138-627: James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive who was convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee , on April 4, 1968. After the assassination, Ray fled to London, England and was captured in the United Kingdom. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty plea—thus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of
276-487: A death sentence —and was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment. In 1993, Loyd Jowers , the owner of a restaurant, publicly began claiming that he had been part of a conspiracy to assassinate King and that Ray was a scapegoat. In a Memphis civil trial in 1999, a jury unanimously concluded that Jowers was liable for the assassination, that King was the victim of a conspiracy, and that various United States governmental agencies had conspired to murder King and frame Ray for
414-488: A $ 500,000 lawsuit against Tennessee seeking his release from prison on the grounds that crucial evidence in his case was mishandled by his attorney Percy Foreman, who pressured him to plead guilty, Foreman denied Ray's allegations, saying that he "spent approximately 20 hours over 4 1/2 days cross-examing Ray...At no time did he ever implicate anything or anybody other than himself." Ray spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure
552-528: A 39-year-old such as King, which Branch attributed to the stress of King's 13 years in the civil rights movement. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw a man, later believed to be James Earl Ray , fleeing from a rooming-house across the street from the Lorraine Motel. Ray had been renting a room in the rooming-house. Police found a package dumped close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both bearing Ray's fingerprints. Ray had purchased
690-460: A business exodus from Downtown Los Angeles since the COVID-19 pandemic , the city's urban core is evolving as a cultural center with the world's largest showcase of architecture designed by Frank Gehry . On September 4, 1781, a group of 44 settlers known as " Los Pobladores " founded the pueblo (town) they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles , 'The Town of Our Lady
828-516: A colleague from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , first believed King was dead, but found he still had a pulse. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital , where doctors opened his chest and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation . He never regained consciousness, and died at 7:05 p.m. According to Branch, King's autopsy revealed that his heart was in the condition of a 60-year-old man rather than that of
966-673: A conspiracy. In May 1977, Kershaw presented evidence to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he believed exonerated his client, but tests did not prove conclusive. Kershaw also claimed that Ray was somewhere else when the shots were fired, but he could not find a witness to corroborate the claim. Ray and seven other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee on June 10, 1977. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison. A year
1104-551: A guilty plea to avoid a conviction and potential death penalty . Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term, but he recanted his confession three days later. Ray fired Foreman and claimed that a man whom he had met in Montreal by the alias of "Raoul" was involved, as was Ray's brother Johnny, but that Ray himself was not. He said through his new attorney Jack Kershaw that, although he did not "personally shoot King", he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it", hinting at
1242-415: A jury trial. On June 10, 1977, Ray and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee . They were recaptured on June 13. A year was added to Ray's previous sentence, increasing it to a full century. Ray hired Jack Kershaw as his new attorney, and Kershaw publicly argued and promoted Ray's claim that he was not responsible for the assassination of King. His claim
1380-507: A man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raoul", had been involved in the assassination, and he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King" but may have been "partially responsible without knowing it", hinting at a conspiracy . Ray told this version of the assassination and his flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie . Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. Ray told Huie that he purposely left
1518-674: A new investigation on August 26, 1998. On June 9, 2000, the United States Department of Justice released a 150-page report rejecting allegations that there was a conspiracy to assassinate King, including the determination of the Memphis civil court jury. Before his death, Ray was transferred to the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville, a maximum-security prison with hospital facilities. Ray died on April 23, 1998, just 19 days after
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#17328482128601656-571: A poem by the Greek playwright Aeschylus : "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." In conclusion, he said that the country needed and wanted unity between blacks and whites, and asked the audience members to pray for the King family and the country, again quoting the Greeks. Kennedy's speech
1794-479: A profit; the other, according to an analysis of contemporary newspaper reports, was the 1932 Summer Olympics , also held in Los Angeles. Racial tensions erupted on April 29, 1992, with the acquittal by a Simi Valley jury of four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers captured on videotape beating Rodney King , culminating in large-scale riots . In 1994, the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake shook
1932-585: A safe house before travelling to Memphis. King participated in a massive march in Memphis on March 28, 1968, which ended in violence. On April 3, King returned to Memphis to attempt a successful new march later that week. His airline flight to Memphis was delayed by a bomb threat, but he arrived in time to make a planned speech to a gathering at the Mason Temple (world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ ). At
2070-532: A segregationist, described the assassination as a "senseless, regrettable act". But Governor Lester Maddox of Georgia called King "an enemy of our country" and threatened to "personally raise" the state capitol flag back from half-staff. California Governor Ronald Reagan described the assassination as "a great tragedy that began when we began compromising with law and order and people started choosing which laws they'd break". South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond wrote to his constituents: "We are now witnessing
2208-507: A single type, where industrial uses were prohibited. The proscriptions included barns, lumber yards, and any industrial land use employing machine-powered equipment. These laws were enforced against industrial properties after the fact. These prohibitions were in addition to existing activities that were already regulated as nuisances. These included explosives warehousing, gas works, oil drilling, slaughterhouses, and tanneries . Los Angeles City Council also designated seven industrial zones within
2346-441: A whole lot of black people today. There no longer needs to be intellectual discussions, black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry that she killed Dr. King last night. It would have been better if she had killed Rap Brown and/or Stokely Carmichael, but when she killed Dr. King, she lost. Despite the urging for calm by many leaders, a nationwide wave of riots erupted in more than 100 cities. After
2484-438: Is Mount San Antonio , locally known as Mount Baldy, which reaches 10,064 feet (3,068 m). Further afield, the highest point in southern California is San Gorgonio Mountain , 81 miles (130 km) east of downtown Los Angeles, with a height of 11,503 feet (3,506 m). The Los Angeles River , which is largely seasonal, is the primary drainage channel . It was straightened and lined in 51 miles (82 km) of concrete by
2622-707: Is a common problem in this population. Although Serieys et al. 2014 find selection of immune genetics at several loci they do not demonstrate that this produces a real difference which helps the bobcats to survive future mange outbreaks . Los Angeles is subject to earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire . The geologic instability has produced numerous faults , which cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes annually in Southern California, though most of them are too small to be felt. The strike-slip San Andreas Fault system, which sits at
2760-685: Is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.3 million residents. The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley , with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km ), and is the county seat of Los Angeles County , which
2898-452: Is complicated by rugged terrain, which has necessitated having different grids for each of the valleys that Los Angeles covers. Major streets are designed to move large volumes of traffic through many parts of the city, many of which are extremely long; Sepulveda Boulevard is 43 miles (69 km) long, while Foothill Boulevard is over 60 miles (97 km) long, reaching as far east as San Bernardino. Drivers in Los Angeles suffer from one of
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#17328482128603036-437: Is divided into many different districts and neighborhoods, some of which had been separately incorporated cities that eventually merged with Los Angeles. These neighborhoods were developed piecemeal, and are well-defined enough that the city has signage which marks nearly all of them. The city's street patterns generally follow a grid plan , with uniform block lengths and occasional roads that cut across blocks. However, this
3174-491: Is expected to continue to drop in the coming years because of aggressive steps to reduce it, which include electric and hybrid cars, improvements in mass transit , and other measures. The number of Stage 1 smog alerts in Los Angeles has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium. Despite improvement, the 2006 and 2007 annual reports of the American Lung Association ranked
3312-482: Is rich in native plant species partly because of its diversity of habitats, including beaches, wetlands , and mountains. The most prevalent plant communities are coastal sage scrub , chaparral shrubland, and riparian woodland . Native plants include: the California poppy , matilija poppy , toyon , Ceanothus , Chamise , Coast Live Oak , sycamore , willow and Giant Wildrye . Many of these native species, such as
3450-504: Is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022 . It is the third-most visited city in the U.S. with over 2.7 million visitors as of 2023. The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve , on
3588-522: Is what is going to happen to me also. I keep telling you, this is a sick society." King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee , in support of striking African-American city sanitation workers. The workers had staged a walkout on February 11, 1968, to protest unequal wages and working conditions imposed by mayor Henry Loeb . At the time, Memphis paid black workers significantly lower wages than it did white workers. There were no city-issued uniforms, no restrooms, no recognized union, and no grievance procedure for
3726-413: The 1916 New York City Zoning Ordinance did. Second, the residential zones did not distinguish types of housing; they treated apartments, hotels, and detached-single-family housing equally. In 1910, Hollywood merged into Los Angeles, with 10 movie companies already operating in the city at the time. By 1921, more than 80 percent of the world's film industry was concentrated in L.A. The money generated by
3864-762: The Army Corps of Engineers to act as a flood control channel. The river begins in the Canoga Park district of the city, flows east from the San Fernando Valley along the north edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, and turns south through the city center, flowing to its mouth in the Port of Long Beach at the Pacific Ocean. The smaller Ballona Creek flows into the Santa Monica Bay at Playa del Rey . Los Angeles
4002-529: The Hillside Stranglers murder cases in 1977–1978. In early 1984, the city surpassed Chicago in population, thus becoming the second largest city in the United States. In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time . Despite being boycotted by 14 Communist countries , the 1984 Olympics became more financially successful than any previous, and the second Olympics to turn
4140-536: The Los Angeles sunflower , have become so rare as to be considered endangered. Mexican Fan Palms , Canary Island Palms , Queen Palms , Date Palms , and California Fan Palms are common in the Los Angeles area, although only the last is native to California, though still not native to the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a number of official flora: The city has an urban population of bobcats ( Lynx rufus ). Mange
4278-571: The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel , the first mission in the area. On September 4, 1781, a group of 44 settlers known as " Los Pobladores " founded the pueblo (town) they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles , 'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels';. The present-day city has the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of
James Earl Ray - Misplaced Pages Continue
4416-757: The Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967 by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. Following his escape, Ray stayed on the move throughout the United States and Canada, going first to St. Louis and then onward to Chicago , Toronto , Montreal , and Birmingham, Alabama , where he stayed long enough to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang and get an Alabama driver's license. He then drove to Mexico , stopping in Acapulco before settling in Puerto Vallarta on October 19, 1967. While in Mexico, Ray, using
4554-468: The Selma to Montgomery March (1965). As he neared the close, he prophetically referred to the bomb threat: And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats ... or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to
4692-573: The South . David Halberstam , who reported on King's funeral, recounted a comment heard at an affluent white dinner party: One of the wives—station wagon, three children, forty-five-thousand-dollar house—leaned over and said, "I wish you had spit in his face for me." It was a stunning moment; I wondered for a long time afterwards what King could possibly have done to her, in what conceivable way he could have threatened her, why this passionate hate. Reporters recounted that many whites were also grief-stricken at
4830-560: The Spanish Empire in 1542, while on an official military exploring expedition, as he was moving northward along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of
4968-559: The siege of Los Angeles where 150 Mexican militias fought the occupiers which eventually surrendered. Mexican rule ended during following the American Conquest of California , part of the larger Mexican-American War . Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. The Mexican Cession
5106-715: The violent backlash beginning to emerge across the country. The next day, Kennedy gave a prepared response, " On the Mindless Menace of Violence ", in Cleveland , Ohio . Although still considered significant, it is given much less historical attention than his Indianapolis speech. President Lyndon B. Johnson was in the Oval Office that evening, planning a meeting in Hawaii with Vietnam War military commanders. After press secretary George Christian informed him at 8:20 p.m. of
5244-478: The 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California . Los Angeles has a diverse economy with a broad range of industries. Despite a steep exodus of film and television production since the COVID-19 pandemic , Los Angeles is still one of the largest hubs of American film production ,
5382-598: The 1930s, / l ɔː s ˈ æ n dʒ əl ə s / has been most common. In 1934, the United States Board on Geographic Names decreed that this pronunciation be used by the federal government. This was also endorsed in 1952 by a "jury" appointed by Mayor Fletcher Bowron to devise an official pronunciation. Common pronunciations in the United Kingdom include / l ɒ s ˈ æ n dʒ ɪ l iː z , - l ɪ z , - l ɪ s / loss AN -jil-eez, -iz, -iss . Phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis described
5520-503: The 20th century, Los Angeles substantially reduced the amount of housing that could be built by drastically downzoning the city. In 1960, the city had a total zoned capacity for approximately 10 million people. By 1990, that capacity had fallen to 4.5 million as a result of policy decisions to ban housing through zoning. Racial tensions led to the Watts riots in 1965, resulting in 34 deaths and over 1,000 injuries. In 1969, California became
5658-568: The 30th Anniversary of King's assassination, at the age of 70, at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital in Madison, Tennessee from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C having served 29 years in prison. His brother Jerry told CNN that his brother did not want to be buried or have his final resting place in the United States because of the way the government had treated him. His body
James Earl Ray - Misplaced Pages Continue
5796-497: The City of Los Angeles from selling or providing water from the aqueduct to any area outside its borders, many adjacent cities and communities felt compelled to join Los Angeles. Los Angeles created the first municipal zoning ordinance in the United States. On September 14, 1908, the Los Angeles City Council promulgated residential and industrial land use zones. The new ordinance established three residential zones of
5934-420: The King family in a wrongful death civil suit against Memphis restaurant owner Loyd Jowers , whose restaurant was near the Lorraine Motel. They sued Jowers for participation in a conspiracy to murder King. Rendering their verdict on December 8 of that year, the jury found that Jowers and others, including government agencies, had conspired to murder King, and he was therefore legally liable to pay compensation to
6072-428: The King family, believed Ray, and the family also urged publicly that Ray be granted a new trial. William Pepper , a friend of King during the last year of his life, represented Ray in a mock trial televised by HBO in an attempt to grant him the trial he never received. In the mock trial, the prosecutor was Hickman Ewing . The mock trial jury finally acquitted Ray. In 1998, and continuing into 1999, Pepper represented
6210-411: The King family. The family accepted $ 100 (~$ 183.00 in 2023) in restitution to demonstrate they were not pursuing the case for financial gain, and they publicly stated that Ray, in their opinion, had nothing to do with the assassination. Coretta Scott King said, "The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of
6348-674: The Los Angeles area include the 1933 Long Beach , 1971 San Fernando , 1987 Whittier Narrows , and the 1994 Northridge events. All but a few are of low intensity and are not felt. The USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast , which models earthquake occurrence in California. Parts of the city are also vulnerable to tsunamis ; harbor areas were damaged by waves from Aleutian Islands earthquake in 1946, Valdivia earthquake in 1960, Alaska earthquake in 1964, Chile earthquake in 2010 and Japan earthquake in 2011. The city
6486-498: The Los Angeles area was the headquarters of six of the country's major aircraft manufacturers ( Douglas Aircraft Company , Hughes Aircraft , Lockheed , North American Aviation , Northrop Corporation , and Vultee ). During the war, more aircraft were produced in one year than in all the pre-war years since the Wright brothers flew the first airplane in 1903, combined. Manufacturing in Los Angeles skyrocketed, and as William S. Knudsen , of
6624-675: The Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, Los Angeles suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion , which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, shipping, manufacturing, and other sources. The smog season lasts from approximately May to October. While other large cities rely on rain to clear smog, Los Angeles gets only 15 inches (380 mm) of rain each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days. Issues of air quality in Los Angeles and other major cities led to
6762-454: The Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame." Prompted by the King family's acceptance of some of the claims of conspiracy, United States Attorney General Janet Reno ordered
6900-689: The Mason Temple, King delivered his famous " I've Been to the Mountaintop " speech. In it, he recalled his 1958 attempted assassination, noting that the doctor who treated him had said that because the knife used to stab him was so close to his aorta, any sudden movement, even a sneeze, might have killed him. He referred to a letter written by a young girl who told him that she was happy that he had not sneezed. He used that reference to say: I, too, am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over
7038-484: The Mexican or ( New Spain ) settlers were mestizo or mulatto , a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820, the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street , the oldest part of Los Angeles. New Spain achieved its independence from
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#17328482128607176-509: The National Defense Advisory Commission put it, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible." After the end of World War II Los Angeles grew more rapidly than ever, sprawling into the San Fernando Valley . The expansion of the state owned Interstate Highway System during the 1950s and 1960s helped propel suburban growth and signaled
7314-555: The Queen of the Angels'. The original name of the settlement is disputed; the Guinness Book of World Records rendered it as "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula "; other sources have shortened or alternate versions of the longer name. The local English pronunciation of the name of the city has varied over time. A 1953 article in the journal of the American Name Society asserts that
7452-667: The San Fernando Valley. Other hilly parts of Los Angeles include the Mt. Washington area north of Downtown, eastern parts such as Boyle Heights , the Crenshaw district around the Baldwin Hills , and the San Pedro district. Surrounding the city are much higher mountains. Immediately to the north lie the San Gabriel Mountains , which is a popular recreation area for Angelenos. Its high point
7590-598: The South started sitting-in at lunch counters. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in interstate travel. King repeated the phrase "If I had sneezed" several more times, recalling numerous other events and acts of civil disobedience from the previous several years: the Albany Movement (1962), the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, and
7728-518: The Southern Californian coast, is subject to a late spring/early summer weather phenomenon called " June Gloom ". This involves overcast or foggy skies in the morning that yield to sun by early afternoon. More recently, statewide droughts in California have further strained the city's water security . Downtown Los Angeles averages 14.67 in (373 mm) of precipitation annually, mainly occurring between November and March, generally in
7866-468: The Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo now existed within the new Mexican Republic . During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles the regional capital of Alta California . By this time, the new republic introduced more secularization acts within the Los Angeles region. In 1846, during the wider Mexican-American war , marines from the United States occupied the pueblo. This resulted in
8004-453: The age of 12. He later joined the U.S. Army at the close of World War II and served in Germany. Ray struggled to adapt to military life and was eventually discharged for ineptitude and lack of adaptability in 1948. Ray committed a variety of crimes prior to the murder of King. Ray's first conviction for criminal activity, a burglary in California, came in 1949. In 1952, he served two years for
8142-470: The alias Eric Starvo Galt , attempted to establish himself as a pornographic film director. Using mail-ordered equipment, he filmed and photographed local prostitutes . Frustrated with his results and jilted by the prostitute with whom he had formed a relationship, Ray left Mexico on or around November 16, 1967, arriving in Los Angeles three days later. While there, Ray attended a local bartending school and took dance lessons. His chief interest, however,
8280-585: The armed robbery of a taxi driver in Illinois . In 1955, he was convicted of mail fraud after stealing money orders in Hannibal, Missouri . For this, he was imprisoned for four years in the federal United States Penitentiary Leavenworth . In 1959, he was caught stealing $ 120 (~$ 1,254 in 2023) in an armed robbery of a Kroger store in St. Louis . He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses . He escaped from
8418-425: The assassination to honor his most deeply held beliefs. James Farmer Jr. said: Dr. King would be greatly distressed to find that his blood had triggered off bloodshed and disorder. I think instead the nation should be quiet; black and white, and we should be in a prayerful mood, which would be in keeping with his life. We should make that kind of dedication and commitment to the goals which his life served to solving
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#17328482128608556-399: The assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, the mafia , and Memphis police , as alleged by Loyd Jowers in 1993. They believe that Ray was a scapegoat . In 1999, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers for the sum of $ 10 million. During closing arguments, their attorney asked the jury to award damages of $ 100, to make the point that "it
8694-406: The assassination, he canceled the trip to focus on the nation. He assigned Attorney General Ramsey Clark to investigate the assassination in Memphis. He made a personal call to King's wife, Coretta Scott King , and declared April 7 a national day of mourning on which the U.S. flag would be flown at half-staff . Colleagues of King in the civil rights movement called for a nonviolent response to
8832-469: The assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on favorable terms to the sanitation workers. On April 8, King's widow Coretta Scott King and her four young children led a crowd estimated at 40,000 in a silent march through the streets of Memphis to honor King and support the cause of the city's black sanitation workers. The next day, funeral rites were held in King's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia . The service at Ebenezer Baptist Church
8970-566: The assassination. The King family has consistently said that they believe Ray was innocent, though this conclusion was disputed by the United States Department of Justice in 2000. The King family has stated that they believe the true murderer was a Memphis Police Department officer, Lieutenant Earl Clark. Ray was born on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois , the son of George Ellis Ray and Lucille Ray ( née Maher). He had Irish , Scottish and Welsh ancestry. In February 1935, Ray's father, known by
9108-401: The attorney had been paid $ 11,000 (~$ 55,308 in 2023) by the magazine in exchange for the interview and instead hired attorney Mark Lane to provide him with legal representation. In 1997, King's son, Dexter , met with Ray at the prison and asked him, "I just want to ask you, for the record, did you kill my father?" Ray replied, "No. No I didn't." Dexter told Ray that he, along with the rest of
9246-435: The audience to pray for the King family and to follow King's practice of nonviolence. Mankiewicz and speechwriter Adam Walinsky drafted notes for Kennedy's use, but he refused them, using some that he had likely written during the ride to the site of the speech. The Indianapolis chief of police advised Kennedy that he could not provide him protection and was worried that he would be at risk when talking about King's death before
9384-730: The birthplace of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park . In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected as the city's first African American mayor, serving for five terms until retiring in 1993. Other events in the city during the 1970s included the Symbionese Liberation Army 's South Central standoff in 1974 and
9522-616: The boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate , passes through the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The segment of the fault passing through Southern California experiences a major earthquake roughly every 110 to 140 years, and seismologists have warned about the next "big one", as the last major earthquake was the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake . The Los Angeles basin and metropolitan area are also at risk from blind thrust earthquakes . Major earthquakes that have hit
9660-480: The boundary of a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csb on the coast, Csa otherwise). Daytime temperatures are generally temperate all year round. In winter, they average around 68 °F (20 °C). Autumn months tend to be hot, with major heat waves a common occurrence in September and October, while the spring months tend to be cooler and experience more precipitation. Los Angeles has plenty of sunshine throughout
9798-404: The city as the most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2008, the city was ranked the second most polluted and again had the highest year-round particulate pollution. The city met its goal of providing 20 percent of the city's power from renewable sources in 2010. The American Lung Association's 2013 survey ranks the metro area as having
9936-521: The city is 342 miles (550 km). Los Angeles is both flat and hilly. The highest point in the city proper is Mount Lukens at 5,074 ft (1,547 m), located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains at the north extent of the Crescenta Valley . The eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains stretches from Downtown to the Pacific Ocean and separates the Los Angeles Basin from
10074-459: The city limits as of 2023 , it is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City ; it is also the commercial, financial and cultural center of Southern California . Los Angeles has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 12.8 million people (2023). Greater Los Angeles , which includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas,
10212-550: The city, causing $ 12.5 billion in damage and 72 deaths. The century ended with the Rampart scandal , one of the most extensive documented cases of police misconduct in American history. In 2002, Mayor James Hahn led the campaign against secession, resulting in voters defeating efforts by the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to secede from the city. In 2022 , Karen Bass became the city's first female mayor , making Los Angeles
10350-487: The city. However, between 1908 and 1915, the Los Angeles City Council created various exceptions to the broad proscriptions that applied to these three residential zones, and as a consequence, some industrial uses emerged within them. There are two differences between the 1908 Residence District Ordinance and later zoning laws in the United States. First, the 1908 laws did not establish a comprehensive zoning map as
10488-409: The country's largest oil producer, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's petroleum output. By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000, putting pressure on the city's water supply . The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland , ensured the continued growth of the city. Because of clauses in the city's charter that prevented
10626-597: The day of the assassination while on the campaign trail for the Democratic presidential nomination in Indiana , Senator Robert F. Kennedy learned of the shooting before boarding a plane to Indianapolis . Kennedy was scheduled to make a speech there in a predominantly black neighborhood. Kennedy did not learn that King had died until he landed in Indianapolis. Kennedy's press secretary, Frank Mankiewicz , suggested that he ask
10764-470: The demise of the city's privately owned electrified rail system , once the world's largest. As a consequence of World War II, suburban growth, and population density, many amusement parks were built and operated in this area. An example is Beverly Park , which was located at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and La Cienega before being closed and substituted by the Beverly Center . In the second half of
10902-599: The difference between the average daily low and the average daily high is over 30 °F (17 °C). The average annual temperature of the sea is 63 °F (17 °C), from 58 °F (14 °C) in January to 68 °F (20 °C) in August. Hours of sunshine total more than 3,000 per year, from an average of 7 hours of sunshine per day in December to an average of 12 in July. Due to
11040-417: The domestic problems. That's the memorial, that's the kind of memorial we should build for him. It's just not appropriate for there to be violent retaliations, and that kind of demonstration in the wake of the murder of this pacifist and man of peace. However, the more militant Stokely Carmichael called for forceful action, saying: White America killed Dr. King last night. She made it a whole lot easier for
11178-515: The era of Spanish colonization). The historic center of Tongva power in the region was the settlement of Yaanga ( Tongva : Iyáangẚ ), meaning "place of the poison oak ", which would one day be the site where the Spanish founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles . Iyáangẚ has also been translated as "the valley of smoke". Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for
11316-619: The false name of Ramon George Sneyd. He left Toronto in late May on a flight to the United Kingdom. He stayed briefly in Lisbon , Portugal , and returned to London . In London, on June 4, he called The Daily Telegraph and requested to talk to Ian Colvin, the newspaper's foreign correspondent in Africa and the Middle East, whose articles about Africa he claimed to have read, and asked him to connect him to former British Army Commandant Alistair Wicks about
11454-420: The falsified Canadian passport. At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. Airport officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee , where he was charged with King's murder. He confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, his 41st birthday, and after pleading guilty he
11592-493: The finding of the Memphis jury were later disputed by the United States Department of Justice in 2000 due to perceived lack of evidence. The assassination was one of four major assassinations of the 1960s in the United States , coming several years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and two months before the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968. As early as
11730-407: The form of moderate rain showers, but sometimes as heavy rainfall during winter storms. Rainfall is usually higher in the hills and coastal slopes of the mountains because of orographic uplift. Summer days are usually rainless. Rarely, an incursion of moist air from the south or east can bring brief thunderstorms in late summer, especially to the mountains. The coast gets slightly less rainfall, while
11868-497: The glory of the coming of the Lord! On Thursday, April 4, 1968, King was staying in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel was owned by a businessman, Walter Bailey, and was named after his wife. The Rev. Ralph Abernathy , a colleague and friend, later told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he and King had stayed in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that it
12006-433: The hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity". The FBI investigation found fingerprints on various objects left in the bathroom from which the gunfire had come. Evidence included a Remington Gamemaster rifle from which at least one shot had been fired. The fingerprints were traced to an escaped convict named James Earl Ray . Two months after assassinating King, Ray
12144-550: The industry kept the city insulated from much of the economic loss suffered by the rest of the country during the Great Depression . By 1930, the population surpassed one million. In 1932, the city hosted the Summer Olympics . During World War II Los Angeles was a major center of wartime manufacturing, such as shipbuilding and aircraft. Calship built hundreds of Liberty Ships and Victory Ships on Terminal Island, and
12282-414: The injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man ." These remarks surprised his aides, who had never heard him speak publicly of his brother's death. Kennedy said that the country had to make an effort to "go beyond these rather difficult times" and quoted
12420-516: The inland and mountain areas get considerably more. Years of average rainfall are rare. The usual pattern is a year-to-year variability, with a short string of dry years of 5–10 in (130–250 mm) rainfall, followed by one or two wet years with more than 20 in (510 mm). Wet years are usually associated with warm water El Niño conditions in the Pacific, dry years with cooler water La Niña episodes. A series of rainy days can bring floods to
12558-491: The investigation remain classified and are slated to remain secret until 2027. In 2010, as in earlier years, some argued for passage of a proposed Records Collection Act , similar to a 1992 law concerning the Kennedy assassination , to require the immediate release of the records. The measure did not pass. A crowd of 300,000 attended King's funeral on April 9. Vice President Hubert Humphrey attended on behalf of Johnson, who
12696-570: The largest U.S. city to have ever had a woman as mayor. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games , making Los Angeles the third city to host the Olympics three times. The city of Los Angeles covers a total area of 502.7 square miles (1,302 km ), comprising 468.7 square miles (1,214 km ) of land and 34.0 square miles (88 km ) of water. The city extends for 44 miles (71 km) from north to south and for 29 miles (47 km) from east to west. The perimeter of
12834-473: The leader's death. In some cases, the shock of events altered opinions. A survey later sent to a group of college trustees revealed that their opinions of King had risen after his assassination. The New York Times praised King in an editorial, calling his murder a "national disaster" and his cause "just". Public figures generally praised King in the days following his death. Others expressed political ideology. Governor George Wallace of Alabama, known as
12972-490: The lowest is 28 °F (−2 °C), on January 4, 1949. Within the City of Los Angeles, the highest temperature ever officially recorded is 121 °F (49 °C), on September 6, 2020, at the weather station at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Woodland Hills . During autumn and winter, Santa Ana winds sometimes bring much warmer and drier conditions to Los Angeles, and raise wildfire risk. Owing to geography, heavy reliance on automobiles, and
13110-505: The lowlands and mudslides to the hills, especially after wildfires have denuded the slopes. Both freezing temperatures and snowfall are extremely rare in the city basin and along the coast, with the last occurrence of a 32 °F (0 °C) reading at the downtown station being January 29, 1979; freezing temperatures occur nearly every year in valley locations while the mountains within city limits typically receive snowfall every winter. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles
13248-425: The mid-1950s, Martin Luther King Jr. had received death threats because of his prominence in the civil rights movement. He had confronted the risk of death, including a nearly fatal stabbing in 1958, and made its recognition part of his philosophy. He taught that murder could not stop the struggle for equal rights. After the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, King told his wife, Coretta Scott King , "This
13386-520: The most common one, / l ɒ s ˈ æ n dʒ ɪ l iː z / , as a spelling pronunciation based on analogy to Greek words ending in -es , "reflecting a time when the classics were familiar if Spanish was not". The settlement of Indigenous Californians in the modern Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley was dominated by the Tongva (now also known as the Gabrieleño since
13524-532: The mountainous terrain of the surrounding region, the Los Angeles area contains a large number of distinct microclimates , causing extreme variations in temperature in close physical proximity to each other. For example, the average July maximum temperature at the Santa Monica Pier is 70 °F (21 °C) whereas it is 95 °F (35 °C) in Canoga Park, 15 miles (24 km) away. The city, like much of
13662-495: The mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen
13800-475: The name's pronunciation with a hard g ( / ɡ / ), reported that there were at least 12 pronunciation variants. In the early 1900s, the Los Angeles Times advocated for pronouncing it Loce AHNG-hayl-ais ( / l oʊ s ˈ ɑː ŋ h eɪ l eɪ s / ), approximating Spanish [los ˈaŋxeles] , by printing the respelling under its masthead for several years. This did not find favor. Since
13938-513: The nickname Great Dane, passed a bad check in Alton, Illinois, and then moved to Ewing, Missouri , where the family changed their name to Raynes to avoid law enforcement. James Earl Ray was the oldest of nine children, including John Larry Ray, Franklin Ray, Jerry William Ray, Melba Ray, Carol Ray Pepper, Suzan Ray, and Marjorie Ray. His sister Marjorie died in a fire as a young child in 1933. Ray left school at
14076-517: The numerous occasions on which they were underpaid. During Loeb's tenure as mayor, conditions did not significantly improve, and the gruesome February 1968 deaths of two workers in a garbage-compacting truck turned mounting tensions into a strike. In March 1968, after speaking in Greensboro, Alabama , King was hunted by Ku Klux Klan members and used a local home, now the Safe House Museum , as
14214-542: The one that had touched her the most. For some, King's assassination meant the end of the strategy of nonviolence . Others in the movement reaffirmed the need to carry on King's and the movement's work. Leaders within the SCLC confirmed that they would carry on the Poor People's Campaign that year despite the loss of King. Some black leaders argued the need to continue King's and the movement's tradition of nonviolence. During
14352-507: The passage of early national environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act . When the act was passed, California was unable to create a State Implementation Plan that would enable it to meet the new air quality standards, largely because of the level of pollution in Los Angeles generated by older vehicles. More recently, the state of California has led the nation in working to limit pollution by mandating low-emission vehicles . Smog
14490-524: The possibility of becoming a mercenary in Africa. Ray contacted Colvin again on June 6 for further inquiry, after no contact from Wicks. Colvin told Ray that it was not a good time to become a mercenary, but nevertheless gave him an address in Brussels. Ray was then arrested at London Heathrow Airport attempting to leave the UK for Brussels . He was trying to depart the UK for Angola , Rhodesia or South Africa using
14628-544: The predominantly black crowd. However, Kennedy decided to proceed. Standing on a flatbed truck, he spoke for four minutes and 57 seconds. Kennedy was the first to tell the audience that King had died. Some of the attendees screamed and wailed in grief. Several of Kennedy's aides were worried that the delivery of this information would result in a riot. When the audience quieted, Kennedy acknowledged that many would be filled with anger. He said: "For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of
14766-438: The prison escape was additional proof that Ray had been involved in a conspiracy that had provided him with the outside assistance he would have needed to break out of prison. Kershaw convinced Ray to submit to a polygraph test as part of an interview with Playboy . The magazine reported that the test results showed "Ray did, in fact, kill Martin Luther King Jr. and that he did so alone." Ray then fired Kershaw after discovering
14904-423: The pronunciation / l ɔː s ˈ æ n dʒ əl ə s / lawss AN -jəl-əs was established following the 1850 incorporation of the city and that since the 1880s the pronunciation / l oʊ s ˈ æ ŋ ɡ əl ə s / lohss ANG -gəl-əs emerged from a trend in California to give places Spanish, or Spanish-sounding, names and pronunciations. In 1908, librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis , who argued for
15042-554: The rest of the surrounding landscape. Most construction is done in separate units, rather than wall-to-wall . However, Downtown Los Angeles itself has many buildings over 30 stories, with fourteen over 50 stories, and two over 70 stories, the tallest of which is the Wilshire Grand Center . Los Angeles has a two-season semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSh ) with dry summers and very mild winters, but it receives more annual precipitation than most semi-arid climates, narrowly missing
15180-475: The rifle under an alias six days earlier. A worldwide manhunt was triggered that culminated in Ray's arrest at Heathrow Airport , London, two months later. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Martin Luther King Jr.; he later recanted. King's widow, Coretta, had difficulty informing her children that their father was dead. She received a large number of telegrams, including one from Lee Harvey Oswald 's mother that she regarded as
15318-447: The rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace. In December 1973, Ray filed
15456-505: The rifle. He told the store owners that he was going on a hunting trip with his brother. Ray had continued using the Galt alias after his stint in Mexico, but when he made this purchase, he gave his name as Harvey Lowmeyer. After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. An avid newspaper reader, Ray passed his time reading The Atlanta Constitution . The paper reported King's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee, which
15594-474: The room. On the map, the locations of the church and residence of Martin Luther King Jr. were circled. Ray was soon on the road again and drove his Mustang to Birmingham, Alabama. There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06 -caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. He also bought a Redfield 2x–7x scope , which he had mounted to
15732-490: The shot ripped King's necktie off. King fell backward onto the balcony, unconscious. Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the deck, bleeding profusely from the wound in his cheek. Jesse Jackson stated after the shooting that he cradled King's head as King lay on the balcony, but this account was disputed by other colleagues of King; Jackson later changed his statement to say that he had "reached out" for King. Andrew Young ,
15870-463: The shot was fired, Ray was seen fleeing from the rooming house. A package was abandoned close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both with Ray's fingerprints. Ray fled to Atlanta in his white Ford Mustang, driving for eleven hours. He picked up his belongings and fled north to Canada, arriving in Toronto three days later, where he hid for over a month and acquired a Canadian passport under
16008-635: The village of Yaanga . It became a part of the First Mexican Empire in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence . In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War , Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and became part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood . The discovery of oil in
16146-417: The whirlwind sowed years ago when some preachers and teachers began telling people that each man could be his own judge in his own case." The Federal Bureau of Investigation was assigned the lead to investigate King's death. J. Edgar Hoover , who had previously made efforts to undermine King's reputation, told President Johnson that his agency would attempt to find the culprit(s). Many documents related to
16284-507: The world's largest by revenue; the city is an important site in the history of film . It also has one of the busiest container ports in the Americas. In 2018, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $ 1.0 trillion, making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after New York and Tokyo . Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984 , and will also host in 2028 . Despite
16422-635: The worst rush hour periods in the world, according to an annual traffic index by navigation system maker, TomTom . LA drivers spend an additional 92 hours in traffic each year. During the peak rush hour, there is 80% congestion, according to the index. Los Angeles is often characterized by the presence of low-rise buildings, in contrast to New York City. Outside of a few centers such as Downtown , Warner Center , Century City , Koreatown , Miracle Mile , Hollywood, and Westwood , skyscrapers and high-rise buildings are not common in Los Angeles. The few skyscrapers built outside of those areas often stand out above
16560-572: The year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually. Temperatures in the coastal basin exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on a dozen or so days in the year, from one day a month in April, May, June and November to three days a month in July, August, October and to five days in September. Temperatures in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys are considerably warmer. Temperatures are subject to substantial daily swings; in inland areas
16698-576: Was cremated and his ashes were flown to Ireland , the home of his maternal family's ancestors. Ten years later, Ray's other brother, John Larry Ray, co-authored a book with Lyndon Barsten titled Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. City of Memphis City of Nashville Other localities Campaigns Death and memorial Martin Luther King Jr. , an American civil rights activist,
16836-497: Was 2.0 inches (5 cm) on January 15, 1932. While the most recent snowfall occurred in February 2019, the first snowfall since 1962, with snow falling in areas adjacent to Los Angeles as recently as January 2021. Brief, localized instances of hail can occur on rare occasions, but are more common than snowfall. At the official downtown station, the highest recorded temperature is 113 °F (45 °C) on September 27, 2010, while
16974-445: Was added to Ray's sentence. Ray worked for the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a full trial. In 1997, King's son Dexter met with Ray; he publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial . Los Angeles Los Angeles , often referred to by its initials L.A. , is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California . With an estimated 3,820,914 residents within
17112-474: Was arrested on June 8, 1968, at London's Heathrow Airport , extradited to the United States and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary . He later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury, but was unsuccessful. Ray died in prison in 1998. The King family and others believe that
17250-514: Was at a meeting on the Vietnam War at Camp David ; there were fears that Johnson might be hit with protests and abuse over the war if he attended the funeral. At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral; it was a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, he asked that, at his funeral, no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said he tried to "feed
17388-469: Was captured at London 's Heathrow Airport while he was trying to depart the United Kingdom for Angola , Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe ) or South Africa on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. Ray confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman , Ray took
17526-426: Was credited with assisting in the prevention of post-assassination rioting in Indianapolis on a night when such events broke out in major cities across the country. It is widely considered one of the greatest speeches in American history. Kennedy canceled all of his scheduled campaign appearances and withdrew to his hotel room. Several phone conversations with black community leaders convinced him to speak out against
17664-424: Was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee , on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST . He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital , where he died at 7:05 p.m at age 39. He was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience . James Earl Ray , a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary ,
17802-494: Was formalized in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which ceded Los Angeles and the rest of Alta California to the United States. Railroads arrived with the completion of the transcontinental Southern Pacific line from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1876 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885. Petroleum was discovered in the city and surrounding area in 1892, and by 1923, the discoveries had helped California become
17940-503: Was his intended destination after King's assassination. The Rhodesian government expressed its disapproval. On March 5, 1968, Ray had an operation on his nose, performed by physician Russell Hadley. On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta , Georgia. Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house . He bought a map of the city. FBI agents later found this map when they searched
18078-454: Was known as the "King–Abernathy Suite". King's last words were to musician Ben Branch , who was scheduled to perform that night at a planned event. King said, "Ben, make sure you play ' Take My Hand, Precious Lord ' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." According to the Rev. Samuel Kyles, who was standing several feet away, King was leaning over the balcony railing in front of Room 306 and
18216-460: Was nationally televised, as were other events. A funeral procession transported King's body for 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (5.6 km) through the streets of Atlanta, followed by more than 100,000 mourners, from the church to his alma mater , Morehouse College . A second service was held there before the burial. In the wake of King's assassination, journalists reported some callous or hostile reactions from parts of white America, particularly in
18354-417: Was not about the money". During the trial, both sides presented evidence alleging a government conspiracy. The accused government agencies could not defend themselves or respond because they were not named as defendants. Based on the evidence, the jury concluded that Jowers and others were "part of a conspiracy to kill King" and awarded the family the symbolic $ 100 they requested in damages. The allegations and
18492-446: Was scheduled for April 1, 1968. On April 2, Ray packed a bag and drove to Memphis. On April 4, 1968, Ray rented a room in a rooming house across the street from the motel. He subsequently locked himself in the bathroom, stood in the bathtub, opened the window and fired a single shot at Martin Luther King Jr. from a Remington rifle while King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Shortly after
18630-579: Was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Three days later, Ray recanted his confession. He had entered a guilty plea on the advice of his attorney, Percy Foreman , to avoid the sentence of death by electrocution , which would have been a possible outcome of a jury trial . Unbeknownst to Ray, however, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia . Ray dismissed Foreman as his attorney and thereafter derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher". Ray began claiming that
18768-403: Was speaking with the Rev. Jesse Jackson when the shot rang out. King was struck in the face at 6:01 p.m. by a single .30-06 bullet , fired from a Remington Model 760 rifle. The bullet entered through King's right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled down his spinal cord, severing his jugular vein and major arteries, before lodging in his shoulder. The force of
18906-507: Was that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy of the otherwise unidentified man named "Raoul" who was a blond Cuban. Kershaw and his client met with representatives of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and convinced the committee to conduct ballistics tests that they believed would prove Ray had not fired the fatal shot. The tests ultimately proved inconclusive. Kershaw claimed
19044-713: Was the George Wallace presidential campaign . Ray was quickly drawn to Wallace's segregationist platform. He spent much of his time in Los Angeles volunteering at the Wallace campaign headquarters in North Hollywood . He considered emigrating to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ), where a predominantly white minority regime had unilaterally assumed independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. The notion of living in Rhodesia continued to appeal to Ray for several years afterwards, and it
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