Civil rights leaders urge James Earl Ray to tell all

July 12, 1997
Web posted at: 1:59 p.m. EDT (1759 GMT)

PITTSBURGH (CNN) -- Civil rights leaders called on James Earl Ray to tell everything he knows about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. if he hopes to undergo a trial for the 1968 murder.

The statements poured in following an announcement by a Memphis judge that bullets fired from Ray's rifle do not match the bullet that killed King.

"James Earl Ray has a chance right now to tell us things that none of us know. If James Earl Ray confesses to the public that he has more information and more people, there will be a trial," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said.

"If he cannot get beyond the mysterious figure called 'Raoul,' he does not warrant another trial."

Rev. Jesse Jackson....
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Ray pleaded guilty to the April 4, 1968, assassination of King on a hotel balcony in Memphis and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and has sought a trial. He claims a gunrunner named Raoul planted Ray's rifle near the murder scene.

King's family and others support the idea of a trial, having long feared Ray will take the truth to his grave if a trial is never held. Ray, 69, has terminal liver disease and is in need of a transplant.

"If James Earl Ray can come up with helpful evidence, then why not?" said Jody Armour, an NAACP member and a law professor at the University of Southern California. "Prosecutors have certainly cut similar deals with defendants in the past."

NAACP general counsel Dennis Hayes said he will not support further investigation into King's death until he is satisfied Ray has told all he knows.

"James Earl Ray says he did not pull the trigger, but he has not come forward with what he does know," Hayes said at NAACP convention lunch in Pittsburgh.

Others said King's relatives should have the final say about the investigation.

"The status of the case should be based on what's best for the King family," said NAACP member Bernard Taylor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.