DATE=12/9/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=KING CONSPIRACY
NUMBER=5-44951
BYLINE=MICHAEL LELAND
DATELINE=CHICAGO
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  A jury in the (Southern) U-S city of Memphis, 
Tennessee, has found the 1968 assassination of U-S 
civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was the 
result of a conspiracy.  The verdict came at the end 
of a wrongful death suit filed by the King family 
against the owner of a Memphis cafe.  But, as we hear 
from V-O-A's Michael Leland, the verdict is not likely 
to result in any criminal charges.

TEXT:  Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and 
killed on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of 
his motel room in Memphis.  James Earl Ray confessed 
to the killing, but later recanted his confession and 
tried unsuccessfully to win his freedom from prison 
until his death last year.  Many conspiracy theorists, 
and the King family itself, have long believed the 
civil rights leader's murder was the result of a 
conspiracy.  On Wednesday, a Memphis jury agreed.  It 
ruled cafe owner Loyd Jowers and others - including 
governmental agencies - were part of a conspiracy to 
assassinate Dr. King.

In 1993, Mr. Jowers said in a television interview he 
had hired a Memphis police officer to kill Dr. King 
from the bushes of his cafe, which was located across 
the street from the motel where Dr. King was slain.  
He said he was paid to do so by a local grocery store 
owner with Mafia connections.

The jury awarded the King family a symbolic sum of 
one-hundred dollars.  Dr. King's son, Dexter King, 
says the family was looking for truth from the jury, 
not money, and is satisfied with the verdict.

            /// DEXTER KING ACT ///  

      For the family, I think, for us, this is the end 
      of the road.  This was the final legal remedy 
      available for us.  We exercised it, and we were 
      victorious.  I think we can move on with our 
      lives and know that we did all we could.  I 
      think my dad would be proud that we really 
      sought the truth and justice: everything he 
      talked about and everything he stood for.

            /// END ACT ///

Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, is hoping the 
verdict will change the legal and historical view of 
the assassination.

            /// CORETTA KING ACT //  
      My husband once said, "the moral arc of the 
      universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  
      Today, almost 32 years after my husband and the 
      father of my four children was assassinated, I 
      feel that the jury's verdict clearly affirms 
      this principle.

            /// END ACT ///

Local law enforcement officials say the verdict is not 
likely to result in criminal charges.  One reason is 
the burden of proof is much higher for criminal trials 
than for civil ones.  Last year the U-S Justice 
Department began an investigation into whether the 
assassination was the result of a conspiracy. The 
results could be released within a few weeks.  But, 
Deputy U-S Attorney General Eric Holder says not to 
expect any dramatic findings.

            /// HOLDER ACT ///  

      I would not want people to think that on the 
      basis of the work that we have done that there 
      is the likelihood of any kind of criminal trial.

            /// END ACT ///

U-S Congressman John Lewis of Georgia says he will ask 
President Clinton and U-S Attorney General Janet Reno 
to order a fresh investigation into the King 
assassination.  (Signed)

NEB/MJL/gm





09-Dec-1999 16:09 PM EDT (09-Dec-1999 2109 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.