James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American criminal convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ray was convicted on March 10, 1969, after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and tried unsuccessfully to gain a new trial. He died in prison of hepatitis C.
Read more about James Earl Ray: Early Life, Initial Convictions and First Escape From Prison, Activity in 1967, Activity in Early 1968, Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Second Escape From Prison, Conspiracy Allegations, Death
Famous quotes containing the words james, earl and/or ray:
“The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender.”
—Philip Guedalla (1889–1944)
“Midnight Special on a sabre track movering movering,
first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah.”
—Robert Earl Hayden (1913–1980)
“These facts have always suggested to man the sublime creed that the world is not the product of manifold power, but of one will, of one mind; and that one mind is everywhere active, in each ray of the star, in each wavelet of the pool; and whatever opposes that will is everywhere balked and baffled, because things are made so, and not otherwise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)