Martin Luther King Jr.

===Allegations of conspiracy===
{{Main|Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories}}
[[File:Martin Luther King Jr Coretta Scott King Tomb.jpg|thumb|The [[sarcophagus]] for Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King is within the [[Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park]] in [[Atlanta]], Georgia.]]

Ray's lawyers maintained he was a [[scapegoat]] similar to the way that John F. Kennedy's assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] is seen by [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy theorists]].<ref name=CNN1>{{cite news|title=From small-time criminal to notorious assassin|publisher=CNN|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/|access-date=September 17, 2006|year=1998|archive-date=October 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025032408/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/|url-status=live}}</ref> Supporters of this assertion said that Ray's confession was given under pressure and that he had been threatened with the death penalty.<ref name=cbs/><ref>{{cite book| title= Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia| url= https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851| url-access= limited| last =Knight | first =Peter| page= [https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851/page/n419 402]| isbn= 1-57607-812-4| publisher= ABC-CLIO| year= 2003}}
</ref> They admitted that Ray was a thief and burglar, but claimed that he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.<ref name=davis/> However, prison records in different U.S. cities have shown that he was incarcerated on numerous occasions for armed robbery.<ref name=mlkassassin /> In a 2008 interview with [[CNN]], Jerry Ray, the younger brother of James Earl Ray, claimed that James was smart and was sometimes able to get away with armed robbery. "I never been with nobody as bold as he is," Jerry said. "He just walked in and put that gun on somebody, it was just like it's an everyday thing."<ref name=mlkassassin />

Those suspecting a conspiracy point to the two successive [[ballistics]] tests which proved that a rifle similar to Ray's [[Remington Arms|Remington]] Gamemaster had been the murder weapon. Those tests did not implicate Ray's specific rifle.<ref name=cbs/><ref name=BBC-WEB1>{{cite news|title=Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death|publisher=BBC|date=April 23, 1998|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-date=January 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112023540/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Witnesses near King said that the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the boarding house—which had been cut away in the days following the assassination—and not from the boarding house window.<ref name=Gerold>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/americandeathtr00fran/page/283 283]|last= Frank|first=Gerold|author-link=Gerold Frank|year=1972|publisher= Doubleday|title=An American Death: The True Story of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Greatest Manhunt of our Time|url=https://archive.org/details/americandeathtr00fran|url-access=registration}}</ref> However, Ray's fingerprints were found on various objects in the bathroom where it was determined the gunfire came from.<ref name=mlkassassin>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/mlk.ray.case/index.html|title=The case against James Earl Ray|first=James|last=Polk|publisher=CNN|date=December 29, 2008|access-date=July 12, 2014|archive-date=July 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714194427/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/mlk.ray.case/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> An examination of the rifle containing Ray's fingerprints determined that at least one shot was fired from the firearm at the time of the assassination.<ref name=mlkassassin />

In 1997, King's son Dexter Scott King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a [[new trial]].<ref name=CNN2>{{cite news|title=James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies|publisher=CNN|date=April 23, 1998|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2|access-date=September 17, 2006|archive-date=October 29, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029154237/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2|url-status=live}}</ref> Two years later, King's widow Coretta Scott King and the couple's children, represented by [[William F. Pepper]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide|page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporarycont0000smit/page/97 97]|last1=Smith|first1=Robert Charles|first2=Richard|last2=Seltzer|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2000|isbn=0-7425-0025-X|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporarycont0000smit}}</ref> won a [[wrongful death claim]] against [[Loyd Jowers]] and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury found Jowers to be complicit in a conspiracy and that government agencies were party to the assassination.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trial Transcript Volume XIV|publisher=The King Center|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506041106/http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html|archive-date=May 6, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/10/us/dr-king-s-slaying-finally-draws-a-jury-verdict-but-to-little-effect.html |title=Dr. King's Slaying Finally Draws A Jury Verdict, but to Little Effect |author1=Sack, Kevin |author2=Yellin, Emily |date=December 10, 1999 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 20, 2013 |archive-date=January 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126032638/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/10/us/dr-king-s-slaying-finally-draws-a-jury-verdict-but-to-little-effect.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>&nbsp;

In 2000, the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] completed the investigation into Jowers' claims but did not find evidence of conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless new reliable facts are presented.<ref name="usdoj2">{{cite book| title=United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr|chapter=Overview|publisher=[[U.S. Department of Justice]]|date=June 2000|url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part1.php|chapter-url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part2.php#over|access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113154920/http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part2.php |url-status=dead}}
</ref> A sister of Jowers admitted that he had fabricated the story so he could make $300,000 from selling the story, and she corroborated his story to get money to pay her income tax.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/memphis/memphis2.htm | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | title=The Truth About Memphis | author=Posner, Gerald |date=January 30, 1999 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111161639/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/memphis/memphis2.htm |archive-date=November 11, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/us/loyd-jowers-73-who-claimed-a-role-in-the-killing-of-dr-king.html | work=The New York Times | title=Loyd Jowers, 73, Who Claimed A Role in the Killing of Dr. King | date=May 23, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715182331/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/us/loyd-jowers-73-who-claimed-a-role-in-the-killing-of-dr-king.html |archive-date=July 15, 2014}}</ref>

In 2002, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that a church minister, Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson, assassinated King. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way." Wilson provided no evidence to back up his claims.<ref name=NYTORIG>{{cite news|title=A Minister Says His Father, Now Dead, Killed Dr. King|work=The New York Times|date=April 5, 2002| first=Dana|last=Canedy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/us/a-minister-says-his-father-now-dead-killed-dr-king.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110235447/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/us/a-minister-says-his-father-now-dead-killed-dr-king.html |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>

King researchers [[David Garrow]] and [[Gerald Posner]] disagreed with Pepper's claims that the government killed King.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Revolution: Events and Leaders, 1955–1968|last=Sargent|first=Frederic O.|page=129|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|isbn=0-7864-1914-8}}
</ref> In 2003, Pepper published a book about the investigation and trial, as well as his representation of James Earl Ray in his bid for a trial.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King|last=Pepper|first=William|page=[https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/182 182]|publisher=Verso|year=2003|isbn=1-85984-695-5|url=https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/182}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/the-colours-of-conspiracy/175344.article|title=The colours of conspiracy|last=King|first=Desmond|date=March 14, 2003|work=[[Times Higher Education]]|access-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129195152/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/the-colours-of-conspiracy/175344.article |archive-date=January 29, 2018}}</ref> James Bevel also disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor|title=At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2006|isbn=978-0-684-85712-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/atcanaansedgeame00bran/page/770 770]|url=https://archive.org/details/atcanaansedgeame00bran/page/770}}
</ref> In 2004, Jesse Jackson stated:

{{blockquote|The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks.&nbsp;... I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.<ref name=Demo>{{cite news|last1=Goodman|first1=Amy|first2=Juan|last2=Gonzalez|title=Jesse Jackson On 'Mad Dean Disease', the 2000 Elections and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King|publisher=[[Democracy Now!]]|date=January 15, 2004|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2004/1/15/rev_jesse_jackson_on_mad_dean|access-date=September 18, 2006|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219124722/https://www.democracynow.org/2004/1/15/rev_jesse_jackson_on_mad_dean|url-status=live}}</ref>}}