News

DATE=12/9/1999 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=KING CONSPIRACY NUMBER=5-44951 BYLINE=MICHAEL LELAND DATELINE=CHICAGO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A jury in the (Southern) U-S city of Memphis, Tennessee, has found the 1968 assassination of U-S civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was the result of a conspiracy. The verdict came at the end of a wrongful death suit filed by the King family against the owner of a Memphis cafe. But, as we hear from V-O-A's Michael Leland, the verdict is not likely to result in any criminal charges. TEXT: Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis. James Earl Ray confessed to the killing, but later recanted his confession and tried unsuccessfully to win his freedom from prison until his death last year. Many conspiracy theorists, and the King family itself, have long believed the civil rights leader's murder was the result of a conspiracy. On Wednesday, a Memphis jury agreed. It ruled cafe owner Loyd Jowers and others - including governmental agencies - were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King. In 1993, Mr. Jowers said in a television interview he had hired a Memphis police officer to kill Dr. King from the bushes of his cafe, which was located across the street from the motel where Dr. King was slain. He said he was paid to do so by a local grocery store owner with Mafia connections. The jury awarded the King family a symbolic sum of one-hundred dollars. Dr. King's son, Dexter King, says the family was looking for truth from the jury, not money, and is satisfied with the verdict. /// DEXTER KING ACT /// For the family, I think, for us, this is the end of the road. This was the final legal remedy available for us. We exercised it, and we were victorious. I think we can move on with our lives and know that we did all we could. I think my dad would be proud that we really sought the truth and justice: everything he talked about and everything he stood for. /// END ACT /// Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, is hoping the verdict will change the legal and historical view of the assassination. /// CORETTA KING ACT // My husband once said, "the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Today, almost 32 years after my husband and the father of my four children was assassinated, I feel that the jury's verdict clearly affirms this principle. /// END ACT /// Local law enforcement officials say the verdict is not likely to result in criminal charges. One reason is the burden of proof is much higher for criminal trials than for civil ones. Last year the U-S Justice Department began an investigation into whether the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. The results could be released within a few weeks. But, Deputy U-S Attorney General Eric Holder says not to expect any dramatic findings. /// HOLDER ACT /// I would not want people to think that on the basis of the work that we have done that there is the likelihood of any kind of criminal trial. /// END ACT /// U-S Congressman John Lewis of Georgia says he will ask President Clinton and U-S Attorney General Janet Reno to order a fresh investigation into the King assassination. (Signed) NEB/MJL/gm 09-Dec-1999 16:09 PM EDT (09-Dec-1999 2109 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .