Page 18 - MLK Day Booklet 2021

EPILOGUE

On Dec. 8, 1999, a jury in Memphis, Tenn., deliber-
ated for only three hours before deciding that the

long-held official version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s

assassination was wrong. The jury’s verdict impli-

cated a retired Memphis businessman and govern-

ment agencies in a conspiracy to kill the civil rights

giant.

Though the trial testimony had received little press
attention outside of the Memphis area, the star-

tling outcome drew an immediate rebuttal from

defenders of the official finding: that James Earl

Ray acted alone or possibly as part of a low-level

conspiracy of a few white racists.

Leading newspapers across the country disparaged

the December verdict as the product of a flawed
conspiracy theory given a one-sided presenta-

tion. The Washington Post even lumped the con-

spiracy proponents in with those who insist Adolf

Hitler was unfairly accused of genocide.