Who Killed Martin Luther King

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On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite investigations by multiple government agencies, an answer to this enduring mystery still eludes us.

Dr. King was killed by a single shot to the jaw which was fired by a rifle from a distance. James Earl Ray was arrested in London two months later and arraigned with the assassination. Ray confessed but later recanted his confession, claiming he was a pawn in a major conspiracy.

Although Ray was convicted and imprisoned, numerous conflicting facts about his motive, his links to organized crime, and questions about his mental capacity have led to continuous skepticism about his guilt. Several investigators and researchers, including the House Select Committee on Assassinations, raised the possibility of a conspiracy.

In 1999, Reverend James Lawson, one of Dr. King’s close friends and a leader in the civil rights movement, raised the possibility that agents of the FBI, police, and other government and private entities may have conspired to kill Dr. King. He believes these agencies worked together and collaborated with organized crime to plan, execute, and cover up the assassination.

Ray’s lawyers and the King family filed petitions asking for Ray’s freedom or a new trial on the grounds of a major conspiracy, but the state of Tennessee refused. Ray died in prison in 1998, never having the opportunity to prove his innocence.

The more the investigation into Dr. King’s assassination continues, the more it appears that government forces may have been responsible for his death. Even after all these years, we are still left with many unanswered questions and an uncertain future. Who killed Martin Luther King Jr.? The answer must remain an unanswered mystery for the time being.