# Martin Luther King Jr Assassination was a conspiracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 24, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579 "2003-01-24T00:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/1 "2003-01-24T00:25:09Z")
A civil trial in 1999 found that Loyd Jowers and Government Agencies participated in, and were a party to a conspiracy to harm Martin Luther King Jr. I believe these findings dispel the myth that James Earl Ray acted alone and even bring into question whether or not he was the the actual shooter. What say you? [Trial Transcript](http://thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial.html) [Except from a recently published book entitled “Vindication”](http://thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/the-trial-chapter-9.html) > [@](#): > > The Verdict > It took the jury about one hour to decide. After nearly four weeks of trial and some 70 witnesses they found that: > > 1. > > ``` > YES – Loyd Jowers participated in a conspiracy to do harm to Martin Luther King. > > ``` > > 2. > > ``` > YES – Others including governmental agencies were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant. > > ``` > > 3. > > ``` > The total damages to be awarded to the plaintiffs are $100. > > ``` > > The Judgment > > ``` > The issue of comparative liability was agreed to rest with the Judge. Based on the evidence before him, Judge Swearingen apportioned liability as follows: > > ``` > > 30 PERCENT – defendant Loyd Jowers > > 70 PERCENT – all other co-conspirators ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/2 "2003-01-24T01:50:06Z")
> [@](#): > > YES – Others including governmental agencies were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant. Any chance you could summerize how some government agencies were “party to the conspiracy?” ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/3 "2003-01-24T15:28:56Z")
I read a great book called Conspiracy! by the Insecurity Council, and they brought up many good “problems”, things that didn’;t make sense about the whole thing. I don’t have it right now, will try to request it then I can show you what the authors are trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/4 "2003-01-24T15:34:38Z")
It appears that the only party to the suit was Loyd Jowers. The other “unnamed defendants” had no opportunity to participate in the suit and present a defense. For this reason alone, I suggest the “verdict” is not particularly trustworthy. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/5 "2003-01-24T15:39:47Z")
Sigh… I think the trial was yet another embarrassing moment for Dr. King’s family, who seem determined to tarnish his legacy. Several years ago, I recall seeing Dr. King’s son embracing James Earl Ray, and professing his belief in Ray’s innocence. I found that disgusting. James Earl Ray DID kill Dr. King. I’ve seen NO plausible evidence to suggest otherwise. Now, did Ray have some help (financial or otherwise) from somebody else? Possibly. He certainly EXPECTED to get a big payday from racist organizations in the South, The only question is, did he get concrete promises of money from such organizations, or did he simply hear rumors of racists offering money to anyone who’d kill King, and take action on his own. But Ray was the killer. There is no reasonable doubt about that. He was also a lifelong con man, and he uses his grifting skills to con the King family into working on his behalf. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/6 "2003-01-24T16:45:37Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Corrected typo in thread title. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/7 "2003-01-24T16:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I read a great book called Conspiracy! by the Insecurity Council, and they brought up many good “problems”, things that didn’;t make sense about the whole thing. vanilla, “problems” don’t prove there was a conspiracy. This is a common fallacy; the notion that if you find little inconsistencies in the evidence, that somehow proves the whole thing never happened the way it seemed to. To prove a conspiracy, you’d have to have POSITIVE EVIDENCE of a conspiracy. Eyewitnesses. Documents. Physical evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/8 "2003-01-24T17:23:21Z")
An earlier thread on this subject: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22075](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22075) ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/9 "2003-01-24T17:35:22Z")
Good god. The trial wasn’t even contested. If the King family sued you, **EasyPhil** , for the murder of MLK, and put on evidence that you had claimed you did it, and you didn’t defend yourself, _you_ would be “found by a jury” to have killed Dr. King. That verdict would bear about as much resemblance to reality as the Jowers verdict, i.e., none whatsoever. May I suggest you read Gerald Posner’s excellent [_Killing the Dream_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156006510/qid=1043429550/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8388806-9111256?v=glance&s=books)? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/10 "2003-01-24T17:37:36Z")
I’m reading Posner’s “Killing the Dream” right now, and let me tell you, its not looking goof for JER. His fingerprints were all over things, and peope remember him renting the room. I’m not finished yet, but I have severe doubts that any objections to this are going to be reasonable. Its amazing what how having the assassin live for many years afterwards and pleading guilty kind screws the pooch on crazy conspiracy theories. Mostly. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/11 "2003-01-24T18:10:41Z")
I thought about this over lunch and had to add: There’s a scene in “Unforgiven” where Richard Harris, playing the assassin English Bob, is commenting on the news story that President Garfield is dying from a gunman’s bullet. He remarks that this makes Britain better, because some schmoe could never assassinate a Queen; after all, says Bob, if you walked up to a monarch with a gun, their very majesty would awe you so much you’d be unable to do it. I think people just have a lot of difficuty accepting that Dr. King and others like JFK are really just mortal men, and that it’s possible for a very ordinary man to kill them. Kennedy and King were heroes, giants, men who by virtue of being President (JFK) or by being perhaps the greatest American of the century (King) were idolized by people, placed on a great pedestal. It’s emotionally difficult, then, to come to grips with the fact that men of such greatness could be killed by, to be quite honest, a couple of total losers. I mean, Kennedy stared down the whole Soviet Union, right? King helped an entire PEOPLE rise above three centuries of hatred and abuse. How could such men “defeat,” in a sense, such towering giants? Well, they did. There’s just no reasonable conclusion otherwise; James Earl Ray murdered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and it is 99.99% certain he did it of his own accord, and that there was no grand conspiracy to do it. It’s a scary fact of life that great people and great societies and great efforts CAN be laid low if one person, no matter how small or meaningless, is willing to resort to murder and mayhem. King’s family isn’t trying to dishonor King’s legacy by being suckered in by Ray (who, I am glad to remind everyone, is dead.) It’s just that they, understandly, are having trouble accepting that their father was murdered by a peice of shit. They believe what English Bob said, that it’s impossible, but sadly, it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/12 "2003-01-24T18:14:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mjollnir \* > \*\*An earlier thread on this subject: > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22075](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22075) \*\* Thanks for the link, it doesn’t reference any of the material that I have provided a link to, nor does it mention the book that I have mentions. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/13 "2003-01-24T18:15:30Z")
mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/14 "2003-01-24T18:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Miskatonic \* > \*\*I’m reading Posner’s “Killing the Dream” right now, and let me tell you, its not looking goof for JER. His fingerprints were all over things, and peope remember him renting the room. I’m not finished yet, but I have severe doubts that any objections to this are going to be reasonable. > > Its amazing what how having the assassin live for many years afterwards and pleading guilty kind screws the pooch on crazy conspiracy theories. Mostly. \*\* It seems that the rifle that JER purchased wasn’t the murder weapon. From the link posted above: > [@](#): > > Independent testimony established that the rifle in evidence was not the murder weapon. > > Criminal Court Judge Joe Brown took the stand under subpoena to share his particular knowledge of the rifle evidence. I qualified Judge Brown as a ballistics expert for the purpose of his testimony about the weapon, and as he moved through his testimony, his expertise was never in doubt. He began by telling the jury that the scope on the rifle had never been sighted, in which meant that one could not fire it accurately when lining up a target through the scope. We introduced an April 5, 1968 FBI report, which stated that the rifle, on the day after the killing, had failed an accuracy test – firing 3 ½ inches to the left and 4 inches below the target. In addition, he said that the metallurgical composition of the death slug lead was different from the composition of the other bullets found in the evidence bundle in front of Canipes while the composition of each of the other bullets matched. He had no doubt the rifle in evidence was not the murder weapon. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/15 "2003-01-24T19:41:56Z")
Joe Brown is an idiot and his testimony is contradicted by bunches and bunches of evidence. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/16 "2003-01-24T20:01:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > \*\*Joe Brown is an idiot and his testimony is contradicted by bunches and bunches of evidence. \*\* So what about the FBI report? Contradticted by bunches and bunches of evidence as well? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/17 "2003-01-24T22:11:12Z")
That’s a great perspective on these issues, **RickJay** , and one with much merit IMO. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/18 "2003-01-25T00:42:33Z")
I cannot comment on the supposed “April 5, 1968 FBI report, which stated that the rifle, on the day after the killing, had failed an accuracy test.” I have never heard of such a report, nor have I ever seen any evidence that Ray’s rifle was anything less than accurate. It is _highly_ improper for a witness to testify about such a report when the report is not in evidence, but of course, the other side would have to object to that line of questioning as hearsay, and Jowers didn’t defend himself at all. Nor have I ever seen any evidence that “the metallurgical composition of the death slug lead was different from the composition of the other bullets.” Unless somebody turns up some evidence of those wild-ass allegations, I’m going to have to conclude that Judge Joe Brown–who is, all things considered, a fucking loon–is either greatly exaggerating or making it up. If anybody has the slightest doubt that Loyd Jowers was a lying sack of shit, I would suggest that you read through [the Department of Justice report](http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part1.htm), which thoroughly documents his ever-changing story of lies, fabrications, falsehoods, and horseshit, created with the hope of striking it rich. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/19 "2003-01-25T00:54:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Sigh… > > I think the trial was yet another embarrassing moment for Dr. King’s family, who seem determined to tarnish his legacy. > > Several years ago, I recall seeing Dr. King’s son embracing James Earl Ray, and professing his belief in Ray’s innocence. I found that disgusting. James Earl Ray DID kill Dr. King. I’ve seen NO plausible evidence to suggest otherwise. > > Now, did Ray have some help (financial or otherwise) from somebody else? Possibly. He certainly EXPECTED to get a big payday from racist organizations in the South, The only question is, did he get concrete promises of money from such organizations, or did he simply hear rumors of racists offering money to anyone who’d kill King, and take action on his own. > > But Ray was the killer. There is no reasonable doubt about that. He was also a lifelong con man, and he uses his grifting skills to con the King family into working on his behalf. \*\* I’d post here, but this says it all. I guess there is some possibilty of some “unanmed government agancies” supplying some cash to Ray- but he pulled the trigger. There is as little doubt in that as there can be in anything that ocurred in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579/20 "2003-01-25T01:42:27Z")
The 3 1/2" left/ 4" down sounds like a none issue, without more data. What that probably means is that the rifle, when fired from a mechanical rest (remove human error), with that particular load, at that particular range, will hit a few inches off dead center. So what? Most rifles are not $20,000 jobs, handcrafted by german sniper gnomes. A few inches of swag doesn’t mean too much to the average race-war loving assassin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination-was-a-conspiracy/150579.md?page=2)