Loyd Jowers at the time of the MLK trial.

Although the most theorized assassination in American history is the JFK assassination, there are also theories about the MLK assassination, and these were explored in the special House Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s. Although this committee found that there was likely a conspiracy to kill King, that the conspirators were James Earl Ray’s brothers rather than the government. However, new life was given to MLK conspiracy theories when a man allegedly in on a plot to kill King went public.

In 1993, former Memphis café owner Loyd Jowers claimed in an interview on ABC PrimeTime Live that James Earl Ray was a patsy and that he had been hired to arrange the assassination on behalf of mobster Frank Liberto. The reason Jowers was considered plausible by some is that his café had been located on the first floor of the building that the prosecution claimed James Earl Ray had shot King from. He also named the man who pulled the trigger on King as Memphis Police Lieutenant Earl Clark.  Such revelations attracted the attention of the King family, who had for years believed that there was a greater conspiracy. In 1998, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers.

On December 8, 1999, the Memphis jury unanimously ruled that Jowers was in on a conspiracy to kill King and that others, including government agencies were involved. Did this prove that there was a vast conspiracy to kill King involving the mob and the government? Truth be told, it turns out that there are serious problems with this narrative.

Before I proceed, there are some things to bear in mind about a civil trial as opposed to a criminal trial. First, the standard is preponderance of the evidence rather than a reasonable doubt for a ruling of liability, meaning that if over 50% of the evidence supports the plaintiff, the plaintiff wins the case. Furthermore, the standard of evidence that is allowed is lower than in a criminal case. What’s more, the defendant in a civil case usually does testify, unlike the defendant in a criminal case.

Major Problems

Before giving his story to ABC PrimeTime, Jowers had long denied having had any role in the King assassination and at the time he went public, he named several people as the trigger man, including “Raoul” who James Earl Ray alleged existed and was the shooter, before sticking with Earl Clark. Another thing to be aware of is that Frank Liberto and Clark were unable to speak in their own defenses as both were conveniently dead by 1993. During the Jowers trial the jury had not been presented with Loyd Jowers’ history of contradictions. Furthermore, we have an issue of standards of evidence. For instance, an acquaintance of Loyd Jowers testified that he had heard of a conversation in a Memphis barbershop in which a man who said he worked for the FBI claimed the CIA was responsible for the King assassination (U.S. Department of Justice). This is double hearsay, which is not usually allowed in civil court and it is not admissible in criminal court. The only eyewitness testimony that was heard was regarding government surveillance of King, not of government involvement in his assassination.

Further adding to the lack of credibility to Jowers is that he never made his allegations under oath, did not testify in King v. Jowers,  However, when he had a recorded discussion with a state investigator, Jowers stated that the idea that King was shot with a different rifle and by another man than James Earl Ray was “bullshit”, a key feature of his story (LaCapria).  In all, the Loyd Jowers story was a publicity stunt, with him hoping he could get a book deal out of the matter. When a great man is assassinated, it can be hard to accept that a man of such a low stature like James Earl Ray could be responsible. Thus, some people need a greater story than that, a story that involves powerful actors and a grand conspiracy. After all, it only makes sense that a man of great stature would be taken down by people of great stature rather than a loser.

References

LaCapria, K. (2014, January 20). Was the U.S. Government Found Guilty of Assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr.? Snopes.

Retrieved from

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/government-mlk-assassination/

Loyd Jowers; Jury Found He Played a Role in King’s Slaying. (2000, May 24). Los Angeles Times.

Retrieved from

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-may-24-me-33485-story.html

Vii. King V. Jowers Conspiracy Allegations. U.S. Department of Justice.

Retrieved from

https://www.justice.gov/crt/vii-king-v-jowers-conspiracy-allegations