Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
| Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Part of the civil rights movement | |
Lorraine Motel in 2025. The wreath marks King's approximate location at the time of his assassination. | |
| Location | Lorraine Motel Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 35°08′04″N 90°03′27″W / 35.1345°N 90.0576°W |
| Date | April 4, 1968 6:01 p.m. (CST (UTC–6)) |
| Target | Martin Luther King Jr. |
Attack type | Sniper assassination |
| Weapons | Remington 760 Gamemaster .30-06 |
| Victim | Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Perpetrators | Disputed
|
| Convictions | Ray: First-degree murder |
| Sentence | 99 years imprisonment |
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Sermons and speeches
Campaigns
Legacy
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On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST, Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m at age 39.[1]
The alleged assassin, James Earl Ray, an escaped convict from the Missouri State Penitentiary, 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, Ray pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.[2] He later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury, but was unsuccessful, before he died in 1998.[3]
The King family and others believe that 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 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.[4][5] The allegations and the finding of the Memphis jury were later disputed by the United States Department of Justice in 2000 due to perceived lack of evidence.[6]
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.[7]
- ^ Final Report 1979, p. 289.
- ^ Pepper 2003, p. 8.
- ^ Pepper 2003, p. 97.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Douglass2000was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Yellin, Emily (December 9, 1999). "Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ "Overview". United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. U.S. Department of Justice. June 2000. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Shahidullah, Shahid M. (2015). Crime Policy in America: Laws, Institutions, and Programs. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-4098-5.