Top Skip to main content. Martin Luther King Jr. King was killed by one shot fired from in front of him The shot that killed Dr. James Earl Ray purchased the rifle that was used to shoot Dr.
King and transported it from Birmingham, Ala. King for a period immediately preceding the assassination James Earl Ray fled the scene of the crime immediately after the assassination James Earl Ray's alibi for the time of the assassination, his story of "Raoul," and other allegedly exculpatory evidence are not worthy of belief James Earl Ray knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Shortly after 6 p. He was pronounced dead at p. Joseph Hospital. Criminal Court to the first degree murder of Dr. He was sentenced to 99 years at the State penitentiary. At age 16, Ray moved back to Alton, where he lived with his grandmother. He was laid off in December and, 6 weeks later, enlisted in the Army.
He was stationed in West Germany where he was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest. Ray was discharged for ineptness and lack of adaptability for service in December After his discharge, Ray returned to stay with his grandmother in Alton, Ill.
He worked for the Dryden Rubber Co. On October 11, he was arrested for robbing a cafe and was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment. Upon his release from jail in Los Angeles in the spring of , he traveled back to Illinois, where he worked until May During this time he attempted to earn his high school diploma at night.
