Convicted Assassin. He was the confessed assassin of American Civil Rights leaderMartin Luther King, Jr. Following the assassination and using several aliases' passports, Ray fled the United States, first to Canada, then England, Portugal, and back to London, England, where he was captured at the airport in route to Belgium and finally, extradited to the United States for trial. Quickly, he confessed to forfeiting a trial, basically eliminating the death penalty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. In June of 1977, he escaped from Brushy Mountain Prison in Tennessee, remaining at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. He then renounced his guilt. After Ray's death, a jury found that a conspiracy of people was responsible for Reverend King's death. Evidence proved that Ray financially could not have masterminded these events surrounding the assassination. According to the United States Archives, he had an unstable childhood, living in near poverty with his grandmother. He left high school without graduating. After World War II, in December of 1945, he enlisted in the Army. Deployed to West Germany, he was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest and eventually discharged "for ineptness and lack of adaptability for service" in December of 1948. He returned to live with his grandmother, working sporadically at odd jobs. Following traveling to California in 1949, he was arrested in October for robbing a cafe and was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment. Returning to Illinois, he robbed a cab driver of $11.90 on May 6, 1952, was arrested and sentenced to the State penitentiary at Joliet, and released on March 12, 1954. After stealing 66 postal money orders and a validating stamp from a United States Post Office, he was arrested and sentenced on July 1, 1955, to 45 months at the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, being paroled in early 1959. He robbed two grocery stores in St. Louis, and after a trial, he was sentenced on March 17, 1960, to a 20-year sentence at the Missouri State Penitentiary. After attempting to escape in November 1961 and again in March of 1966, he was examined at the Fulton State Hospital to determine if he was mentally capable of standing trial for escape. On April 23, 1967, he escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary, and while on the run, he shot and killed Rev. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. On March 30, 1968, in Birmingham, Alabama, he purchased a .30-06 Remington Gamemaster rifle. After traveling to Tennessee, Ray stood in the bathroom window of a nearby boarding house and took aim with this rifle at King, who was standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

Convicted Assassin. He was the confessed assassin of American Civil Rights leaderMartin Luther King, Jr. Following the assassination and using several aliases' passports, Ray fled the United States, first to Canada, then England, Portugal, and back to London, England, where he was captured at the airport in route to Belgium and finally, extradited to the United States for trial. Quickly, he confessed to forfeiting a trial, basically eliminating the death penalty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. In June of 1977, he escaped from Brushy Mountain Prison in Tennessee, remaining at large for 54 hours before being recaptured in a massive manhunt. He then renounced his guilt. After Ray's death, a jury found that a conspiracy of people was responsible for Reverend King's death. Evidence proved that Ray financially could not have masterminded these events surrounding the assassination. According to the United States Archives, he had an unstable childhood, living in near poverty with his grandmother. He left high school without graduating. After World War II, in December of 1945, he enlisted in the Army. Deployed to West Germany, he was charged with drunkenness and breaking arrest and eventually discharged "for ineptness and lack of adaptability for service" in December of 1948. He returned to live with his grandmother, working sporadically at odd jobs. Following traveling to California in 1949, he was arrested in October for robbing a cafe and was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment. Returning to Illinois, he robbed a cab driver of $11.90 on May 6, 1952, was arrested and sentenced to the State penitentiary at Joliet, and released on March 12, 1954. After stealing 66 postal money orders and a validating stamp from a United States Post Office, he was arrested and sentenced on July 1, 1955, to 45 months at the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, being paroled in early 1959. He robbed two grocery stores in St. Louis, and after a trial, he was sentenced on March 17, 1960, to a 20-year sentence at the Missouri State Penitentiary. After attempting to escape in November 1961 and again in March of 1966, he was examined at the Fulton State Hospital to determine if he was mentally capable of standing trial for escape. On April 23, 1967, he escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary, and while on the run, he shot and killed Rev. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. On March 30, 1968, in Birmingham, Alabama, he purchased a .30-06 Remington Gamemaster rifle. After traveling to Tennessee, Ray stood in the bathroom window of a nearby boarding house and took aim with this rifle at King, who was standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

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