In 1993, Loyd Jowers appeared on the ABC News program PrimeTime Live. He claimed that he was paid $100,000 by Memphis mobster Frank Liberto to help organize the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Jowers owned a Memphis coffee shop on the first floor of the rooming house from which King was allegedly shot by James Earl Ray. Jowers had remained silent for twenty-five years after King's assassination, but he only produced his confession after Ray's HBOmock trial. He claimed that he was part of a larger conspiracy to assassinate King and frame Ray as a patsy. He also claimed that "Raoul," Memphis Police Officers, and the mafia had been involved. Jowers named Memphis Police Lieutenant Earl Clark as the shooter.
Trial
In 1999, a civil suit brought by Coretta Scott King alleged that Jowers and others had conspired to assassinate King. The King family turned to William Pepper, who had defended Ray in his HBO mock trial, to represent them in the wrongful death lawsuit, King family vs. Loyd Jowers and other unknown co-conspirators. During the four-week trial, Pepper brought forward over 70 witnesses and thousands of documents. Jowers testified that Ray was only a scapegoat and that Memphis police officer Earl Clark actually fired the fatal shots instead.
Decision
The jury that heard the case took only one hour of deliberations to reach a unanimous verdict: that King was assassinated in a conspiracy. They found Jowers responsible, and also found that "governmental agencies" were among the conspirators. The King family was granted the $100 they requested in damages. The King family saw it as vindication. King's son, Dexter, said "This is the period at the end of the sentence. So please, after today, we don't want questions like, 'Do you believe James Earl Ray killed your father?' I've been hearing that all my life. No, I don't, and this is the end of it." Dexter further emphasized that "the shooter was the Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark." His wife Coretta King said after the verdict, "There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband." The jury found that the mafia and various government agencies "were deeply involved in the assassination.... Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame."
Result
The decision caused the Department of Justice to reopen the case. In 2000, Attorney GeneralJanet Reno announced, that after looking into the assassination, no evidence of a conspiracy could be found.
