Who Shot Martin Luther King?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Examining some of the more recent theories of the crime, including allegations that there was a St. Louis conspiracy.

by J. J. Maloney

As 69-year-old James Earl Ray wasted away in a Tennessee prison - suffering from terminal liver disease - even the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. argued that he should be allowed a trial on whether he killed the Nobel Prize winning civil-rights leader.

Shelby County, Tennessee, Judge Joe Brown had ruled that 12 of 18 test bullets fired recently through the rifle long thought to be the murder weapon had markings different from the markings on the bullet that killed Dr. King. The rifle tested was the rifle that was found near the murder scene, within minutes of the shooting, with Ray's fingerprint on it. It has long been alleged, by Ray and many others, that the rifle was planted and that Ray was just a "patsy" in the conspiracy to kill Dr. King. These test results support that contention.