I recently watched the segment Unsolved Mysteries had done on the Martin Luther king Jr Assassination and felt it was really well done and eye opening since I knew little about King's assassination and the conspiracy surrounding it. After seeing this segment and doing further research online I feel there is a good chance James Earl Ray was telling the truth and he might have been set up. The fact that Martin Luther King's wife and children believe that James Earl Ray was innocent and did not commit the murder really surprised me and it made me realize there was more to the story.

Has anyone else seen this segment or have any opinion on James Earl Ray's guilt or innocence?

I'm not really big on political assassination conspiracy theories, but this one actually has some groundwork to start with. For one, the King family later took a man named Lloyd Jowers to civil court to file a wrongful death claim against him. During the trial, there was evidence presented that Jowers had set up the assassination, and the jury actually concluded that Jowers was responsible for King's murder (at the civil trial). Jowers later recanted, but the King family has always believed in Ray's innocence.

I think I'm torn 50/50 on this one. Ray's chief supporter, William Pepper, is a huge conspiracy guy (9/11 truther for example), and I would take what he says with a grain of salt. I think there is evidence for and against Ray as the assassin. Either way, I don't believe in some huge conspiracy involving the government.

I don't know. Yeah, James Earl Ray does have a damn good reason to lie, but at the same time, given the US government's history of harassing MLK...it's scarily plausible that the FBI might have had something to do with his death. Whether it was orchestrated by the FBI or if it was more along the lines of their other actions against King (like not passing on information about threats to his life, even though they knew damn well said threats were legitimate), is up to you.

I think with any of the big 3 assassinations from the 60's and 70's, you can take any kind of circumstantial evidence and make a good argument for your point of view. The assassins behavior following the actual killings is just bizarre in my opinion. I've never felt strongly about a conspiracy with James Earl Ray though. His story has never seemed plausible about a government cover up. I'll have to dig for more information and then come back to this thread.

IF the late Mr. Ray had been innocent, WHY would he have suddenly flown to all those distant countries and, for that matter, how was he paying for the last-minute international airline tickets since he'd been an unemployed prison escapee?

http://www.justice.gov/crt/united-states-department-justice-investigation-recent-allegations-regarding-assassination-dr

Here's a link to the DOJ investigation into the conspiracy claims made by Lloyd Jowers. Apparently Jowers never made any of his numerous claims under oath, severely denting his credibility. There's also a whole section dedicated to debunking the mysterious "Raul" character. Pretty interesting read.

Yeah, this article has some more information about Ray identifying the photograph of a man from New York named Raul as the same "Raoul" who orchestrated the conspiracy, but the investigation clearly determined that this Raul had no connection with the assassination whatsoever:
https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/26/reviews/980426.26lewist.html

I used to think the conspiracy theories here had some merit, but the fact that Ray implicated a completely innocent man who worked the same job in New York for over 30 years and never even left the state until 1980 makes me now believe that "Raoul" is just a complete fabrication.

Yeah, this article has some more information about Ray identifying the photograph of a man from New York named Raul as the same "Raoul" who orchestrated the conspiracy, but the investigation clearly determined that this Raul had no connection with the assassination whatsoever:
https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/26/reviews/980426.26lewist.html

I used to think the conspiracy theories here had some merit, but the fact that Ray implicated a completely innocent man who worked the same job in New York for over 30 years and never even left the state until 1980 makes me now believe that "Raoul" is just a complete fabrication.

The DOJ report also said that at least 20 different people were identified as "Raoul" by Ray and his supporters over the years, and when one was investigated and cleared, they would harp on another one. And despite meeting this "Raoul" repeatedly, Ray never gave a clear description of him. And these 20 different guys were of differing heights, weights, and ethnicities. Guilty.