Ray's former lawyer says conspiracy surrounded his client and King assassination

Jack Kershaw, James Earl Ray's former lawyer, believes a $25,000 offer from a writer to his former client proves that a conspiracy surrounded Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. (Court TV)

				KING ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY TRIAL
				Background Who killed Martin Luther King, Jr.? Discuss on our message board Coretta Scott King testifies 11/16/99: Special Report on the Case 11/23/99: Judge Joe Brown testifies Nov. 29 Update Nov. 29 Update (Afternoon) Nov. 30 Update (Morning) Nov. 30 Update (Evening) Dec. 1 Update (Morning) Dec. 1 Update (Evening): Dexter King testifies Dec. 2 Update Dec. 8 (The Verdict) Text of the Complaint

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Court TV) — A former lawyer for James Earl Ray testified Tuesday that a writer's proposition to his client in the 1970s made him believe that a conspiracy surrounded Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.

Jack Kershaw testified on behalf of King's family, which has filed wrongful death suit against a man who claims he was involved in a conspiracy to kill the civil rights leader in 1968. According to the suit, Memphis cafe owner Loyd Jowers, 73, and "unknown conspirators" were involved in King's slaying.

The suit, which was brought by the King family and Dr. William Pepper, the longtime lawyer of King's late alleged assassin James Earl Ray, is based largely on a 1993 television interview during which Jowers claimed that mobsters offered him $100,000 to have King killed. Pepper says a liability judgment against Jowers would validate theories that Ray was set up as part of an alleged conspiracy to kill King — allegations largely discounted by law enforcement officials.

Kershaw represented Ray during the 1960s and 1970s as the one-time confessed assassin tried to get a new trial for his admission to King's shooting. Ray pleaded guilty to King's murder in 1969 and received a 99-year sentence, but he recanted his story three days later. Ray, who died in prison in 1998, spent 29 years unsuccessfully seeking a new trial.

According to Kershaw, when The House Select Committee on Assassins reopened King's case in the 1970s, he was approached by a writer who wanted to offer Ray $25,000 to give a story where he would admit to being the sole triggerman in King's assassination. The writer wanted Ray to say that he acted alone in King's murder. Kershaw said he was puzzled by the offer and was suspicious.

"It sounded like a conspiracy to me," Kershaw said. "I told him it sounded like he had the backings of rich and powerful businessman who wanted a rich and powerful writer to make overtures to get a certain type of story."

Kershaw said the writer turned "red as a proverbial beet" when confronted with this conspiracy theory. He added that he never heard from the writer again. Kershaw told jurors he approached Ray with the offer "just to see how he would react." Ray, he said, wanted no part of it.

In addition to Kershaw, jurors saw the videotaped deposition of a former member of the U.S. military who bolstered the plaintiffs' conspiracy allegations. Jack Terrel, who is suffering from liver disease, testified that he had a conversation with a military operations specialist who told him that he was assigned to a triangular shoot team that had a special mission in Memphis around the time of King's death. The specialist, Terrel said, claimed the team was never told about the specifics of the mission. However, at the last minute, the team was pulled out of the mission in Memphis.

According to Terrel, the specialist learned the day after being pulled out of the mission that King had been killed. Terrel said that he and the specialist were sure the shoot team had been assigned to kill King — and he had no reason to think the soldier was lying. Terrel said that he had been interviewed by ABC for a special report on King's slaying. However, suggesting that the media was part of conspiracy to cover up the truth about King's death, Terrel said his interview never appeared on ABC's broadcast.

New York-based attorney and media expert William Schaap suggested to jurors that the media was, perhaps, involved in broad cover-up in King's murder. Besides describing how the United States government has had a history of using the media to disseminate information, Schaap reviewed Congressional reports in his own investigation on media coverage of King. According to Schaap, the FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, infiltrated newspapers around the world and persuaded newspapers in the 1960s to run stories that discredited King. Schaap also believed that the government was behind the stories that discredited the conspiracy theories that emerged after King's murder.

Schaap also addressed the lack of relative national media attention this wrongful death case has received.

William Schaap believes the media was part of an alleged cover-up of the conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King, Jr.. (Court TV)

"The public just cannot stomach a conspiracy," Schaap testified. "After having Ray's confession imprinted in the minds of the general public for 30 years ... people just wouldn't believe it. It wouldn't click. It's amazing how much psychological power the dissemination of false information has after 30 years."

Jowers' attorney agrees that there was a conspiracy to kill King, but the defense claims that Jowers did not know King was the target when he became involved in the murder plot. Jowers has also said that Memphis police officers and the late Frank C. Liberto, a Memphis produce company operator, were also involved in the plot to kill King.

It is uncertain whether Jowers will testify. He has fallen seriously ill since the start of the trial and has been bedridden. The presiding judge told jurors that Jowers may not be present in court for the rest of the trial.

King's son, Dexter King, is expected to testify Wednesday about various discussions he had with Jowers in 1997 about his father's slaying. According to Dexter King, Jowers admitted his role in the plot to kill the civil rights leader and said that someone other than Ray killed the elder King. Dexter King's testimony had been expected on Monday and Tuesday.

— Bryan Robinson