From Reuters News Service: Wednesday December 25 3:21 PM EST Martin Luther King Assassin in Coma, Near Death NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuter) - James Earl Ray, imprisoned for assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was near death in a hospital, suffering from liver failure, prison officials say. "His condition is critical," said Jim Rose, assistant commissioner at the Tennessee State Corrections Department. Ray, 68, was brought to Columbia Memorial Hospital on Saturday from a prison hospital in West Nashville. He was moved from his cell in Riverbend Maximum Security Prison near Nashville a month ago, and has been ill for more than a year, prison officials said. They refused to describe Ray's specific illness, citing confidentiality laws. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the April 4, 1968, shooting of King as the famed civil rights leader stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. Police found a rifle next door to a shoddy rooming house where the shot was fired at the hotel from a second-floor bathroom window, but Ray escaped. Fingerprints on the rifle were traced to Ray, and he was tracked to Atlanta, to Toronto, over to London, then to Portugal and finally back to London where he was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives on June 8. Although Ray confessed to the slaying and a trial was never held, he soon recanted and has repeatedly sought a full court hearing. Ray said he only bought the rifle in a Birmingham, Ala., sporting goods store for the real killer, a mystery accomplice he named as "Raoul," and fled from outside the Memphis flophouse when he saw police converge on the area. Ever since King's slaying, which touched off weeks of race riots in cities across the nation, it became a favored subject of conspiracy theorists, second only to the interest in the assassination five years earlier of President John F. Kennedy. The rumors of a wider conspiracy against King were fed by a purported FBI campaign to undermine the outspoken black leader. There were also questions about how Ray managed to escape to Europe, raising doubts about whether he had backers that led some black leaders to later support Ray's request for a trial. Ray, who had a long but inept criminal history, did little to clarify if there were others behind King's slaying. Three days after pleading guilty to the slaying to avoid the death penalty, Ray claimed he was maneuvered into the plea by his lawyer, Percy Foreman. At a 1994 parole hearing, Ray said he had been "railroaded" into the guilty plea but blamed himself for not being "assertive enough" about his innocence. His parole was denied. Ray, who was born in Alton, Ill., near St. Louis, Ray was not a master criminal. His first failed holdup of a cab driver in 1949 ended when he was chased and fell through a basement window. A few years later he managed to flee police after a burglary, but left his identification in his car. He attempted several prison escapes, once nearly asphyxiating in a heating vent and later falling on his head after climbing halfway up a prison wall on a rickety ladder. After the King slaying, Ray escaped from the Brushy Mountain Maximum Security Penitentiary in Petros, Tenn., on Dec. 29, 1969, but was caught and sent to a newer prison. ------------------------------------------ Reuters News Service Thursday December 26 2:59 PM EST James Earl Ray Remains in Coma NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuter) - James Earl Ray, the assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., remained in a coma Thursday after organ failure, prison officials said. Ray, 68, was brought from a prison hospital to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Nashville last weekend in critical condition with liver and kidney failure. Jerry Ray said his eldest brother, who was not a drinker, suffered from cirrhosis of the liver. Ray initially confessed to shooting King in 1968 and is serving a 99-year sentence for the crime, but he later recanted and has since repeatedly denied he was the gunman. The latest in a long series of court hearings on his case is scheduled for Feb. 20 in Shelby County Criminal Court in Memphis. "If he dies before Feb. 20th, then the hearing is off, and he'll go down in history as the murderer of King," Jerry Ray told reporters Wednesday. After initially declaring he would not permit doctors to use machines to keep his brother alive, he said he had approved the use of life-support systems if necessary. Legal observers gave Ray little hope of a reversal in court even if he others in King's assassination. The killing set off weeks of urban race riots across the country. "The assassination of Dr. King is an unsolved mystery in our country. It was an act of political terrorism," said Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who knelt by the stricken King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. "James Earl Ray did not have sufficient political motivation to assassinate Dr. King as a lone actor, nor did he have the money to organise the scheme," Jackson told Reuters. "I'm hoping that at this hour James Earl Ray will tell us who was involved, other than this mysterious Raoul." Ray has said he was set up and that he bought the rifle used in King's slaying for a mystery accomplice named Raoul. Before he shot King, Ray had a long history of bungling petty crimes and failing in prison escapes. But he managed to elude authorities for two months after the shooting and was finally apprehended in London, leading to questions about where he got the money for his escape and how and why a small-time robber would shoot the Nobel Peace Prize winner. ------------------------------------------ Reuters News Service Thursday December 26 10:29 PM EST Ray Emerges from Coma after Organ Failure NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuter) - James Earl Ray, the assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., emerged from a coma and was talking Thursday but remained in serious condition with organ failure, officials said. Ray, 68, spoke with his brother, Jerry Ray, a frequent visitor to his bedside at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Nashville where he was brought last weekend in a coma, prison spokesman Jim Rose said. A hospital spokeswoman said Ray's condition was upgraded to serious from critical. Jerry Ray has said his eldest brother, who was not a drinker, suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, causing his liver and kidneys to fail. Ray initially confessed to shooting King in 1968 and is serving a 99-year sentence for the crime, but he later recanted and has since repeatedly denied he was the gunman. The latest in a long series of court hearings on his case was scheduled for Feb. 20 in Shelby County Criminal Court in Memphis. "If he dies before February 20th, then the hearing is off, and he'll go down in history as the murderer of King," Jerry Ray told reporters Wednesday. After initially declaring he would not permit doctors to use machines to keep his brother alive, he said he had approved the use of life-support systems if necessary. Legal observers gave Ray little chance of a reversal in court even if he survives until the February hearing, but several civil rights leaders expressed a hope that he will make a deathbed confession incriminating others in King's assassination. The killing set off weeks of urban race riots across the country and raised questions about a possible conspiracy. "The assassination of Dr. King is an unsolved mystery in our country. It was an act of political terrorism," said Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who knelt by the stricken King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. "James Earl Ray did not have sufficient political motivation to assassinate Dr. King as a lone actor, nor did he have the money to organize the scheme," Jackson told Reuters. "I'm hoping that at this hour James Earl Ray will tell us who was involved, other than this mysterious Raoul." Ray has said he was set up and that he bought the rifle used in King's slaying for a mystery accomplice named Raoul. Before he shot King, Ray had a long history of bungling petty crimes and failing in prison escapes. But he managed to elude authorities for two months after the shooting and was finally apprehended in London, leading to questions about where he got the money for his escape and how and why a small-time robber would shoot the Nobel Peace Prize winner. -------------------------------------- From Reuters News Service Ray Emerges From Coma - The man sent to prison for killing Martin Luther King Jr. almost 30 years ago emerged from a coma Thursday. James Earl Ray is awake and talking, but he remains in critical condition with organ failure at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Ray initially confessed to shooting King in 1968 and is serving a 99-year sentence. He later recanted and has since denied being the assassin. He's appealed his conviction and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Feb. 20 in Memphis. ---------------------------------------------------- Friday December 27 7:37 AM EST Ray Emerges From Coma After Organ Failure NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuter) - James Earl Ray, the assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., emerged from a coma and was talking but remained in serious condition with organ failure, officials say. Ray, 68, spoke with his brother, Jerry Ray, a frequent visitor to his bedside at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Nashville where he was brought last weekend in a coma, prison spokesman Jim Rose said. A hospital spokeswoman said Ray's condition was upgraded to serious from critical. Jerry Ray has said his eldest brother, who was not a drinker, suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, causing his liver and kidneys to fail. Ray initially confessed to shooting King in 1968 and is serving a 99-year sentence for the crime, but he later recanted and has since repeatedly denied he was the gunman. The latest in a long series of court hearings on his case was scheduled for Feb. 20 in Shelby County Criminal Court in Memphis. "If he dies before February 20th, then the hearing is off, and he'll go down in history as the murderer of King," Jerry Ray told reporters Wednesday. After initially declaring he would not permit doctors to use machines to keep his brother alive, he said he had approved the use of life-support systems if necessary. Legal observers gave Ray little chance of a reversal in court even if he survives until the February hearing, but several civil rights leaders expressed a hope that he will make a deathbed confession incriminating others in King's assassination. The killing set off weeks of urban race riots across the country and raised questions about a possible conspiracy. "The assassination of Dr. King is an unsolved mystery in our country. It was an act of political terrorism," said Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who knelt by the stricken King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. "James Earl Ray did not have sufficient political motivation to assassinate Dr. King as a lone actor, nor did he have the money to organize the scheme," Jackson told Reuters. "I'm hoping that at this hour James Earl Ray will tell us who was involved, other than this myst rious Raoul." Ray has said he was et up and that he bought the rifle used in King's slaying for a mystery accomplice named Raoul. Before he shot King, Ray had a long history of bungling petty crimes and failing in prison escapes. But he managed to elude authorities for two months after the shooting and wa finally apprehended in London, leading to questions about where he got the money for his escape and how and why a small-time robber would shoot the Nobel Peace Prize winner. ===================================================== Friday December 27 4:06 PM EST Convicted Assassin James Earl Ray Gravely Ill NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuter) - James Earl Ray, the killer of Martin Luther King Jr., drifted in and out of consciousness and was in serious condition Friday, hospital officials said. Ray, 68, who is suffering from severe liver and kidney damage brought on by cirrhosis, awoke from a coma Thursday at Columbia Memorial Hospital and spoke with family members. Jerry Ray said his eldest brother was given a 10 percent chance of survival by his doctors and reiterated that there would be no deathbed confession of Ray's supposed role in a larger conspiracy to kill the black civil rights leader. "He's not going to confess to something he didn't do," Ray said, adding that he believed his brother's story that he was framed for the April 4, 1968 slaying. "I think it goes all the way to Washington, D.C., the set-up. They was trying to get him (King) to commit suicide to get him out of the way," Ray said. Civil rights leaders who were close to King have expressed hope that Ray would make admissions that would support their contention that King's assassination was politically motivated. Ray, who twice tried to escape from Tennessee prisons and was an escaped convict from Missouri at the time of the King killing, has launched a stream of legal appeals demanding the trial he never had because of his initial guilty plea and insisting he would be exonerated. The next court hearing was scheduled for Feb. 20 in Shelby County Criminal Court in Memphis. "He don't want no parole and he don't want no pardon" from his 99-year sentence, Jerry Ray said, referring to his brother's wish for a trial. Although he initially confessed to the slaying of King as the Nobel Peace Prize winner stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Ray recanted three days later and implicated a mysterious accomplice named Raoul. Conspiracy theorists contend the small-time robber did not have the means, motive or intelligence to stalk and kill King alone and then elude police for two months before he was apprehended in London. -------------------------- end -----------------------------------