry forJowers because they feltJowers,story lacked merit, and he was nothrng morechan a lying opponunisr artempting t6 makemoney offa possible book or movie deal.

After Jowers came public, in 1993, withhis information about the King assassination,serious attention, too, was placed on BettySpates. She was grilled heavily by both sides:those who say Ray was the lone gunman; andthose who say others were involved and Ray,possibly, was an unwitting parsy. To AttomeyWilliam Pepper, James Earl Ray's lead defensecounsel for approximately the last ten yearsof Ray's life, Befty said that she was in Jim,sGlill at the time of King's murder, and lustseconds after the fatal shot was fired. wir-nessed loyd Jowers enter into the kitchen,through a back door that led to rhe outsideand the row of bushes (mentioned earlier),holding a rifle, looking nervous and dishev-eled.

Invesdgators for the Memphis ArrolneyGeneral's Office, which has had prosecutorialconrrol over the Ray-King case, siid that whenthey questioned Betty Spates she told themshe wasn't inJim's cdll at 6 p.m. on April 4,1968; and thar she had made up the storyabout seeing Jowers, immediately after Kingwas shot, come in through the kitchen doorwith a lifle in row, looking all nervous. Theseinvestigarors further say that Befty admittedto them that she had said all this in hopes ofcashing in on the profits from a hopeful movieor book deal. One has m wonder il possibly,Betty Spates was under a "state of duress,,when questioned by these investigators, andwhen the so-called tape was made. Strangerthings have happened.

Some time back, though, after LoydJowerscame public with his claims, rhe King Family,with Attomey William Pepper represenringthem, frleda "wongful deadr;'civil iurL agarnsrJowers. The trial got underway November 15,1999 at the Shelby Counry Coufthouse, Mem-phis. Loyd Jowers was defended by Memphisattomey Lewis Garrison, and the King familywas represented by, as stated, Attomey pep-per. In an eerie twist of fate, the judge whopresided over the case was an African-Ameri-can gentleman named "James Earl,,Swearengen. l,ook at what some of the wit-nesses had to say in the "wrongful death,, civiltrial of Loyd Jowers.

On November 16, 1999, on the witnessstand in the Jowers' tdal, Coretta Scott King,Reverend King's surviving widow, tesdfied,"I!'s not about money. That's not the rssue.We're [Coretta and her children] concemed

about the truth and the truth comine out in acourt oflaw so it can be documented ior all....[we know rhe truth, we can be free to go onwitl our lives." Mrs. King went on to saf rhather and her family's refusal to accept rheprosecution's contention that Ray was rhegunman responsible for Reverend King'sdeath had "cost them prestige and funding fortheir altruistic projects," such as support forthe King-family-run King Center. Since tak-ing the stance that Ray didn't kill ReverendKing, and broad-mindedly enterraining rhepossibilityofa conspiracy, rhe King family hasbeen unduly criticized by a good ponion ofthe mainstleam media. This is yet anotherexample ofhow the powers that be spale nomeasure when afiempting to discredit a righ-teous, yet threatening, foe.

John McFerren, Aliican-Ame can. tesrifiedthat on the dayofKing's assassinadon he wasshopping at the Lib€no, Liberto, and Latch(LL&L) Produce Company in Memphis. Whilethere, McFeren claimed he overheard FrankLiberto, the company's president, conversingon the telephone, exclaim: "Shoot rhe son ofa bitch when he comes out on the balcony.,,ln his book. Od.ers to KilI, Ar.tomey WilliamPepper says rhar he, along with lawyer AprilFerguson and stenographer Barbara Rabbito,in February of 1979, traveled ro Somerville,Tennessee (about 40 miles outside of Mem-phis) to pay McFeren a visit, (At the time,McFerren owned a gas station/grocery storein Somerville.) In his book, Pepper said thatwhen they met with him McFerren ..seemed

increasingly uneasy." McFerren revealed toPeppertharhe had been the victim ofa..drive-by shooting" and that he, McFerren, had ,,shot

and wounded a man contracted by the Maflato kil l him." Some credence musr be siven roMcFeren's claims, because Pepper aiso saysthat "rhe huge plate glass window in front ofhis [McFerren's] srore was cracked from topto bottom and taped rogerher." Supposedly,this damage was the result of the drive-byshooting. Tesrimony frorn Bobbi Baifour/Smith, Betry SpaEs' half-sister, also a wait-ress at Jim's Grill, proved interesting. Bobbisaid thatJowers, as he usually did, picked upher and another waitress on the day ofKing!assassination. Of particular inrerest, Bobbitestified that normally she would take break-fast up to Grace Stephens on a daily basis.However, on the moming of April 4, 1968,Jowers told Bobbi: "I [Bobbi Smith] didnthave to take breakfast up" to Grace Srephens_Smith said Jowers never explained ,,why.,,Bobbi claimed she left Jim's Grill before theassassination. According to Bobbi, Jowers latertold her the police came through Jim,s Grilland.found a "gun out in ahe back."Jowers toldhe! "nothing more," she said.

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On the wimess stand, Nathan Whitlock,now a musician, testified that he came to knowFrark Liberto in 1978-1980. when Libertopatronized "lavada's," a restaurant owned andoperated by Nathan and his mother, Lavada.Nathan said that Liberto rold him that "I[Whitlock] reminded him [Liberto] of him-self as a young man," and that Liberto likedNarhar's music and, from time to time, wouldhelp him get gigs.

As they became closer, Libeno confided inNathan that he, Liberto, had worked withMafia don Carlos Marcello, out of New Or-leans. (During that time ftame, the Marcellofamily reputedly controlled a large ponion ofthe action being conducted in the South, andCarlos was considered by some authorities tobe the strongest boss of all.) Liberto roldNathan that the Mafia "was a bunch of bus!nessmen who take care of business." Takingon a more sinister edge, Nathan testified,Liberto told Nathan's mother, Lavada, that"he'd had Manin Luther King killed," andNathan felt that "he [Liberto] stepped overthe line" when he told Lavada such. However,Nathan was only 1 8-years-old at the time, andLibeno "was a big man." (Not only in physi-cal stature-around 300 lbs.-but in clout,too, no doubt.) Nathan tesdfied that the fol-lowing exchange took place between him andLiberto:

WHITLOCK: Did you kill Martin tuther Kingi

LIBERTOT you wired? | didn t kill the nigger. but Ihad it done.

WHITLOCK:WhatabouttheSOB [Jamestarl Ray]taking cfedit for it?

LIBERTO: That troublemaker from Missou wasnothing more than a set'up man.

Nathan closed out his tesrimony by sayingthat he raised the issue with the govemot (ofGnnessee),and was followed by the police,even physically roughed up. I'll come back toNathan later on in this article,

Of all the testimonies in the Jowers' ftial,Judge Joe Brorvn's, given on November 23,1999, probably, for some, anyway, carried themost weight. If you recall, Judge Brown pre-sided over the Ray-King case for approximatelyfour years, until he was removed from the casein early 1998. Logically enough, I'm sure (ashas been mentioned in the past) the prosecu-tion felt they had it made in the shade whenBrown, African-American, a UCI,A grad, andcivil rights activist, took over the Ray-Kingcase- that Brown would damn Ray all to hell,and that would be the end of it! Then thev.the prosecu[ion, could concentrate on impor-tant matters, such as DUI's and back childsuPPort cases.

From the get-go, Brown, a ballisrics enthu-

siast, saw inconsistencies wirh Ray being theshooter, especially fiom a ballistics perspec-tive. Brown brought out 4 key pointsi (1) Ametallurgical discrepancy in the slug removedftom King's corpse and the whole bulletsfound, along with the alleged murder rifle andother ircms, in the bundle, found in front ofCanipe's Amusement, next door to BessieBrewer's flophouse. (2) The 2X7 RedfieldScope mounted atop the alleged murder rifle,a.30-06 Remington 760 Gamemaster, hadnever been sighted in, and that a shooter couldnot have hit "the broadside of a bam" with

the alleged murder rifle. (3) When Brown or-dered the alleged murder rifle retested in1997,67Vo ofthebtllets rested (12 of 18) didnot match the alleged murder rif le. (4) Thealleged murder rifle "would have blown up"if it had been resred on the window sil loft irebathroom ofBessie Brewer's flophouse, as theplosecution contended it had been.. In addi-tion to being set b order another retesting ofthe alleged murder rifle, Brown, roo, it hasbeen rumored, was aboua to grantJames EarlRay the trial he had been fighting to ger sinceMarch 1969, a trial Tennessee law (TCA 17-l-305) guaranteed him, yer one the prosecu-t ion, judges, and courts ignored andrefused-still refuse-to talk about. Can youblame them, rhough?

Recently, Brown, who-and on his own ac-cord-gave uphisjudge's seat, and is now starof the qmdicated show ludge Joe, was a gueston Fox Teleykion. On the show, ciring that hecould say so now, since he'd given up hisjudgeship, Brown stated that the prosecutionknew the alleged murderrifle, in fact, was northe MLK murder rifle.

Pepper brought out a developmentregard-ing the dent on the window sill of the com-monly-shared bathroom of Bessie Biewer'sflophouse, which the prosecution claims Raymade while aiming the fatal shot. AttomeyPepper showed that the prosecudon had evi-dence proving the alleged murder rifle, indeed,did not cause the dent.

The November 29, 1999 proceedings in thewrongful death civil trial of Loyd Jowersproved astounding. Among the witnesses Iheard were Bill Hamblin andJJ. Isabel, friendsof Jowers, Jerry W Ray, younger brother ofJames Earl Ray; Witlie B. Richmond, retiredfrom the Memphis Police Department; Dou-glas Valentine, a writer specializing in U.S.intelligence operations; Carthel Weeden, re-tired from the Memphis Fire Depaitmenr;Reverend Walter Fauntroy, ex-HSCA (HouseSelect Committee on Assassinations) mem-ber, and Yolanda King, daughter of ManinLuther and Coretta Scoft King.

JJ. Isabel testified that Jowers had, overthe years, hinted to him of being involved inKing's assassination. lsabel said he once askedJowers: "Loyd," did you drop the hammer onMartin Luther King." Isabel said Jowers, afterhearing the question, hesitated a moment ortwo, then responded with: "You think youknow I did it, but I would never admit to it ortell it in a coun of law"

Hamblin testified that, over a period ofyears, he andJowers had discussedJowers' rolein King's assassination. According to Hamblin,Jowers had confided ro him "rhar an assassinother tian Ray gave him the still-smoking gunused to kill King. " Hamblin also said that Yel-low Cab driverJames Mccraw over the years,and usually when intoxicated, had told himthat he had directly taken the actual murderweapon fromJowers and rhrown ir in the Mis-sissippi River where ir possibly srill is. (Asideftom beinga friend ofJowers, McCraw, ifyou'llrecall, years earlier, had given a statement say-ing that just minutes before King was shot,he came to Bessie Brewer's flophouse to giveCharles Stephens, rhe state's only so-calledeyewitness against Ray, a cab ride, butStephens was too drunk to take anywhere.)

On the stand, Jerry Ray gave an overyiewof the Ray family existence, how they grewup very poor. He said thar when James Earlreturned home from the army in 1948 hestaned living a "life of crime." As he has be-fore, Jerry talked about the last time he sawJames Earl before he, James Earl, was pickedup at London's Heathrow Airpon and chargedwirh King's death. Jerry said ir was somerimelate August-early September 1967, and Jerrywas working at The Sportsman's Country Clubin.Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb ofChicaso.

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Jerry said he received a telephone call fromJames Earl, and they met in Chicago, spend-ing the night together there. (James Earl hadgone to Canada in July 1967.) The next day,Jerry claimed, they had "breaKast together,"and James gave Jerry the keys toJames' 1962Plymouth. (An interesting point Jerry madeto me in private is that James--during thisAugust-September 1967 meeting in Chicago-appeared to be flush with cash. When JamesEarl initially had set out for Canada in July1967 he didn't have very much money on him,says Jerry) Jerry took James to the ChicagoTrain Station, and James Eall told Jerry thatfrom that point onward he, James Earl, wouldcontactJerry using the alias "Eric Stawo Galt."Curious, Jerry asked James what kind of workhe would be doing? James told Jerry he wasworking for a man named "Raoul." Jerry saidhe knew it was "illegal," whatever it was.

While on the staad, Jerry was shown a t!an-script ofa taped 1977 telephone conversationhe had with renown author William BradfordHuie, author ofHe Slzw the Dreamer, one of thefirst books written on the King assassination,damls Ray as King's killer-as did appendagesGeorge McMillan and Gerald Posner, later, intheir books. In that taped 1 977 telephone con-versation, Huie told Jerry thar ifhe could per-suadeJames Earl to unequivocally say he killedDr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray only signed aguilty plea; he never came out and said, "Yes,I, and I alone, killed Manin Luther KingJr"),then he, Huie, could arrange the following forJames Earl Ray: a payment in excess of$200,000, a pardon from the govemorofTen-nessee; a waiver of ttre outstanding warrantfrom the Missouri Deparmrent ofCorrections,and a new identity. After silently reading thetranscript on the witness stand, Jerry verifiedit as the raped 1977 telephone conversationhe had with William Bradford Huie. OnJanu-ary 1, 2000, via telephone, I spoke with Nash-ville attomey Jack Kershaw, who was JamesEarl Ray's attomey in 1976. Kershaw told methat in 1976, in Nashville, tnnessee, he metwith William Bradford Huie and two (still)unidentified men. IGrshaw told rne that Huiehad made the same offer as the one Huie madetoJerry Ray to take to his client. Kershaw tookthe Huie offer to Ray, and Ray declined. (Seethe March- April 1999 issue ofProbe, "GeraldPosner: Nailed to the Cross", page 5.)

ln 1977, Playboy magazine interviewedJames Earl Ray. During the interview, Ray wasgiven a polygraph test. In its conclusion, Plal-bol reported that Ray failed the polygraph test.

Howeve{, on January l, 2000, Kershaw toldme that he had taken the results ofRay's Play-boy polygraph to one of Nashville's moreprominent psychiatrists, and rhe Nashvillepsychiatrist told Kershaw that Ray's Playboypolygraph had been "boogered," i.e. ahered.

On the wimess stand, former Memphis Po-lice Department detective Edward Redditt tes-tified that prior to King's assassination his rolewith the Memphis Police Depaftment was rharofcommunity relations officer. It was his "jobto get the community to understand policework," he said. Howeyer, during the sanita-tion worker's strike he was pulled from com-munity relations and placed with theintelligence bureau for rhe purpose of suweil-lance, to help in identi$ing anyone who might"disrupt the strike."

When King and his entoulage retumed toMemphis, Reddin was commanded to assumea surveillance post with Willie B. Richmond,who worked with Memphis Police Departmentintelligence. Their post was in the locker roomat the rear of Fire Station #2, located at thecorner of Butler and South Main Streets.Through a peephole in the locker room, theyhad vantage view of room #306 of the Lor-raine, where King, along with Reverend RalphAbemathy, was lodging.

On April 4, 1968, Redditt and Richmondassumed their surveillance post in the lockerroom ofFire Station #2. While there, Lt. E.H.Arkin, also of the Memphis Police Depart-ment, to whom Redditt was directly report-ing, came to the surveillance posr and toldRedditt that he "was needed at Central Head-quarters." Redditt said he and Arkin, havinggone to Central Headquarters, "entered a"conference room," and there was a "groupof law enforcement men" inside the confer-ence !oom. Also present in the conferenceroom, according to Redditt, was a Secret Ser-vice agent who had "just been flown in fromWashington, D.C. " The Secret Service agenrinformed Redditt that there was a conuacr onRedditt's life, ard that Redditt was to be pulledfrom his suweillance post. Reddirt objected.

At that point, Frank C. Holloman, thenDirector of Memphis Police and Fire Depart-ments (also a former FBI agent), ordered Arkinto take Redditt home. "We proceeded to myhome, and the radio blasted that Dr. King hadbeen shot. I never heard anything else aboutthe threat [on Redditt's life]." Redditt alsonoted that he felt Richmond had been olacedwith him at che surveillance post-at Fiie Sra-tion #2-to keep an eye on him, because he,Redditt, might have recognized someone hewasn't suPPose to.

Under cross-examination, Willie Rich-mond said that during March-April 1968 hewas assigned to "intemal affairs," OnApril4,

1968, he was placed at Fire Station #2, locatedat Calhoun and South Main Streets, withineasy eye access to room #306 ofthe LoraineHorel and Motel, where King was staying.Richmond's mission was to conduct surveil-lance on Dr King and the acrivities aroundhis room. Richmond said he'd had a surveil-lance partner, Ed Redditt, but Reddirt hadbeen moved from Fire Station #2 because ofthreat against his life. Richmond went on tosay that he observed different people goingand coming from King's room, "The lnvad-ers," etc.

Wliter Douglas Valentine took the standand told the counroom that during 1968 mil!tary intelligence conducted "inrelligence sur-veillance" on those who 'bpposed the VietnamWar." Valendne mentioned 'Abbie Hoffinanand Jerry Rubin," of The Chicago 7 fame. Val-entine said during thattime frame there wereseven such intel l igence groups acrossAmerica, and the group assigned to the Sourh-east U.S. was the "111 Military IntelligenceGroup." He added that the 111 IntelligenceGroup, in fact, was in Memphis conductingsurveillance on King on April 4, 1968. Valen-tine claimed the 111 Group has "actual frlmfootage of King being assassinated."

On April4, 1968, Canhel Weeden was theseniorcaptain ar Fire Srarion #2. On duty thatday, Weeden was approached by two U.S. mili-tary officers who wanted to observe King, hisgroup, and the activities thereof- The officerssaid they needed a "vamage point." Weedensaid he took the two military rlpes ro the roofof Fire Station #2, where they had a vantagepoint, aad left them there. Weeden said thathe placed rhe two military types on the roofof Fire Station #2, where rhey had an "unob-structed view." After he heard the shot fired,Weeden rushed over to the Lorraine. Eventu-ally, he helped load King's body into the am-bulance. Weeden claimed thar after he left thetwo military olficers on the roof of Fire Sra-tion #2, he never saw them again.

Equally compelling was tesrimony fromReverend Walter Fauntrov Fauntrov told thecourt that he teamed up with HenryGonzalezto get the HSCA to investigare the Kennedyand King assassinations. He said RichardSprague was the original prosecutor for theHSCA. "Right off the bat, there was conrro-versy, conceming Sprague," Fauntroy testified.Sprague wished to make all records availableto the HSCA, records ofthe FBI, CIA, etc. Thiswas metwith "strong opposition," said Faun-troy. Sprague resigned, and c. Robert Blakeyreplaced him as HSCA prosecutor. Faunrroysaid that all the controversy surrounding theBlakey-for-Sprague swap caused the HSCA to"start about six monrhs late." He menrionedthat Blakey would never open up all the files.

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This caused suspicion.Fauntroy also levealed that the HSCA ad-

mi$ed they had never found a "credible wir-ness" to place Ray at the scene of the cnme,and he, Fauntroy, was "uncomfonable" aboutwhether or not there was a "Raoul." Undercross-examination. Fauntrov said the mostincriminating thing about Ray, according tothe HSCA, was that Raycontradicted himself.Fauntroy recalled "cartoon's depicting King asa threat to America." He said that King andAbernathy met with FBI Director J. EdgarHooverin an attempt to settle the differences,but to no avail.

Yolanda King pretty much echoed hermother's sentiments. Most poignant wasYolanda sharing with the jurors what it waslike to lose herfather at 12-years-old, and rharshe didn't come to grips with his loss "untilshe was well into her adult life." Outside thecourtroom, I spoke with actor-comedian DickGregory co-author with Mark Lane of CodeName Zorro, a book about the King assassina-tion. He had this to say: "The murder of DrKing has the govemment's handp nts all over

Together with his father, Attomey ArthurHanes Sr., nowdeceased, Afihur HanesJr. wasthe first to serve as defense counsel forJamesEarl Ray when Ray was extradited from Lon-don to Memphis, on July 19, 1968, to standtrial for Dr. King's assassination. On rhe wit-ness stand, during theJowers' trial, Hanes Jrsaid that Guy Canipe told him the bundle con-taining the alleged murder rifle was droppedin the doorway of Canipe's Amusement sev-eral "minutes before King was shor." Thedoorway ofCanipe's Amusement was locatednext to a stairwell leading up to BessieBrewer's flophouse, from where Ray shotKing-from a commonly-shared bathroom onthe north wing, actually-so claims the pros-ecution. Had the Hanes father and son teamremained as Ray's defense counsel, Canipe'sstatement regarding the time the bundle wasdropped, as opposed to the time King wasshor, would have provided earrh-moving evi-dence.

During a court break on November 29,1999, Jerry Ray and I stood outside the court-room and converced with Nathan Whitlock,whose testimonywas discussed earlier. As wetalked, Memphis Commercial Appeal, (newspa-per) writer-reporter Marc Perrisquia walkedby. Whitlock tore into Penisquia, lambastinghim, call ing him "a slanred journalisr," add-ing, "You and I don't talk anymore!" Come rofind out, Whitlock's wrath stemmed from anarticle Perrisquia had written, ia the Commer-cial Appeal, a few days earlier In that article,Perrisquia had made light of the manner ofdress LoydJowers, financially poor and in poor

health, had wom to court one day. Whitlocktold me: "1 don't appreciate him, that GeraldPosner yes-man, making fun ofJowers becauseof the way he dresses." (And what does hisattire have to do with whatever he did or didn'tdo, conceming King's assassination, anyway?)Also, in the next day's Commercial Appeal, No-vember 30, 1999 issue, Perrisquia had an ar-ticle covering the November 29, 1999proceedings that slanted away ftom all pointsmade in favor of a possible conspiracy andtilted toward those claiming Ray alone wasguilty.

During the lunch break ofrheJowers' trial,Nathan Whitlock,Jerry Ray, and I ventured tothe sidewalk outside ihe courthouse. Lo andbeholdl While we were talking, even thoughhe wasn't part of the Jowers' civil trial, Assis-tant District Attorney GeneralJohn Campbell,who was over the Ray-King case the last fewyears ofRay's life, came walking up rhe side-walk right past us. True to Gerald Posner'sflattering description of a man who dressed"sty l ishly" with"an endless assortment ofnew shirts and ties"(KiIIing the Drcam, page 280), Campbell, sureenough, was decked out. When he reached us,Jerry Ray and Narhan Whitlock artempted roengage him in conversation. Behind wrap-around shades, he produced a bright smile,sorta shuffled in place-cat on a hot tin roofstyle-and, wirh what Posnerdescdbed as his"npid machine-gun style of ralking, " slicklyevaded all direct, yet relevanr, quesrions, andvacated the premises with haste.

While in Memphis, covering rhe ffial, rhefollowing exchange proved to be the mostunsettling forme. As I prepared to leave Mem-phis and return to my home (4 hours away), Iwas in the lobby of the Best Wesrern Hotel,where I had lodged while in Memphis for thetrial. As though directed by Fate's hand, I wasintroduced to Louie Ward. Now, Ward provesto be a disturbingly importanr witness-anoxymoron, of sorts-in the Ray-King case.Ward and I spent a few minutes togetner, ano,

in essence, he revealed the following to me:On April 4, 1968, Ward was a driver for Mem-phis Yellow Cab taxi service. There was a fel-low driver named Paul Butler On that ADril 4day, ar approximately 6 p.m., Burler was arthe Lorraine Hotel and Motel loading up a fareto transPort to the Memphis Airport. As heloaded the fare's luggage into his taxi, Kingwas shot. Butler then called the Yellow Cabdispatcher and relayed what he had just wit-nessed, and that he was on his way to rhe air-pon with his fare. Ward, listening to his radioand hearing what had just transpired, droveto the airport to meet with Butler. Meeringup with Butler, Ward heard Butler tell threeMemphis Policemen, who had arrived at theairport in the meantime, what he, Butle! hadwitnessed just minutes earlier: While at theLoraine, loading up his cab fare, Butler sawKing get shot. Butler then, after calling thedispatch, saw a white man come down overthe wall (in the vicinity of the flophouse andthe hedges behind it) and get into a policecar. To a great degree, this coincides with theclaim made by New York Times reporter EarlCaldwell, that he, Caldwell, in his room ar rheLorraine, upon hearing the shot that slewKing, looked toward the rowofbushes behindthe flophouse and saw a white man rise froma crouched position and move through rheousnes.

Butler repeated the story to Memphis Po-licemen later that evening at the Yellow Caboffice. Ward went on to say that Burler, obvi-ously, a crucial witness, set to make an officialstatement on April 5, 1968, didn'r show upfor work the next day. His body was found,the day after King was killed, justoffthe bridgeconnecting West Memphis and Arkansas. Re-putedly, his untimelydemise resuhed from ei-ther wil lfully jumping from his speedingvehicle, implying suicide, or having beenpushed from the same, implying murder. Srillmore unnerving, today, there are no knowndeath certificates for Paul Butler, either in Ten-nessee orArkansas. Further, there is no kno\arlobituary in any Tennessee or Arkansas news-paper referring to his death. Still yet, there isno known record ofthe Memphis Police ques-rioning Butler.It almosr appeaE rharrhere wasan efforr pur forth to make Paul Butler van-ish.

There is telephone directory evidence,1966-1967, that lisrs a "Berry and Paul Bur-Ier." However, 1968 relephone direcrory evi-dence lists Betty Butler as being a "widow" ofPaul. I asked Ward if Butler had appeared tohim to be the t,?e to lose ir and do somethingdrastic, such as jump from his speeding ve-hicle. "No," Ward answered me. "Paul wasabout as stable as they come. I have no doubt

continued. on page 32

March-April,aooo ??OEIE

Ifiing Gaseconrirued from page 29

that Paul, whoever was responsible, was thevictim of foul play."

Media ReactionAfter the jury found for the Kings and

against Jowers, tdking head Gerald Posner(these days, seemingly, an expert on most anysubject) was a guest on The Todty Show. HostKatie Couric was dl smiles as Mr. Posner chas-tised the Jowers' trial. However, had the juryfound thatJames Earl Ray was the lone assas-sin responsible, and the King Family, in es-sence, losing, the wrongful death trial againstJowers, without doubt, would have been de-clared one ofthe most brilliartly executed tri-als in history a proceeding ofparamount legalsignificance! Too, have you ever noticed thatthe only guests, for the most part, on theseprime time shows are those who damn Ray asKing's killer, beyond doubt, without question?And ifthey have someone from the other side,Ray possibly not guilty, as ponrayed by his-tory the host tends to nke ar anhgonisdc-accusative approach, as opposed to anobjective one.

Example. Just a couple months ago, JerryRay and I were guests on a Nashville-basedtelevision show. Our scheduled oppositionwas Dwight L€wis, an African-American col-umnist for a prominent lbnnessee newspape!who has repeatedly accused the Rays, broth-ers Jerry and John, as well as James Earl, ofbeing involved in King's death. Lewis, of thesame mold as Posner and Perrisquia, wrotean anicle attacking the Jowers' trial. Howevell€wis conveniendy failed to appear against usfor the televised debate---on which theJowers'trial would have been a key issue-sending inhis place a fellow joumalist, white. Lewis'sexcuse for not showing was that he wasn't for-mally invited. I find that hard to ingest anddigest, because I know for a fact I E-mailedLewis an invitation. I'm under the imDressionthe television station contacted him:-and one

of his co-workers, whom I believe, withoutquestion, said they, Lewis and the co-worker,had discussed the plospect of Lewis appear-ing on the show What did kwis need, a regis-

tered letter? Possibly, Lewis failed to appearon the show withJerry Ray and me because,conceming his stance on the King case assas-sination, and his condemnation of the Raysbeing involved, he stands not on solid ground,rather on shifting stand. The host ofthe showdid his best to steer the show downstream,thus eating up the clock with meaninglessblather, totally removed ftom the subject athand: Ray's guilt/innocence in King's death.The show lasted one hqur and lifteen min-

utes--comrnercials and call-ins included-aadthe hosr allowed the same woman (The hostwas on a first name basis with her, by the way.)to call in twice-not once, but twice-andengage the white ioumalisr in an accusation-defensive response exchange that up 12 min-utes on the clock. I have all this on video. Iwill concede, however, that the host did anadmirable job shifting the flow ofthe show infavor of the politically correct crowd, savingthem from drowning in a sea of facts. Too badwe didn't meet on neutral grounds, with aneutral host controlling the oars. Concemingthe Ray-Kint case, it appears we have a stackeddeck.

Regardless ofwho was responsible for Dr.King's death, and for whatever reason Kingwas killed, imrnediately after King's death, alarge ponion of the U,S. population was in astate of emotional upheaval, that emotionalupheaval graduating into blinding rage! Riot-ing was rampant during the days followingKing's death. Several areas in the U.S. werehit extremely hard, especially Baltimore andWashington, D.C., rioting reaching to withinjust a few blocks ofournation's capital. Manylives were lost, and much property, totalingin the millions ofdollars, was destroyed. BlackPower advocate Stokely Carmichael urgedblacks to "go home and get their guns." Na-tional Guards and regular U.S. Army person-nel were placed in many riot-stricken areas.To put it mildly, America was placed on redalert.

Someone had to answer for King's deatl-and quicklylJames Earl Ray, a white, 4O-year-old drifter, career criminal, four-time loser-a"nobody"-fit the profile needed to appease'John Q. Public." FolcingJames Earl Ray intosigning a guilty plea stitched America'swound. To have given him the trial the lawsaid he deserved. TCA 17-1-305. a law in-vented, voted on, and passed by our legisla-tors and lawmakers, could have reopened thewound and resulted in "mass hemonhaging."For those reasons, it was necessarythatJamesEarl Ray remained guilry in the assassinarionof Dr. Manin Luther King Jr, for as long ashe, Ray, remained alive. +

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