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992 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE FOR THE THIRTIETH JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT MEMPHIS
CORETTA SCOTT KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING, III, BERNICE KING, DEXTER SCOTT KING and YOLANDA KING,
Plaintiffs,
Vs. Case No. 97242-4 T.D.
LOYD JOWERS and OTHER UNKNOWN CO-CONSPIRATORS,
Defendants.
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS November 29, 1999
Volume VIII
Before the Honorable James E. Swearengen, Division 4, Judge presiding.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD COURT REPORTERS 22nd Floor - One Commerce Square Memphis, Tennessee 38103 (901) 529-1999
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 993
- APPEARANCES -
For the Plaintiffs: DR. WILLIAM PEPPER Attorney at Law New York City, New York
For the Defendant:
MR. LEWIS GARRISON Attorney at Law Memphis, Tennessee
Reported by: MS. SARA R. ROGAN Court Reporter Daniel, Dillinger, Dominski, Richberger & Weatherford 22nd Floor One Commerce Square Memphis, Tennessee 38103
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 994
- INDEX -
WITNESS: PAGE
WILLIAM B. HAMBLIN
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 998
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1013
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1015
JAMES JOSEPH ISABEL
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1016
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1024
JERRY WILLIAM RAY
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1026
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1063
WILLIE B. RICHMOND
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1086
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1099
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 995
- INDEX CONTINUED -
WITNESS: PAGE
DOUGLAS VALENTINE
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1101
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1110
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1110
CARTHEL WEEDEN
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1111
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1120
WALTER E. FAUNTROY
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1123
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1143
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1148
APRIL R. FERGUSON
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1155
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 996
- INDEX CONTINUED -
WITNESS: PAGE
JAMES E. ADAMS
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1167
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 1175
YOLANDA KING
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 1177
TRIAL EXHIBITS PAGE
Exhibit 19.......................... 1051 Exhibit 20.......................... 1054 Exhibit 21.......................... 1085 Exhibit 22.......................... 1099 Exhibit 23.......................... 1165
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 997
P R O C E E D I N G S
(Jury in at 10:15 a.m.)
THE COURT: Good morning, ladies
and gentlemen.
THE JURY: Good morning.
THE COURT: It seems that
everyone is all present and accounted for.
Mr. Jowers, the defendant, is still having
some health problems, but we're going to
proceed in his absence. And as soon as he's
able, he'll return. He's still concerned
about the action against him so don't take
this as -- don't interpret it as he's
indicating he's not interested. He is, but
his health is keeping him.
All right. Mr. Pepper, are you
ready to proceed?
MR. PEPPER: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, you may.
MR. PEPPER: Your Honor,
plaintiffs call as their first witness today
Mr. William Hamblin.
WILLIAM B. HAMBLIN,
having been first duly sworn, was examined
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 998
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good morning, Mr. Hamblin.
A. Good morning.
Q. Thank you very much for coming here
this morning. I know you haven't been well.
A. No, a little under the weather.
Q. I appreciate your making the effort
to come by and be with us. Would you please
state your full name and address for the
record?
A. William B. Hamblin, 322 South
Camilla, Apartment 302.
Q. In Memphis?
A. Right.
Q. How long have you lived in Memphis,
Mr. Hamblin?
A. Oh, probably about -- I came here in
'63.
Q. Been here a good number of years?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And what is your present occupation?
A. I'm a part-time security guard.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 999
Q. You're a part-time security guard?
A. Yes.
Q. In the city?
A. Yes.
Q. And prior to being a part-time
security guard and taking on that position,
were you -- what else did you do previous to
that?
A. Well, I drove a cab for many years,
and I worked as a barber for approximately
ten years -- something like that.
Q. You were a barber for approximately
ten years and you drove a cab --
A. Right, off and on.
Q. -- off and on for a number of years?
A. Right.
Q. And which company did you drive the
cab for?
A. I drove for Veterans and Yellow.
Q. Both of those cab companies.
A. Right.
Q. Now, in the course of your cab
driving activity and your work there, did you
come to know a cab driver named James McCraw?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1000
A. Yeah, I knew him well.
Q. And did you in fact share digs or
share rooms with McCraw?
A. Well, I rented him an apartment one
time. I had an apartment house, and I rented
him an apartment. And I lived in the same
apartment building with him a couple other
times.
Q. How long would you say you knew
Mr. McCraw -- over what period of time?
A. Oh, probably about 25 years.
Q. So you knew him over 25 years.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you know him after the date in
question in this case, after the
assassination Dr. Martin Luther King?
A. Yes, sir, I met him after the date.
Q. You met him afterward?
A. Yes.
Q. And you knew him for all of those
years after the assassination?
A. Yeah, it was after the
assassination. I drove a short time before
the assassination, but I wasn't driving at
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1001
the time the assassination happened.
Q. Right. But you new Mr. McCraw during
that period?
A. Right.
Q. Did you not only know him but were
you actually living with him or close to him
in the same building?
A. Well, we shared the same apartment
building more than three times, and he lived
with me a couple of times when he would get
down on his luck.
Q. When he was down on his luck?
A. Yeah. He would lay around on my
couch some.
Q. All right. So it's fair to say that
you were quite a close friend of
Mr. McCraw's?
A. Right, right.
Q. Now, did Mr. McCraw at various times
in the course of this friendship discuss the
assassination of Martin Luther King with you?
A. Yeah, he did.
Q. One time or two times or --
A. Oh, several times.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1002
Q. Several times.
A. Yeah, several times.
Q. And was he in any particular frame of
mind or condition when this subject would
come up?
A. He would usually be drinking when he
started. I mean, you know, he would start
talking about it.
Q. It was when he had been drinking?
A. Right.
Q. Did he ever volunteer any information
when he had not been drinking?
A. No, he wouldn't talk about it then.
Q. Then he wouldn't talk about it?
A. No, he didn't want to hear about it
then.
Q. And when he had been drinking over
these many times when he spoke with you, did
he tell you a particular story?
A. Yeah. He first come out with
a -- he showed me a story that the National
Inquirer or one of those tabloids did on him,
and they did a pretty good write-up.
Q. And was the story that he told you
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1003
each of these occasions the same? Was it
consistent?
A. It was -- the story he told was
consistent all those years. He didn't vary
off of it.
Q. Over how many years would he have
told you this story consistently?
A. Oh, I probably heard it at least 50
times at least.
Q. For how many years?
A. Oh, now you're trying to pin me down
on dates, and I'm not good at dates.
Q. Not dates, but just roughly.
A. Oh, I would say probably
15 -- something like that.
Q. Over 15 years. And what was the
story that he told you consistently over 15
years?
A. Well, after I got -- after I read the
article and found out that he knew a little
something about it, I got interested in it
myself. And he would talk about Raul having
a drink with him and he --
Q. Did he mention -- let me interrupt
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1004
you and try to focus you. Did he mention the
defendant in this case, Mr. Jowers?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. Did he know Mr. Jowers well?
A. Yeah. He worked for Jowers at the
time I would say. They were both working at
the Southland Cab Company.
Q. They both worked with the same
company?
A. Right.
Q. Did he tell you of his personal
knowledge of any involvement of Mr. Jowers in
the assassination of Doctor King?
A. Yeah, he said that Jowers gave him
the rifle, and he took it and threw it off
the Harahan bridge.
Q. He said that the defendant gave him
the rifle?
A. Right.
Q. And by the rifle, do you mean the
murder weapon? Is that --
A. Right, right. That's the story that
he told.
Q. And he told you this same story over
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1005
the years?
A. Same story over and over. He didn't
vary off of it. And in the last he came up
and I think they changed it to a bullet or
whatever, but I don't remember if he changed
his story or not. But he...
Q. But he consistently told you he gave
him the murder weapon?
A. Right.
Q. Did he say that the defendant made
any admission against his own interest? Did
he say he made any admission when he gave him
the rifle? Did he say anything to him?
A. He said Jowers told him to get it and
get it out of here now. He said that he
grabbed his beer and snatched it out. He had
the rifle rolled up in an oil cloth, and he
leapt out the door and did away with it.
Q. And Jowers told him to get rid of it?
A. Right. That's the story that he
told.
Q. Do you recall when he said that
conversation took place?
A. No, I didn't. To try to pin me down
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1006
on the date, I couldn't.
Q. Right. But would it have been your
understanding sometime near to the
assassination itself?
A. Well, see, I came in on the picture
probably about five years after the
assassination.
Q. Yes. No, I'm not talking about your
conversation with McCraw. I'm talking about
McCraw's conversation with Jowers. Would
that have been around close to the time of
the assassination?
A. Yeah, that's -- the way I understand,
right after it happened. Right after it
happened.
Q. Now, was Mr. McCraw himself fearful
of being charged or indicted?
A. That's the reason they all changed
their stories. Every time they -- McCraw
really wanted to come out with it, but he was
involved in it. And he couldn't really tell
the truth. That's the reason all of them
changed their stories all this time. Their
conscious was getting hurt, and they were in
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1007
fear of being indicted.
Q. Mr. Hamblin, did you tell anyone, in
particular a landlord of yours, that McCraw
knew something about this assassination?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And was this a landlord in the
premises where both you and McCraw were
living?
A. We were both living at the same time,
right.
Q. And what did you tell to your
landlord?
A. He came by to collect the rent --
Q. Yes.
A. -- and I had introduced him to
McCraw.
Q. Yes.
A. And I told him he was involved in it
in some way and he told us to move.
Q. He told you to move?
A. Right. In fact, he sent the police
up there and harassed us. They locked McCraw
up for having a knife, and we finally wound
up being evicted in about a week.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1008
Q. So you were evicted by your landlord
because you told him this story?
A. Right.
Q. Mr. Hamblin, who was your landlord?
A. It was Mr. Purdy.
Q. Mr. Purdy.
A. Right.
Q. And what did Mr. Purdy do for a
living?
A. Mr. Purdy was an FBI agent.
Q. So your landlord was an FBI agent?
A. Yeah. I didn't know at the time that
he owned the house. I rented from someone
else, but he happened to be the owner. And
he just bumped in to collect the rent.
Q. But you didn't know that he was the
owner before this?
A. No.
Q. And do you know where Mr. Purdy was
assigned as an FBI agent?
A. Probably Memphis office, Memphis
region.
Q. The Memphis office?
A. Right.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1009
Q. And he told you to leave?
A. He told us both to move.
Q. Both to move. And did you move?
A. Yeah, about a week later we got
kicked out.
Q. Now, I want to take you back,
Mr. Hamblin, to 1968. What were you doing in
1968 for a living?
A. I was a barber back in '68.
Q. And where did you work as a barber?
A. Cherokee Barber Shop, 2792 Campbell.
Q. Right. And who was the proprietor,
who was the owner of that barber shop?
A. Vernon Jones.
Q. Mr. Vernon Jones.
A. Right.
Q. How long did you work there as a
barber?
A. Oh, I worked for Mr. Jones probably
for about five years all totalled at two
different places.
Q. Is Mr. Jones alive today?
A. No, Mr. Jones passed on some time
ago.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1010
Q. And were you working as a barber in
that barber shop April 4th, 1968?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. And were you working there
immediately following the assassination?
A. Right. I was working there when they
broke the news about -- oh, I'd say about
6:00 -- 5:30, 6:00 -- something like that.
Q. Now, did you hear Mr. Jones have a
conversation with one of his long-term
customers?
A. Right.
Q. Within -- how soon after the
assassination did this --
A. I would say, oh, probably a week or
ten days.
Q. Within a week or ten days after the
assassination?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And what did Mr. Jones ask this
long-standing customer?
A. He asked him who did it or who do you
think did it.
Q. Who do you think did it.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1011
A. Right.
Q. Meaning who killed Martin Luther
King?
A. Right.
Q. And what did this long standing
customer say to him?
A. He told him that the CIA had it done.
Q. That the CIA had it done?
A. Right. That's the answer he gave
him.
Q. How long had this customer been a
customer of Mr. Jones in the Cherokee Barber
Shop?
A. Oh, ever since I worked for him.
Q. How many years roughly would you say?
A. Oh, I'd say probably -- well, I know
of five anyway.
Q. At least five years?
A. Yeah, at least five -- five or six at
the time that I worked for him he had been
coming in.
Q. People often develop close
relationships with barbers and bartenders?
A. Yeah, they'll tell a barber something
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1012
they won't even tell their own psychiatrist.
Q. Was that the kind of relationship
Mr. --
A. Yeah, that's the kind of
relationship.
Q. -- Jones had with this customer?
A. Right.
Q. Who told him the CIA had it done?
A. I mean I didn't hear the conversation
myself. I asked him what he said when he
left after he had told him.
Q. You asked your boss --
A. Mr. Jones what he said.
Q. Right.
A. And he told me.
Q. And that's what he told you.
A. Right.
Q. Would you tell the Court and the jury
who was this long-standing customer?
A. It was Mr. Purdy, the FBI agent.
Q. The same Mr. Purdy?
A. The same Mr. Purdy.
MR. PEPPER: Mr. Hamblin, thank
you very much. No further questions.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1013
MR. GARRISON: Mr. Hamblin, wait
a minute. I may have a question if you don't
mind.
THE WITNESS: Oh, okay.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Mr. Hamblin, Mr. McCraw was quite a
heavy drinker, wasn't he?
A. Right.
Q. Alcoholic beverages pretty regular?
A. Right. In fact, he was an alcoholic.
Q. All right, sir. And I believe you
said that you would have trouble believing
him, didn't you?
A. Yeah. I had some trouble believing
him at times, right.
Q. You knew Mr. Jowers, did you not?
A. Right. I worked for Mr. Jowers.
Q. And you never heard him say anything
about any of this, did you?
A. Not really, no, huh-uh.
Q. You said Mr. McCraw would change his
story from time to time when he told it?
A. Well, they was -- what I mean was
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1014
changing the story, they would accuse another
dead policeman.
Q. When you say they, who are they?
A. Well, they first -- they've named
every policeman in the graveyard. Every time
they get scared, they'll name another
policeman as being the murder man.
Q. Are you talking about Mr. McCraw?
A. Well, both of them.
Q. Both of them who?
A. Mr. McCraw and Jowers.
Q. I thought you said you never have
talked to Mr. Jowers about this, never had
anything to --
A. Well, he's made several statements.
Q. Who has? Whose made several
statements?
A. Well, I talked to him -- I talked to
him on the cell phone about six months ago,
me and Millner.
Q. Okay.
A. And he told me that he didn't do it,
but somebody by the name of maybe Earl Clark
or something like that did it, and he did it
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1015
or whatever.
Q. So that's been six months ago?
A. That's here recently.
Q. Did he tell you he didn't have
anything to do with it?
A. That's what he said.
MR. GARRISON: That's all.
Thank you.
THE COURT: All right.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Mr. Hamblin, just so that we're
clear, did Mr. McCraw ever change the story
he told you?
A. Never changed his story. He stuck
with the basic same fact -- I took the gun
and threw it off of the Harahan bridge.
Q. So as far as he is concerned -- as
far as you are concerned, the weapon --
A. As far as I'm concerned, that's what
happened. I mean, you know, I believed him
because he stuck to the same story.
Q. So far as you're concerned, the
murder weapon is at the bottom of the
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1016
Mississippi River?
A. That's where I would -- if I was
going to go look for the gun today, I would
go look and look at the middle river bridge
because you can drive right to it. You can
walk 20 feet and drop it and be back in your
car in five seconds and be gone.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you,
Mr. Hamblin. No further questions.
(Witness excused.)
THE COURT: Call your next
witness.
MR. PEPPER: Plaintiffs call
Mr. J.J. Isabel.
JAMES JOSEPH ISABEL,
having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good morning, Mr. Isabel. If you
have trouble hearing me, please just stop me
and I'll speak louder. Thank you very much
for joining us this morning.
A. Yes, sir.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1017
Q. For the record, would you please
state your full name and address?
A. My name is James Joseph Isabel, 2344
Jackson Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Zip
38108-3236.
Q. Thank you, Mr. Isabel. I know you
haven't been well, and we do appreciate you
coming here. You were deposed in this case
on October 14th, and you were kind enough to
answer a range of questions at that time.
And I'm going to put those questions to you
this morning.
A. Okay, sir.
Q. What do you do now for a living,
Mr. Isabel?
A. Well, I'm retired. I'm seventy-four
years old, but I am an independent courier.
I pick up food like for Memphis Hardwood
Flooring five days a week, and I pick up
pagers, take them to get repaired and take
them back to the customer. That's all I do.
Q. And what did you do previously,
Mr. Isabel?
A. Starting which year?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1018
Q. Let's just go through the range of
jobs and work that you've done, if you can.
Just very quickly try to summarize for us.
A. Well, in '43 I was a sailor in the
Navy in a Pacific killing force, and let's
see, then I got out of the Navy. I went back
to CBHS and got my high school diploma. I
didn't have it before I went in the service,
and then I've driven trucks.
I've driven chartered buses. I
worked for Firestone at one time for six
months, and I worked for Vet cab, Hams --
Mike down at Yellow Cab and then Airport
Limousine. Hams owned Airport Limousine. I
met Jowers at Yellow Cab, and Airport
Limousine, they owned -- Hams might have
owned Airport Limousine, and they owned
something else too. Oh, it went from -- I
think we went from Yellow Cab --
Q. But basically you've done a lot of
driving?
A. Yes, yes.
Q. You drove chartered buses?
A. Right.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1019
Q. You drove taxi cabs, limousine
service?
A. Yes.
Q. That constituted the main part of
your life, didn't it?
A. A lot of it.
Q. And when did you meet Mr. Jowers as
you said?
A. I met Mr. Jowers at the Yellow Cab.
That was probably in about seventy -- around
'77 I would think.
Q. So you met him when you were involved
with Yellow Cab at the same time?
A. I was working at Yellow Cab with
Airport Limousine and Hams might have hired
Loyd to come down there and run I think the
whole operation or the biggest part of it.
Q. That's around 1977?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you come to know Mr. Jowers
pretty well?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How often would you see him?
A. Oh, daily.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1020
Q. You saw him every day?
A. Five days out of seven.
Q. So five out of the seven days in that
period from 1977, you saw him?
A. Right, and sometimes over the
weekends if we had a holiday or something.
We would run the buses from the airport to
Millington.
Q. You saw him then as well?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So you became quite friendly with
him?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you go on any chartered bus runs
with Mr. Jowers?
A. Yes.
Q. How many did you take with him, do
you recall? If you don't, it's all right,
but roughly?
A. Out of town probably four or five,
and in Memphis, a lot of them -- a lot of
school trips and trips.
Q. I know it's a long time ago and
you've had some medical problems even since
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1021
the deposition.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So I'm going to try to move you
through your testimony. Did you go on a trip
with Mr. Jowers over one St. Patrick's Day, a
chartered bus trip with him?
A. Yes. Loyd and I took two bus loads
of bowlers to Cleveland, Ohio, and that was
St. Patrick's Day. The reason I remember it,
we were drinking green beer.
Q. Do you remember what year that was?
A. Pardon?
Q. Do you remember the year? Which
St. Patrick's Day?
A. That had to be '79 -- '78 or '79, but
I'm saying '79.
Q. Around 1979?
A. It was winter because Lake Erie was
frozen over.
Q. Right. March 17th, 1979?
A. That's what I'm thinking.
Q. And that trip was to you said
Cleveland?
A. Yes.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1022
Q. In the course of that trip to
Cleveland, did you share a room with
Mr. Jowers?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. In a local hotel?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And did you eat with Mr. Jowers?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. Share --
A. Did I eat with him?
Q. Did you eat?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you go to dinner with him? Did
you drink with him?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you together with him most of
the time?
A. Except when he was driving one bus
and I was driving the other one, yes, sir.
We would go to the same destination, and then
we'd usually meet and go and get something to
eat after we took care of the people.
Q. In the course of one evening on that
trip to Cleveland, did you have a discussion
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1023
with Mr. Jowers about the assassination of
Martin Luther King?
A. Yeah, after we had gone and got the
bowlers, we went out and ate down on the
pier, a restaurant down there, and then we
went back to the hotel. And I took a
shower. I don't think Jowers took one then.
I took a shower, and I came out. And he was
sitting on the bed, and I sat down with my
back against the bathroom on the floor. And
for some reason, I just said -- I said, Loyd,
did you drop the hammer on Martin Luther
King. And he just kind of hesitated for a
moment or two, and he said you think you know
I did. I know what I did, but I'll never
admit it or tell it in a court of law. And I
said, oh, and I didn't mention it to him
again after that.
Q. Did you expect that reply?
A. Maybe, yeah.
Q. And when you asked him did you drop
the hammer on Martin Luther King, what were
you asking him?
A. If he fired the shot that killed him.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1024
Q. And his response again?
A. Pardon?
Q. And what was his response again to
that question?
A. Oh, he said you think you know who
did it, but I know who did it, but I'll never
admit it or tell it in a court of law.
Q. Did you ever raise the subject with
him again?
A. Huh-uh, no.
MR. PEPPER: No further
questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Mr. Isabel, you knew Mr. Jowers quite
well. The two of you were on trips together,
weren't you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And this is the only time that
subject ever came up was just the one time;
am I correct, sir?
A. The best I remember.
Q. He never admitted to you or anyone in
your presence he had anything to do with it
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1025
or knew anything about it other than this one
time; am I correct, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right. And on this time, both of
you were drinking, weren't you?
A. Uh, yes.
Q. You had been drinking a little beer;
am I correct, sir?
A. Well, the best way I can describe it,
I can get high on two beers and I had about
six. And Loyd is a pretty heavy toper. He
can handle it, and I would say he would drink
close to 20 beers or more.
Q. All right. Your question to him was
did you drop the hammer on Dr. Martin Luther
King, and that's your question?
A. Yes.
Q. He simply said you think you know who
did it, but I know who did it and I'll never
admit it. Is that basically what he said?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. But he never said he had anything to
do with it, did he?
A. No.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1026
Q. That's the only words he ever used --
A. Yes.
Q. -- that he knew who did it? Is that
right, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
MR. GARRISON: Okay. That's
all. Thank you.
MR. PEPPER: Nothing.
THE COURT: All right, sir. You
may stand down. You're free to leave or you
can remain in the courtroom.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you.
(Witness excused.)
THE COURT: Next witness.
MR. PEPPER: Your Honor,
plaintiffs call Mr. Jerry Ray to the stand.
JERRY WILLIAM RAY,
having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good morning, Mr. Ray.
A. Good morning.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1027
Q. Thank you for coming some distance to
be with us today.
A. Yeah, I'm glad to come down.
Q. Would you state your full name and
address for the record, please?
A. My name is Jerry William Ray, brother
of the late James Earl Ray, and I live in
Smart, Tennessee, 107 Short Street.
Q. Mr. Ray, you are the brother of James
Earl Ray?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Would you just describe for the Court
and the jury the circumstances in which you
were raised and lived as children?
A. We came up real poor during the
depression days. We lived out on the farm
most of the time, and that's when my
brothers -- they had a WPA and he just barely
got by until after the depression. And then
my daddy got a job on the railroad, and then
we were just average people then. But back
during the depression, everybody had it
bad -- anybody who can remember back then.
Q. How many children were there in your
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1028
family?
A. There was nine all together.
Q. And where were you and James in that
constellation?
A. James was the first born, and then
they had a sister Marjorie and John, then I
was the fourth born. We had seven years age
difference.
Q. Seven years --
A. Yes.
Q. -- difference between the two of you?
A. Yes.
Q. And what grade did James go to in
school?
A. I'm not positive what grade. I think
he went to about a year of high school I
think, but I'm not positive of the grade he
went to.
Q. What did he do after that?
A. He went to -- he moved to Alton,
Illinois. See, we lived in a little town
outside of Quincy, Illinois named Ewing,
Missouri, and Alton, Illinois is about 100
miles from Ewing, Missouri. And my uncle
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1029
lived in there and my grandmother lived
there, and they got him a job working at the
Tambery Room. He was fifteen or sixteen.
Q. And he held that job for how long?
A. He held that job -- I forget how long
it was until he went into the Army.
Q. And he had worked up until the time
he went into the Army?
A. Yeah, he worked every day up until
the time he went in the Army.
Q. What do you remember him doing after
he got out of the Army?
A. I don't remember all that much
because he didn't -- he came there a couple
times to visit my mother and my dad. We
lived in Quincy, Illinois. That's where I
was born, and that's where most of our
relatives are from. He come once in a while,
but I didn't see him that much.
Q. Mr. Ray, as you were growing up with
James, did you notice any signs -- obvious
signs of racism or hatred of black people?
A. No. It would be strange to have any
hatred because Ewing, Missouri was just a few
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1030
hundred people, and I didn't never see one
black person in the town. It's just a little
bitty town, and Quincy, Illinois, where I
grew up, they had 42,000 people -- 2,000
blacks and 40,000 whites so I never even went
to school with one. See, and James didn't
either so you can't hate somebody unless you
something -- you know, do something to you.
Q. As he got older though and as you
associated with him, did you see any
hostility toward black people?
A. No, he never did have no hostility
toward any race -- not only blacks, but
Hispanics or anybody. What he tried to do is
live and let live.
Q. Now, he began to get in trouble at
various points in his life?
A. Yeah, after he got out of the Army.
Q. After he got out of the Army. What
was the reason for that? Do you understand
how --
A. No, nobody could understand that
because before he went to the Army, he was a
hard worker. And he went in the Army and
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1031
after he came out of the Army, he just lived
the life of crime after that.
Q. How did he get involved with various
types of petty crimes and small time
criminals?
A. Unlike a lot of the media think, he's
easily -- if he makes friends with somebody,
he's easily led around too, see. And I know
he committed -- he robbed a post office
outside of Quincy, Illinois. This is back in
the fifties, and this Walter Rife was his
name. He's a ringleader. After he got him
to rob this post office -- I mean he's as
guilty as Walter Rife was for doing it, but
then he went on a cash spree. They stole all
his money and he got arrested in Kansas City,
Missouri. Then they sent him to the
Leavenworth Federal Prison.
Q. But where did he meet people like
Walter Rife?
A. He met him in Quincy, Illinois.
Quincy -- it was a real kind of a corrupt
town back in the fifties. They had a
write-up in the magazines about them.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1032
Everything was open, see -- gambling,
prostitution, everything. And I knew Walter
Rife and I knew his brother, Lonnie Rife, and
like I say, it's a small town. Only got
42,000 people in the town.
Q. Did James tend to hang out in bars?
A. Yeah, on Fifth Street in Quincy,
Illinois. That's where most of the main ones
was at, and then on Third Street, it was a
house of prostitution -- the whole Third
Street. So when you go up to the tavern,
most of the people you run into was pimps,
ex-convicts or something like that.
Q. Well, eventually he was sentenced and
he went away?
A. Yeah, he was sentenced to
Leavenworth, and I think he got out in 1958 I
think -- '58 or '59, and he was sentenced in
there -- I think he did a little bit over two
years in Leavenworth Federal Prison. Then he
got out, and then he met up with a guy named
Owens. Owens, he was an ex-convict and they
did several things. They robbed a Kroger
store, and then he got sent to Jefferson City
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1033
for that.
Q. Do you know where he met Mr. Owens?
A. No, I don't because I wasn't in
St. Louis at that time. I don't know him.
Q. So he was sent to Jefferson City
Penitentiary?
A. Yeah, for 20 -- I think it was for 20
years.
Q. Now, did you visit him when he was in
the penitentiary?
A. I only visited him a couple times. I
didn't visit him much because I was working
up in -- we wrote all the time. I mean every
week we exchanged letters, but when I would
get down in that area, I would visit him.
But I didn't get to visit him that much.
Q. Well, he eventually escaped from
Jefferson City Penitentiary, didn't he?
A. Yes.
Q. He escaped in April of 1967?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you see him after he escaped from
prison?
A. Yeah. Well, I -- see, I didn't know
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1034
he was going to escape, but my other brother
John had visited him the day before he
escaped. And James told him he was going to
escape and for him to come down and pick him
up and which John did. And John brought him
straight to Chicago, and we rented a room at
the Fairview.
I didn't know all this. They rented
the room, then they called me up. John
called me up, and I came in and we all stayed
at the Fairview that night. That's on South
Michigan Avenue in Chicago. So that was how
they escaped. Then after that, John went
back to St. Louis. We used to give James
$100 because he didn't have no money. He
escaped.
So John went back to St. Louis and
James -- and I went back to work the next
day. Then James got a paper and he found an
ad in there at Klinglens (spelled
phonetically) Restaurant in Winnetka, and
Winnetka is only a few miles from where I'm
at. And he went to work there, and we used
to meet every week or so at a bar there in
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1035
North Brook, Illinois.
Q. Well, where were you working at the
time?
A. I was working at the Sportsman's
Country Club in North Brook, Illinois.
That's about five or seven miles from where
he was working at.
Q. And you would then see him from time
to time?
A. Yeah, every week or every other week.
Q. Did John have any more contact with
him?
A. No. Once John left us, you know, the
Fairview Hotel in Chicago, he never had no
contact with James until he got back to
Memphis. You know, when he was brought back
from England.
Q. You mean he had no contact with him
from the time he escaped to the time he was
captured?
A. Yeah, the day after James escaped,
John left and went back to St. Louis and I
went out to work. And John didn't ever have
no contact with him after that.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1036
Q. So were you the only family member
who had contact with James?
A. Yeah, the only one. He called me
every once in a while.
Q. During his fugitivity?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long did he stay at this job in
Winnetka?
A. Let's see, he stayed there close to
three months.
Q. What did he do after this job?
A. Well, he saved up a few dollars that
he could save up, and he bought an old car.
I think it was a '57 Dodge because he was
talking when he escaped, when John was there
too, when he got out, he had to get out of
the country, see, and he had to leave because
he had all this time to back up. And not
only the 20 years then for escape and
everything. So he told John -- John heard
that too, and he told me, he said I'm going
to try -- I'm going to save up some money and
go to Canada and try to figure out a way to
get out of the country. And so that's what
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1037
he did. He saved up. He worked there about
three months and he bought an old junker, old
Dodge. Then I met him the night before he
took off and then he took off and went to
Canada.
Q. Do you recall the date that you met
him before he left for Canada?
A. No, I don't recall. It was about a
day before that he took off for Canada.
Q. Which month was it?
A. That was in July.
Q. Was it --
A. July of '67.
Q. Was it toward the end of July?
A. It was either the middle or late part
of July, and the only reason I know, my
birthday is the 16th, so it was a little bit
after that.
Q. Sometime after that?
A. Yeah.
Q. And he left and went to Canada?
A. And went to Canada.
Q. Did you have any contact with him
when he was in Canada?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1038
A. No.
Q. When was the next time you saw or
heard from your brother James?
A. Well, the next time I heard from him
and I can't, you know, quote the days because
I don't keep diaries or nothing, but I guess
it was about six, seven weeks afterwards.
And I think it was in September, probably
late September. He had this pay phone, where
I didn't have no phone in my room.
I worked at the country club where
you get room and board, and we had this pay
phone in the hallway. And he had the
number. That's how you get a hold of me.
Well, he called one day or one evening and
told me to come to Chicago because he knew my
day off. He arrived where so I would have
the day off. He said don't bring your car in
because I'm going to give you my car, and so
then -- so then I took a train.
They had the Northwestern that runs
in down in the loop and he met me down
there. And we spent the night together, had
breakfast together, and he was talking to
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1039
me. And he was all happy and, hell, he was
-- he had plenty of money on him. So he
said I'm going to go down to Birmingham and
buy a late model car. He said you can have
this. He said I'm working now, and he
mentioned Raul.
I can't exactly remember how the
Raul came in. I worked for a guy named
Raul or something like that, but then he
said -- he had a big box of stuff. He said
take this to Union Station -- that's a
railroad station downtown Chicago -- and mail
this down to me at Birmingham and mail it to
Eric S. Galt. He said from now on I'll be
known as Eric S. Galt. And so that's what I
did, and he gave me the car. Then I took him
to the station, and later on I mailed that
stuff down to him as Eric S. Galt.
Q. So he came back from Canada. He had
a job so he told you.
A. He told me he had a job working down
there.
Q. He was working for somebody he met in
Canada?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1040
A. Yeah, and he mentioned his
name -- Raul.
Q. Somebody called Raul?
A. Yeah.
Q. Did he tell you what the job was?
A. No. I knew it was something
illegal. I figured it was dope or car theft
or something. You know, I didn't know what
it was, and I didn't actually care that much,
but I knew it was something illegal because
he was trying -- he said he was working this,
you know, this guy he called Raul to get
enough money so he could get out of the
country, you know, get out of Canada and the
United States totally.
Q. So he was doing -- taking on this
job, whatever it was, so that he could get
out of the country?
A. Yeah, get out of the country.
Q. That was the reason he went to Canada
in the first place?
A. Yeah, and I didn't actually -- I kind
of wish I had of now because, you know, I'd
know more to testify to, but I didn't know
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1041
more about it. But right then I wasn't even
inquisitive because I knew he was doing
something illegal and then met some guy over
there and this guy is paying him to run dope
or whatever he's doing. And I don't even
think half the time he knew what he was doing
because they just had him drop a car off in
Mexico and drop one off in New Orleans.
Q. So after he saw you, you talked with
him in Illinois and he went to Birmingham,
did you have any contact with him over the
course of the next year?
A. Well, up until the time King got
killed, from the time we left Chicago when I
seen him last, he called me three times.
Q. And what did he say on those?
A. It wasn't nothing. It wasn't nothing
but just I'm working or asking how the family
is and this and that. And every call would
be under three minutes because I hear him put
the change in and the operator would never
come on. It would be less than three minutes
each call. So probably -- I probably talked
to him about six, seven minutes since the
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1042
last time I met him when he left Chicago
until King got killed.
Q. That's the only contact you had with
him?
A. The only contact I ever had with him
after that.
Q. Have you ever known your brother
James over all the years you knew him when he
was free or when he was inside even --
A. Yeah.
Q. -- did you ever know him to engage in
violence?
A. Never. He never had. He never
had -- the most violent thing he ever did was
rob a store, you know, the Kroger store.
That's the most violent ever, but there never
was no violence used in that, you know. And
in fact, before that he was always, you know,
like a burglar. You know, like breaking in
and stealing money, but then when he got with
that -- I mentioned his name before --
Owens. Owens did robbery, see, so then he
went in on the robbery.
Q. In the course of this time when he
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1043
was on the run after he returned to the
United States and those three phone calls
that you had with him, did he ever mention
Dr. Martin Luther King?
A. No. The King name never came up when
we was in the hotel when we met together and
stayed all night or in no phone calls. The
King name was never mentioned, and the last
thing James was thinking about was, you know,
Jackson or King or Kennedy or any of them
people because he was trying to stay out of
prison.
Q. So there was no mention of them?
A. No.
Q. Was there any mention of any activity
that he was being asked to do related to
Dr. King?
A. No, never nothing.
Q. Now, eventually he went to England,
was extradited and was imprisoned in the
United States?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you have more contact with him
after that?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1044
A. Oh, yeah, I was coming down here to
Memphis back in '68 when they brought him
back about every week, and I'd drive down and
we'd visit. And what they had -- like Mark
Lane said, he was treated worse than
prisoners of war, you know, the guys they
tried in Nuremberg. He had a TV set on 24
hours a day and the lights. They xeroxed all
of his mail, and they had him on TV all the
time, you know, hooked up. And so when we
would visit, he would have to write me notes
and flash them because otherwise they would
know everything that he knew.
Q. Did he give you the impression that
he was determined to go to trial?
A. He was determined. He was
determined. That's the only thing he wanted
was a trial because he said he'd have to go
to trial. He said only way I can, you know,
convince the people that I'm not guilty and
try to show the people where I'm at was take
a trial. That was the first trouble he had
with his first attorney Haynes because
William Bradford Huie told Haynes that James
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1045
Earl Ray can't take the stand because if he
takes the witness stand, I don't have no
book. So that's when he replaced him.
Q. Well, there was a contractual
relationship between a book writer and his
first lawyer?
A. Yeah, Arthur Haynes went over to
England, the first attorney James had, and he
brought a contract over for him to sign that
he would represent him if he signed that
contract where he'd get all the royalties off
the books, you know. And so then William
Bradford Huie was the one that paid him the
money.
In fact, before he fired Haynes on
November 1st of 1968, I flew down to
Harpersville, Alabama and talked to Huie.
Huie paid my way down there because he wanted
another contact besides the attorney so he
was showing me these contracts, and he's
talking about changing them around where
James would get the money because his idea
was he'd pay your money. He'll even brag
that everybody has got their -- you know,
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1046
paid.
And so I told him -- he told me, he
said the only thing is now you go back and
tell James he's not going to take the witness
stand because if he does, I don't have no
book. So I went back and told James you
ought to fire Haynes because Huie is running
the case.
Q. Well, the writer told you that James
shouldn't take the witness stand when he went
to trial?
A. Yeah, that was later on in a -- later
on in a phone conversation with the -- later
on in a conversation with Mark Lane --
Q. Well, we'll come to that
conversation.
A. Yeah.
Q. And in the event, James did not have
a trial?
A. No, he never had no trial.
Q. How did that come about when he was
so determined to have one?
A. Well, what he done when Arthur Haynes
told him he couldn't take the witness stand
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1047
and James said that's the only way I can, you
know -- because he couldn't give these
lawyers like Haynes -- every time you give
him some information, a phone number or
something, he'd give it to Huie. And he said
how can I get a trial when they know
everything I'm going to testify to.
And so when he got rid of Arthur
Haynes, then he got Percy Foreman, and Percy
Foreman came in and said this is going to be
the easiest case I ever had in my life.
There's no evidence at all against him, and
he did that up until about a month before the
guilty plea.
Then he started crying saying
they're going to execute him, they're going
to do this, do this. And so James asked him
to resign from the case because he was
determined to go to trial anyway, and Foreman
wouldn't resign. And Judge Battle said if he
fired Foreman, he had to go to trial with a
public defender.
Q. So the result was that he didn't go
to trial?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1048
A. No, he didn't go.
Q. He pled guilty?
A. Yeah, Percy Foreman pled him guilty.
Q. I'm going show to you a letter,
Jerry, that was written to James Earl Ray by
Percy Foreman.
(Document passed to witness.)
Q. Take your time, please, and read it.
A. Yeah, I know all about this.
Q. What is the date of --
A. This is May the 9th --
Q. What is the date of that letter?
A. March the 9th, 1969.
Q. March what?
A. 9th.
Q. March 9th, 1969?
A. Yeah.
Q. And when was the guilty plea hearing?
A. Right around that time.
Q. If I may inform them, it was
March 10th. As a matter of fact, it was
March 10th --
A. Yeah.
Q. -- the following day.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1049
A. Yeah.
Q. And what is the purpose of that
letter from Foreman, his attorney, to James?
What does he tell him there?
A. Well, James told me -- you know, I
went down there when Foreman tried to get him
to plead guilty. And he said he's still, you
know, was fighting against it. He said what
I'll do, I'll have Percy Foreman to give you
$500 before I'll plead guilty. Then you can
go down and get another attorney to reopen
the case in which I used the money, the $500,
I flew down to New Orleans. This is even in
a book because the guy I went down to see
about an attorney, he didn't trust me. He
didn't know what I was coming down there for
so he notified the police and the FBI. And
we met in the park and the police was all out
in the park.
Q. Let's focus on this. This is a
letter from his counsel on the eve of trial,
and this letter offers you -- offers him
$500.
A. Yeah, if --
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1050
Q. Under what conditions was he offered
$500 by --
A. Yeah, if he don't do no -- if he
pleads guilty and don't embarrass him in the
court. That was the agreement.
Q. And that $500 --
A. And he went along with the guilty
plea. He put in a guilty plea.
Q. We understand that $500 was to be
taken to hire a new lawyer to try to set it
aside?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there in fact an application to
set aside that guilty plea shortly
thereafter?
A. As soon as James got to Nashville, he
wrote a letter to Judge Preston Battle and
asked him to take the letter for motion for a
new trial and that Percy Foreman has been
relieved. And when Battle died a few
days -- I don't know, 20 days or whatever it
was after the guilty plea, he had three
letters from James asking for a trial.
MR. PEPPER: Your Honor,
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1051
plaintiffs move admission of this letter.
(Whereupon, the above-mentioned
document was marked as Exhibit 19.)
Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) So he pled guilty and
was sentenced to 99 years. Did there come a
time when you had further contact with
William Bradford Huie?
A. Yes, back in -- I think October I
believe it was of 1977 when James Earl Ray
escaped from Brushy Mountain Prison. His
attorney then was Jack Kershaw, and I
knew -- I had known Mark Lane, an attorney.
And Playboy came out with a dirty story about
my brother so I recommended to James that he
get Mark Lane to represent him. So Mark Lane
took over the case. Just before he escaped,
the trial was supposed to start. That was in
October.
Q. Let me try to move you through to the
point at hand. Did you have a conversation
with William Bradford Huie around that time,
October of 1977?
A. Yes, sir. The day after the escape
trial, I called William Bradford Huie.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1052
Q. And James had been in prison then for
approximately eight years?
A. Yeah.
Q. And in the course of that
conversation, did Bradford Huie make an offer
to you --
A. He made --
Q. -- to take to James?
A. Yeah, he made an offer, and we got it
on tape. He made an offer that we taped for
$220,000 if I get him in to see James.
Q. Well, he wasn't paying $220,000 for a
visit.
A. No, no.
Q. What was the offer?
A. $220,000 if he would tell him about
killing King and he had to give him, you
know, a story about that he killed King and
that -- he said that's the only way a book
will sell if you write a book that he killed
King.
Q. What would James do with $220,000 if
he was in prison?
A. Well, he said that -- he explained
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1053
that -- he started off with that Blanton was
the governor, and he said we get James out
through Blanton and you and James both can
live good in another country.
Q. So he was going to arrange a pardon?
A. Yes, through Governor Ray Blanton.
Q. Did you record that telephone
conversation?
A. Yeah, it was all taped. Me and Mark
Lane taped it.
Q. And was there a transcription of that
recording?
A. Yes.
Q. Let me show you this transcription.
(Document passed to witness.)
Q. Would you tell the Court and the jury
what is the heading of that transcription,
the date, time and place?
A. It's October 29, 1977, a.m. -- 9:45
a.m. Jerry William -- Jerry Ray or William
Ray, Bradford Huie, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
rural Scottish Inn.
Q. Would you just look through that
transcription and see if you recognize it as
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1054
the transcription that was made of the tape
recording of that conversation?
A. Yeah, that's it.
MR. PEPPER: Plaintiffs move the
transcription into evidence.
(Whereupon, the above-mentioned
document was marked as Exhibit 20.)
Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) What happened to the
tape of that conversation?
A. Mark Lane made the tape and he turned
the copy over to the House assassination
Committee that was investigating the King
assassination of Kennedy at the time, and he
kept the other one.
Q. So the House Select Committee on
Assassinations had a copy of that tape
recording?
A. Yes, had a copy of it.
Q. That same committee decided that
there was no Raul?
A. Yeah.
Q. Is that right?
A. That's right.
Q. And that in fact James got his money
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1055
that he said Raul gave him from robbing a
particular bank in Alton, Illinois?
A. That's right.
Q. Did James rob that bank in Alton,
Illinois to the best of your knowledge?
A. No. I don't know who robbed that
bank. It's still unsolved. I know they had
claimed that me and James robbed the Bank of
Alton.
Q. They not only claimed that, there was
a front page, column one article in the New
York Times on the 17th of November 1978. I'd
like to show you that article.
(Document passed to witness.)
A. Yeah.
Q. Now, that article claims, does it
not, that the Times investigation, the FBI
investigation and the congressional
investigation all --
A. Yeah.
Q. -- concluded that you and your
brother robbed that bank?
A. Yeah, robbed that bank.
Q. Did you take any steps yourself as a
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1056
result of those charges?
A. Well, what happened was I was in
St. Louis and James was testifying in
Washington in front of the assassination
committee, and they said we're going to prove
you and your brothers robbed the Bank of
Alton and used the money to finance the King
killing. So a friendly reporter there named
James Alber (spelled phonetically) -- Mark
Lane had called him the same day they accused
us when he got a recess from the
assassination committee and asked him to take
me over there and waive the statute of
limitations.
And so Alton, Illinois is only about
20 miles from St. Louis, Missouri. So we
drove over there and we went in the police
station. First, we went in the bank and they
had a different president then. And so then
we went down to the police station and I
turned myself in and waived the statute of
limitation so they could prosecute me. And
they said are you here to confess to the
crime. I said I can't confess to a crime
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1057
that I didn't commit, but I said Congress
accused me of committing a crime so I'm here
to stand trial. He said you never was a
suspect.
Q. The police officials in Alton,
Illinois said you never were a suspect?
A. Never was a suspect.
Q. Did they ever explain to you how this
type of article got written?
A. No, no. They was mystified that, you
know, they even accused me of doing anything,
and so I don't know if it was FBI making
stuff up or where it's coming at. But it
became -- and like I say, I knew I couldn't
have been a suspect because I worked from '65
to '68 in the North Brook -- Sportsman's
Country Club in North Brook. Never was late,
worked six nights a week, never was late or
never missed a day.
Q. Did they tell you that they had been
interviewed by the New York Times?
A. No, they didn't say anything.
Q. There was no reporter from the New
York Times that interviewed them?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1058
A. Not that I know of.
Q. Did they tell you they had been
interviewed by a House Select Committee
investigator?
A. No.
Q. Did they tell you they had been
interviewed by the FBI?
A. No. As far as that, no, nobody had
ever talked to them about it as far as I know
because they didn't say anything about it to
me.
Q. Yet somehow this appears column one,
New York Times, byline Windell Walls, Junior.
A. Yeah.
Q. 17th of November.
A. See, I don't know if this has
anything to do with it, but in 1981, F. Lee
Bailey had a TV show called Lie Detector on
and they threw me out there. We did two lie
detector tests, and I got tapes of the test
put away. And one, if I was involved in the
King assassination and the one was was I
involved in any bank robberies. And we did
two shows and both showed I was innocent. I
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1059
wasn't involved in no bank robberies or no
Assassinations.
Q. Mr. Ray, let me show you an FBI
air-tel dated on July 19th which supplements
one of 7-26-68, and it has to do with an FBI
review of all fingerprints related to bank
robberies at the time in question.
(Document passed to witness.)
Q. What is the conclusion of the
bureau's analysis of all of the fingerprints
of suspects at that time with respect to
James Earl Ray? This is a comparison of your
brother's fingerprints.
A. According to this, they took
fingerprints and it wasn't his. They
couldn't pick up his fingerprints.
Q. What's the last two or three words?
A. The last -- no identification
effected.
Q. And that was in '68?
A. That was in -- let's see, where is
it? 8-1-68 I think. Yeah, or 8-2-68.
Q. About a year after --
A. The bank was robbed.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1060
Q. -- the bank was robbed and some nine
years before the allegations again surfaced?
A. Yeah.
Q. Did you testify before the Select
Committee on Assassinations?
A. Yes, I testified.
Q. Did they raise this issue with you?
A. Yeah, they raised the bank robbery.
I couldn't believe it when they raised the
bank robbery. I told them, I said, what, are
you pulling a joke here? I said I've been
over to the bank and the police station and
turned myself in. Oh, we're not playing no
joke he said and so -- but then they
basically got off that bank. And at first,
he started on the banks and the races and all
this other stuff. Every time they had a
different reason the reason he killed King.
Q. Do you know what the House Select
Committee on Assassinations concluded with
respect to whether or not your brother was a
racist when racism was a motive in this
crime?
A. Yeah, even they admit that wasn't
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1061
true, that he wasn't a racist. They went
through his background, our whole family
backgrounds, and they couldn't find nothing
in our backgrounds.
Q. Moving on, Mr. Ray, did it ever occur
to you in the course of your brother's
imprisonment, either to him or to you, to
contact the family of the victim in this
case?
A. I thought about the King family a lot
over the years, and in a way I wanted to, but
James -- I talked to James about it. He said
don't bother them people. He said they've
had, you know -- they've lost that. He said
they're liable to look at you and think
you're the brother of the murderer. He
didn't know how they felt, see, and it wasn't
until he was dying then a lady reporter from
the New York Times called me up. And I don't
remember her name.
And she asked me if I would talk to
the King family if I had a chance, and I said
sure I'd talk to them. And I told her the
same thing. I said if me and James ever
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1062
talked to them, he goes we'd be out of order,
you know, trying to talk to them. And then
this reporter told Dexter or Coretta King
what I said and that's how we got talking
together.
Q. And that's how the communication
started?
A. Yeah, that's how the communication
started.
Q. Were you surprised when they took a
position in support of a trial for your
brother?
A. I was because I knew it was going to
hurt them bad because the government media,
they're going to really come down on them
like they come down on the Ray family. So it
surprised me because I knew for all these
years they've been getting good press, and
all at once, the press is going to turn
against them.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Mr. Ray.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
MR. PEPPER: No further
questions.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1063
THE COURT: Let's see if
Mr. Garrison has any questions for you.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Mr. Ray, you and I have talked
previously a few times.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you understand we're here trying
to get the truth.
A. Yeah, that's what we're after, the
truth.
Q. Let the chips fall where they may.
You understand that, don't you?
A. Yes.
Q. Let me ask you something. Going back
to the time that your brother escaped from
prison, how long had he been serving then?
How long had he been in the prison there?
A. He had already been in seven years
and he had a 20-year sentence.
Q. And had he made some effort to escape
before this time?
A. Yes, he had tried to escape before.
Two or three times -- I forget exactly.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1064
Q. Did he ever state to you that he had
any contact or any influence with a warden of
that prison?
A. No, he never did. In fact, like I
said, I only visited him a couple times in
seven years at the prison. And John, I don't
know, my other brother, he visited him maybe
four or five times. But when I went down
there them two times, it was just a friendly
visit.
Q. And when he escaped, you said I
believe that you met him the next day?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And where was that that you met him?
A. Well, John brought him up. John
picked him up when he escaped and he brought
him to the Fairview Hotel. That's on South
Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
Q. And his plan at that time was to get
a job and then try to get into Canada?
A. Yeah, he -- the next day -- we all
three stayed together that night, and the
next day John drove back to St. Louis and I
went back to North Brook. But before we did,
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1065
we each give him $100.
Q. Okay. Mr. Ray, let me ask you
something. You -- after the assassination,
you talked to your brother I know several
times or at some time to confer with him?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you ever ask him who he thought
did the assassination?
A. Not completely. He knew some way
that they know who done it and that it's
being covered by the FBI, but he didn't know
who done it or why it was done. And
everybody got their own speculations and
that's why even until the day he died, he
fought to get these files released that's
locked up and won't be released for another
30 years. And Clinton said they could be
released, but they still won't release them.
Q. Why are those files sealed for 30
years? Have you been told?
A. Like James said before he died, they
didn't seal them files to protect me.
Q. Who sealed the files?
A. The assassination committee, they had
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1066
them sealed and then I guess with Congress.
Q. Let me ask you, as you know, I've
spent two days taking your brother's
testimony in prison. Did you ever see him
with this person called Raul?
A. No, no, I never -- I only heard him
mention his name one time. That's when he
came back from Canada.
Q. Did you -- did he tell you that Raul
was financing him and helping him?
A. Yeah, he said he was working for
Raul.
Q. What kind of work was he doing for
Raul?
A. I don't know. I knew it was
something illegal. I assumed gun or drugs or
something because he's telling me about
taking them cars to different cities, you
know, and dropping them off so I figured it
was narcotics.
Q. Do you know -- did you have any
discussion with your brother before he
entered a guilty plea? Did you have any
conference with him about that?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1067
A. Yeah, I came down to visit him. See,
everything we said was taped so you have to
watch what you say and they got the lights
and everything because I didn't want to see
him plead guilty. I knew what struggle he
was on, but he told me too the last time I
seen him he still hadn't made up his mind.
He was still fighting to go to court, and he
told me that Foreman told him if he didn't
plead guilty, they was going to put my dad in
prison which my dad had jumped parole back in
the twenties and was going to charge me as
being an accessory to the murder.
Q. Let me ask you, did you know he was
going to escape before he did?
A. No, I didn't know that. John did. I
didn't.
Q. You had no knowledge?
A. No. I was working up in North
Brook. I was working there like I say six
nights a week.
Q. Did he ever mention to you as to how
he came up with these aliases that he had,
where he got those names from? He had
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1068
several aliases.
A. No, I never did -- I knew a couple of
them -- a Harvey Lomar he used. I grew up
with a guy named Harvey Lomar, a friend of
mine in Quincy, Illinois, but the other one
like the Eric S. Galt and the Ramone Sneyd, I
didn't know how he got them.
Q. Mr. Pepper asked you about the
congressional committee. You testified in
that, didn't you?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And the conclusion was
that your brother was the one that did the
assassination, wasn't it?
A. I think their conclusion -- if I
remember right, they claimed that he heard of
a $50,000 bounty while he was in the Missouri
prison and he went out and killed King but
didn't pick up the bounty and took off. That
was actually kind of a sad joke. Here you're
going to go out and commit a crime and all
this money spent traveling all over the world
and don't pick up the bounty. Yeah, there's
supposed to have been two guys, Sutherland
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1069
and Kauffmann, in St. Louis supposed to have
been racists that put up the $50,000 bounty,
but they was both dead.
Q. Mr. Ray, had you ever heard anything
about a bounty from someone in Missouri on
Dr. King's life?
A. No. The only thing I heard is what
the assassination committee -- when they came
out, that's the first I heard of it.
Q. Did your brother ever mention to you
that he was ever in a place called Jim's
Grill at any time?
A. No, I don't -- see, the only thing I
can remember, he was telling me about where
he was at at the time that King got killed.
He was at a service station trying to get a
tire fixed, but he never did hardly mention
Jim's Grill to me. I'm not saying he wasn't
in there because I don't know.
Q. Let me ask you this. Did he tell you
that the day this happened that he had gone
up to this rooming house and had registered
as a guest, paid some money? Did he ever
tell you that or did he tell you what he was
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1070
doing there?
A. Oh, yeah, he told me that I think it
was at the DeSoto Motel he had bought this
gun -- was in Birmingham I think it was. And
then he -- then Raul said it was the wrong
one and he had to take it back and get
another one, and he told him to meet him at
that motel in DeSoto. Then he picked the gun
up or Raul picked the gun up that night and
later on told him to rent a room on this
place on Main Street.
Q. Did he tell you that he had gone into
the rooming house and had taken any of his
clothing or personal items?
A. No, I didn't ask him what he brought
in there. I never did -- the only thing I
knew, he went in there and they had -- later
on that night had Raul and another guy in
there. And he said that Raul used his car a
lot, that Mustang, so Raul told him he
wanted to use the car later that time and he
wanted to talk to this guy, you know, by
himself anyway. So James told him, he said
I'll go get the tire fixed. He had a flat
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1071
tire coming in, and that's when he went up to
get the tire fixed.
Q. He spent some time in Atlanta, did he
not, before the assassination?
A. Yeah. He lived in Atlanta. I can't
remember the name of the place he lived at,
but some apartment places in Atlanta.
Q. Okay. Mr. Ray, let me ask you this.
You're aware of the fact that after the
assassination, a map was found that your
brother owned that had a home, business and
another location where Dr. King stayed that
was supposed to be part of his property.
You're aware of that, aren't you?
A. Yeah, I've read that.
Q. Have you ever seen the map?
A. No. The only thing I know is what I
read. I read something that something was
circled -- a church or --
Q. A church and his office I believe was
circled.
A. Yeah.
Q. Did you ever see the Mustang that was
supposed to be driven by your brother -- the
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1072
white Mustang?
A. No. I've never seen it in my life to
this day because I never did see James after
he left Chicago. Then when they took the
Mustang, I think they sold it to somebody
here in Memphis -- a car lot.
Q. After the assassination on April 4th,
1968, when did you hear from your brother
again? Did you talk to him any more after
that, the 4th?
A. No. After -- I can't remember for
sure. I think it was about two months before
the assassination. Then the next time I
talked to him is when they brought him back
from England to Memphis.
Q. So you had not talked to him from the
assassination up until he was brought back?
A. Until he was brought back. And
within a week after he was brought back, I
drove down and visited him.
Q. Did you know where he was during that
time?
A. Oh, no, no. See, the FBI would keep
me in their office all day long after they
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1073
had discovered they was looking for James
Earl Ray. And the FBI, they would take me
downtown. I was working at night and in
there all day because the FBI told me if he
ever gets in touch with you, will you let us
know, and I said you'll know before I know.
Q. Well, did he ever mention anything
about the fact that this Raul had indicated
to him that they wanted to assassinate
Dr. King? Was anything ever said about that?
A. No, no, no. Huh-uh, no. He never
had got involved in anything like that -- no
murder or nothing like that. The only thing
he was trying to do was just make enough
money to get out of the country, and he said
that guy's paying him good.
Q. Mr. Raul was paying him?
A. Yeah. He only mentioned Raul's name
once by name, and right after that he said
he's paying him good. And I believe he was
talking about the same person.
Q. Let me ask you this. Mr. Ray was
never seen anywhere with this Raul that you
know of, was he?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1074
A. Well, I don't think Mr. Pepper
brought or Attorney Pepper brought this up,
but James sent me down twice -- once right
after the guilty plea. That's what that $500
was for, to go down to New Orleans, because
he'd meet Raul in the Bunny Lounge. That's
on Canal Street.
Q. What was the name of that?
A. The Bunny Lounge -- Bunny lounge.
And it's on Canal Street. And James told me
exactly where it was at, and I went in there
and had two barmaids -- and I mentioned
Raul, you know, like on a friendly term.
Otherwise, you get suspicion and they want to
know what's going on. And the barmaid hadn't
heard of Raul. Then I asked another one
about Randy -- Randy Rosenson because one
time after Raul used a car, when James got
it back, it had a card stuck down in the
side. And on it, it had Randy Rosenson's
name on there and a phone number. And so
then James sent me down again in about '72
and trying to run this guy down. So then
that's when a barmaid said, well, that's
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1075
probably Randolph Rosenson.
So I go back, and James then -- she
says something about he lives in Miami. And
so then I go back in and James had me fly
down to Miami and go to check up on Randolph
Rosenson. They subpoenaed him in front of
the assassination committee, but I don't know
what the outcome was. But anyway, his card
was found in James' Mustang after Raul used
it one time.
Q. When your brother testified before
the assassination committee, were you there
present?
A. No, I was in St. Louis. I watched it
on live TV.
Q. Were you surprised that he entered a
guilty plea?
A. Yeah, I was. I was. I was. Most
people -- I've talked to a lot of people that
in a way don't believe he's guilty, but why
would he plead guilty to something like this
if he didn't do it and --
Q. Did you ever ask him that very
question?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1076
A. Yeah, well, he kicked himself after
he got out of that place they had him in,
see, and he said that's the worse mistake I
ever made in my life because it's hard to
overturn. But like Mark Lane and them talked
about that.
That was worse where he was at than
the Nazis they put on trial in World War II
after Nuremberg because they had the lights
on, the heat on, they had a policeman in
there with him 24 hours a day and he'd
breathe everything he done. And he couldn't
get no visitors. If he did, he had to write
notes to them unless you wanted the state to
know what he was talking about. Then on top
of that, Foreman said they were going to put
me in prison and put my dad in prison if he
didn't plead guilty.
Q. Did you ever know that your brother
owned a rifle of any type? Did you ever know
of any type rifle he owned?
A. No, huh-uh. He wasn't a good shot
anyway, see, if he shot anything. I think
they classify you when he went in the Army
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1077
and he was a poor shot.
Q. Mr. Ray, was your brother in Los
Angeles some of this time after he escaped
from the Missouri prison?
A. Yeah, he spent time -- I didn't know
about it at the time. I found out later he
was out in L.A. a lot.
Q. But you learned he was in Los Angeles
some of the time?
A. Yeah.
MR. GARRISON: That's all, Your
Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
MR. PEPPER: Nothing further,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Ray,
you may stand down. You can remain in the
courtroom or you're free to leave.
THE WITNESS: Okay. Thank you.
(Witness excused.)
THE COURT: At this point we're
going to take break.
(Jury out.)
(Break taken at 11:40 a.m.)
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1078
THE COURT: Let's bring the
jury out, please, sir.
(Jury in at 12:07 p.m.)
THE COURT: Call your next
witness.
MS. AKINS: Good morning, Your
Honor. We have two statements -- FBI
reports, 302's. Both are taken or one taken
April 25th, 1968.
Mr. Ray Alvis Hendrix, Room 14, Fox
Hotel, 106 Vine Street, Memphis Tennessee,
advised that he is employed by the Corps of
Engineers, U.S. Government on the Dredge
Oakerson. Mr. Hendrix stated he worked about
six months in nice weather and is off the
other six months of the year.
Mr. Hendrix stated that on the
evening of April the 4th, 1968, he and Bill
Reed, who resides in Room 4 of this hotel,
ate their dinner at Jim's Grill located at
418 South Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee.
He stated they left the grill at
approximately 5:30 p.m. and slowly walked to
the Fox Hotel. He said they walked on the
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1079
east side of South Main Street.
Mr. Hendrix commented that when they
left Jim's Grill he forgot his jacket and had
to return for the jacket. He said he learned
later that while he was getting his jacket,
Bill Reed looked at a white Mustang that was
parked almost in front of Jim's Grill. He
said he did not notice this Mustang or any
other cars parked in front of Jim's grill.
He stated, however, that when he and
Bill Reed approached the intersection of
Vance and South Main Street, Bill Reed pulled
him back to the curb because the car was
turning the corner. He said this car was a
white Mustang and that after the car turned
the corner Bill Reed commented to him that
this was the Mustang that was parked in front
of Jim's Grill which he looked at while he,
Hendrix, was retrieving his jacket.
Mr. Hendrix stated he did not see
who was in the car but believes there was
only one person. He said he could not
describe him and would not be able to
identify the driver of this car.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1080
Mr. Hendrix stated that as they were
returning to their rooms or possibly or just
entering their rooms, they heard sirens in
the immediate area and going south on South
Main Street. He said he later learned that
the sirens were from police cars that were
going to the scene of the murder of Martin
Luther King. He said as near as he can
recall, he heard the siren about 6:00 p.m. or
just a few minutes after 6:00 p.m. on
April the 4th, 1968.
Mr. Hendrix stated that the Mustang
had turned the corner and proceeded east on
Vance Street, did not turn the corner very
fast or made the tires squeal. He said he
did not watch which way the Mustang turned or
how far it traveled on Vance Street.
Mr. Hendrix also stated he could not
furnish any information as to the cars parked
or traveling in the immediate area of Jim's
Grill at the time that he and Bill Reed
left. He also stated he could not furnish
any information concerning individuals in the
immediate area of Jim's Grill at the time he
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1081
left to return to his room.
THE COURT: What's Mr. Hendrix's
first name?
MS. AKINS: Ray Alvis Hendrix.
THE COURT: Thank you.
MS. AKINS: Your Honor, the
second statement, also FBI report number 302,
was taken April the 15th, 1968, by
Mr. William Zinny Reed. These are pages 66
and 67.
Room 6, Clark Hotel, 106 Vance
Street, Memphis, advised he is employed as a
salesman for a photography firm and is
currently working in the Memphis area. Mr.
Reed stated that on April the 4th, 1968, he
and Ray Hendrix stopped at Jim's Grill, 418
South Main Street for something to eat. He
said he was in Jim's Grill for some time and
feels that he arrived there at approximately
4:30 p.m. and believes that he left between
5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
He said when he left, he picked up
his hat and he and Ray Hendrix paid their
check and left Jim's Grill. He said that
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1082
they left the entrance of Jim's Grill and
proceeded north on South Main Street for 10
feet when Ray Hendrix remembered he left his
jacket in Jim's Grill. Mr. Reed stated he
waited in front of Jim's Grill while Hendrix
went back for his jacket.
He commented that while waiting, he
looked and saw a white Mustang was parked
near the entrance of Jim's Grill. Mr. Reed
stated he does not have a car and is in the
market for a car and was considering buying a
Mustang and therefore he looked this car
over. He said he believed the car was an off
white color, that it was not dirty but was
not exactly clean either.
He said he believes this car had not
been recently washed. He said he does not
recall the color of the interior but believes
that it was a dark color. He said he does
not recall seeing anything inside the car
other than five cartons lying on the back
seat. He described these cartons as being
the size of a tin package cigarette carton.
He said these cartons were red and
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1083
white in color, but does not remember any
lettering on the cartons nor does he remember
whether the white or the red was dominant.
He said when he saw these cartons he felt
that the owner of this car was probably a
traveling salesman -- that the owner of this
car was probably a traveling salesman.
Mr. Reed stated he does not know
whether or not any stickers were in the
window of this car and he did not look at the
license. He said he does not recall if the
Mustang had whitewall tires and if it had
wheel covers.
Mr. Reed stated that after Hendrix
obtained his jacket from Jim's Grill, they
proceeded north on South Main and walked on
the east side of South Main Street. He said
when they arrived at the intersection of
Vance and South Main, he was about ready to
walk off the curb when for some unknown
reason he looked around to see if there were
any cars coming. He said as he looked back,
he saw a white Mustang about ready to turn
the corner and go east on Vance from South
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1084
Main Street.
He said he does not know if this is
the same car he saw parked in front of Jim's
Grill but added it seemed to be the same
car. He said he did not see who was in the
car but believes it was a white male with a
white shirt, but does not recall if this
individual had a tie or hat on. He said he
had the impression this person was not young
but was not old. He said he would have no
way of estimating the age of this person.
Mr. Reed said the Mustang proceeded east down
Vance Street. He has no idea where the car
went after it turned the corner.
Mr. Reed stated that he went to his
room and that he had been in his room for
quite some time, possibly as much as 15
minutes when he heard numerous sirens in the
immediate area going down toward Jim's
Grill. He said he learned later that Martin
Luther King had been shot and that the sirens
he heard were from officers going to that
immediate area.
Mr. Reed advised he could not
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1085
furnish any additional information concerning
any cars parked on the street or any people
in that immediate area.
Your Honor, we move that these
statements be marked as plaintiffs' exhibits.
THE COURT: You want to do them
as collective or marked separately?
MS. AKINS: They can be
collective, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Please mark them as
Collective 21.
(Whereupon, the above-mentioned
documents were marked as Collective Exhibit
21.)
THE COURT: Also, ladies and
gentlemen, the new face that you see with
Mr. Pepper and his group is Mr. Dick
Gregory. All right. Call your next witness.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Your
Honor. Your Honor, plaintiffs call
Lieutenant Willie B. Richmond.
WILLIE B. RICHMOND,
having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1086
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Richmond.
A. Good afternoon.
Q. Thank you for joining us here this
afternoon. Would you state your full name
and address for the record, please?
A. Willie B. Richmond.
Q. And your address?
A. 1411 Favell Drive, Memphis,
Tennessee.
Q. What is your present occupation,
Mr. Richmond?
A. I'm retired.
Q. And where were you employed
previously?
A. Memphis Police Department.
Q. And when did you first join the
Memphis Police Department?
A. February the 1st -- February the 2nd,
1965.
Q. Nineteen sixty --
A. Five.
Q. Five. And when did you officially
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1087
retire?
A. April 26, 1997.
Q. So you're a long-standing police
officer?
A. Thirty-two years.
Q. And what was your final rank?
A. Captain.
Q. You reached captain. Now, on the
occasion of the sanitation workers' strike in
February and March and April of 1968, during
those turbulent times, what was your
assignment in the police department?
A. I was assigned to the Internal
Affairs Bureau at that time during the
sanitation strike.
Q. Would you be kind enough just to pull
that mike a little closer to you?
A. (Witness complies.)
Q. You were assigned to internal
affairs?
A. That's correct.
Q. And what did that assignment entail?
What did it mean to be assigned to internal
affairs?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1088
A. Observe workers to see if any trouble
was going to come up.
Q. Did there come a time when you were
assigned to a surveillance post in the fire
station number two on South Main Street?
A. If that was the one that was at
Calhoun and Main, it was.
MR. PEPPER: All right. Why
don't we just pull that out so we refresh
Captain Richmond's memory.
(Map exhibit set up.)
MR. PEPPER: Permission to
enter, Your Honor?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) Mr. Richmond, this is
the fire station we're talking about here
(indicating) which is on South Main on the
corner of Butler and South Main. Do you
recognize it?
A. Yeah, that's it. Butler and South
Main.
Q. All right. And where were you on
surveillance duty when you were assigned
here?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1089
A. I was in the back where the sleeping
quarters is next to Mulberry Street. There's
a sleeping quarters back there.
Q. Back here in the rear of the fire
station?
A. Right.
Q. And where were you looking in
particular during your surveillance duty?
A. I was looking at the parking lot area
to the Lorraine Motel.
Q. But from here across to the Lorraine
Motel?
A. Right.
Q. Do you recall when you started, when
you took up that position first?
A. That particular day, I had gone out
that morning -- but I came back -- to take a
blood test because I was getting married that
coming Sunday.
Q. All right.
A. And I went back down there later on
that evening about maybe 2:30, 3:00.
Q. You came back around 2:30, 3:00?
A. Correct.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1090
Q. And you then resumed your
surveillance?
A. Correct.
Q. Were you alone or did you have a
partner with you?
A. I had a partner.
Q. And who was that?
A. Detective Redditt.
Q. So the two of you shared that duty?
A. That is correct.
Q. Did there come a time that afternoon
when you were left alone on duty?
A. When I had finished my blood test, I
went back to the office, internal affair's
office, and I was told to go down to the
station to relieve Redditt because he had
been threatened.
Q. So you were told at that point to go
down to the station and relieve him. He was
going to be relieved of responsibility, taken
off?
A. Correct.
Q. And you were going to continue the
surveillance by yourself?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1091
A. That is correct.
Q. To whom did you report when you were
carrying out this surveillance activity?
A. I called the office and usually I
talked to -- it was then Captain Gerald Ray
or Inspector Time (phonetic), and I can't
remember which one I talked to now.
Q. But you would speak with one of those
two officers?
A. One of the two. Most of the time it
was Ray.
Q. Captain Richmond, let me pass this
report to you.
(Document passed to witness.)
Q. Do you recognize this document?
A. Well, it looks like the statement I
gave on April the 9th, 1968 to Lieutenant
J.D. Hamby.
Q. Right. This is a statement you gave
to Lieutenant J.D. Hamby on April 9th, 1968?
A. That is correct.
Q. Now, this retraces your activity on
this surveillance duty from April 3rd through
the assassination; is that correct?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1092
A. That is correct.
Q. If you'll turn over to page 2, we're
still on April 3rd. Is there anything of
particular notice or moment that's taken
place on April the 3rd that you can see?
A. No, sir, not in particular.
Q. You see a reference to the Invaders
about midway down that page? Reference to
the Invaders occupying rooms 315 and 316?
A. I see it.
Q. Were the Invaders of particular
interest to you at that time?
A. No, sir.
Q. You were just commenting that they
were there?
A. That's it.
Q. Now, when Dr. King arrived in the
city for that last visit, were you at the
airport?
A. I was.
Q. Did you have a conversation with
anyone connected with either his group or
with the local clergy having to do with
security or protection for him on that last
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1093
visit?
A. I didn't, but my partner did.
Q. Your partner did. Were you present
when that conversation was taking place?
A. I was there.
Q. And with whom was the conversation?
A. I believe he spoke with Reverend
Kyles.
Q. Reverend Samuel Kyles?
A. Right.
Q. And what was the gist of the
conversation with respect to security
protection for Dr. King?
A. At that time we was told that
Dr. King hadn't wanted any police protection.
Q. You were told that Dr. King didn't
want any protection.
A. Police protection.
Q. Any police protection. And this was
told to you in this conversation by Reverend
Kyles?
A. I think it was Reverend Kyles. I'm
not sure, but I believe it was Reverend
Kyles. He was the one that said it I
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1094
believe.
Q. He was the one who said it you
believe?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Were you familiar with what position
Reverend Kyles held in Dr. King's
organization?
A. No, I was not.
Q. And you didn't know he held no
position in Dr. King's organization?
A. I did not.
Q. If you'll move on to page 3 of your
statement, Captain Richmond, about two-thirds
of the way down the page, do you notice your
note? And I'll read it. "At 2:05 p.m.
Reverend Samuel Kyles arrived and went to
room 307 and departed at 2:23 p.m." You see
that note?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know who was in room 307 at
that time?
A. Well, at that time, no, I did not.
Q. Let's move on to page 4, please.
A. (Witness complies.)
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1095
Q. The first full paragraph. Would you
read the first full paragraph starting at "at
approximately 5:50 p.m." to us, please?
A. Okay. It says, "Approximately 5:50
p.m., John Smith, Milton Max, Charles Cabbage
and one female colored and approximately six
or seven more of the Invaders opened the door
of their rooms, and I could see them
gathering their belongings. They then
brought them down the stairs and placed them
in the trunk of a light blue Mustang, license
number BL 3750, and they left the motel.
They was going west on Butler to Main."
Q. If I could just interrupt you there.
So at 5:50 p.m., your eye witness recording
sees the Invaders just bustling out of --
hustling out of that motel, leaving the
hotel?
A. They left.
Q. And that's within 11 minutes of the
shooting?
A. Approximately.
Q. Would you continue reading the next
paragraph, please?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1096
A. "Immediately after the Invaders left,
the Reverend Samuel Kyles came out of room
312 and went to the room where Martin Luther
King was living. He knocked on the door and
Martin Luther King came to the door. They
said a few words between each other and
Reverend Martin Luther King went back into
his room closing the door behind him, and the
Reverend Samuel Kyles remained on the porch."
Q. Right. So you're telling us there
from your eye witness report that Reverend
Kyles knocked on Martin Luther King's door at
about ten minutes to six or shortly after ten
minutes to six, said a few words to Dr. King
after he opened the door. Then when the door
was closed, Dr. King went back into his room
and Reverend Kyles remained on the -- you
call it the porch, but on the balcony?
A. The balcony.
Q. Now, a little further down in the
next paragraph, you record Martin Luther King
coming out onto the balcony. Do you see that
reference there? And if you could read from
the words "at this time the Reverend Martin
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1097
Luther King returned. " Do you see that?
A. I see it.
Q. Would you read that note, please?
Middle of the next paragraph.
A. Okay. "At this time Reverend Martin
Luther King returned from his room to the
gallery and walked up to the handrail. The
Reverend Kyles was standing off to his
right. This was approximately 6 p.m. At
this time I heard a loud sound as if it was a
shot and saw Doctor Martin Luther King fall
back on the handrail and put his hand up to
his head.
At 6:01 p.m., April 4th, 1968, I
reported this to the inspection bureau. I
returned to remain there and keep
surveillance. Also, here now and at the time
I heard the shot, the men of the tact squad
which consists of the sheriff deputy and the
Memphis police department was in the fire
house number four. I immediately hollered to
them I believe that King has been shot.
At this time the men of the tact
squad scramble out of the fire house
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1098
immediately going in all different
directions. Some went to the hotel. Some
went down the street. Later, the fire
department ambulance arrived approximately
five minutes later and departed to the
hospital with Reverend King."
Q. That's fine, you can stop there.
These were your recollections at the time
contemporaneously as you observed what was
going on at the Lorraine; is that right?
A. Correct.
Q. Nowhere in these notes do you record
Reverend Kyles going into Reverend King's
room 45 minutes, an hour before the shooting,
do you?
A. No, I don't.
Q. And if he had done so, is it fair to
say that you would have recorded this entry?
A. I recorded pretty much everything
that went on. I don't have my notebook now,
but we carried little small notebooks.
Q. Right.
A. And I wrote everything down as I saw
it.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1099
Q. As you saw it?
A. As I saw it.
Q. That was your duty.
A. Correct.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you very
much, Captain Richmond. Plaintiffs move
admission of Captain Richmond's report into
evidence, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, 22.
(Whereupon, the above-mentioned
document was marked as Exhibit 22.)
MR. PEPPER: Nothing further.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Captain Richmond, let me ask you a
couple of questions. I notice on this same
report that you were just reading from you
were asked a question, did you see anything
suspicious, anyone acting boldly, and your
answer was that you did not see anyone acting
with suspicion or anyone that created any
concern to you; am I correct, sir?
A. That is correct. I didn't.
Q. Sir?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD (901) 529-1999 1100
A. I did not.
Q. You also were asked for your
impression of where the shot came from, and
you said it sounded to you like it came from
the northwest side of the fire station toward
the street side?
A. That's exactly where it sounded like
it came from to me.
Q. It sounded like the north/northwest
from the police station? That's what you
said in this report I believe.
A. Yes, uh-huh.
Q. And that's where you thought it came
from at first, isn't it?
A. I have no idea where it came from.
That's what it sounded like to me.
MR. GARRISON: That's all I
have. |