In a Dec. 9, 1999 press conference after the ruling the late Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. King, applauded the verdict, calling it a great victory for her family.
“The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband,” said Mrs. King.
“The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. I want to make it clear that my family has no interest in retribution. Instead, our sole concern has been that the full truth of the assassination has been revealed and adjudicated in a court of law,” added the King family matriarch.
“I have always believed that the government was part of a conspiracy, either directly or indirectly, to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,” Rev. Jackson wrote in part in the forward to Mr. Ray’s 1997 autobiography.
Also in 1997 Dr. King’s youngest son Dexter, met with Mr. Ray. When asked by the younger King if he killed his father, Mr. Ray was quoted as saying, “No, no, I didn’t, no” to which Dexter King responded, “I believe you and my family believes you and we are going to do everything in our power to try and make sure that justice will prevail.”
Members of the King family supported Mr. Ray’s call for a new trial.
“I’m basically clear that Martin King was evidently in conflict with the United States government,” said Reverend Al Sampson of Chicago, the first minister who was ordained by Dr. King.
He had no details about the Boston campaign, but recalled Dr. King met with his national staff in August 1966 to share some sobering news and to restructure the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which he co-founded.
“He said that a Black FBI agent told him that the United States government was going to assassinate him,” Rev. Sampson told The Final Call.
Two years later, Dr. King was murdered.