An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King

Richard Greene on Air America Radio

April 12, 2008

Host of Air America’s Clout, Richard Greene, bravely hosts the author of An Act of State, William Pepper, who represented James Earl Ray on behalf of the Martin Luther King family and is now representing RFK patsy Sirhan Sirhan.

Listen 00:36:23

Direct link to MP3 file:
20080412_richardgreene_williampepper.mp3

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December 9, 1999 – National Public Radio

NPR’s Debbie Elliott reports that yesterday a Tennessee jury found that the 1968 assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the result of a murder conspiracy, and not the act of a lone gunman. The king family sued Loyd Jowers, a retired Memphis businessman who claimed six years ago that he paid someone other than confessed killer James Earl Ray to kill civil rights leader.

Listen 00:03:50

Direct link to MP3 file:
19991209_npr_williampepper.mp3

An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King (Updated)
On April 4 1968, Martin Luther King was in Memphis supporting a workers’ strike. By nightfall, army snipers were in position, military officers were on a nearby roof with cameras, and Lloyd Jowers had been paid to remove the gun after the fatal shot was fired. When the dust had settled, King had been hit and a clean-up operation was set in motion-James Earl Ray was framed, the crime scene was destroyed, and witnesses were killed. William Pepper, attorney and friend of King, has conducted a thirty-year investigation into his assassination. In 1999, Loyd Jowers and other co-conspirators were brought to trial in a civil action suit on behalf of the King family. Seventy witnesses set out the details of a conspiracy that involved J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, Memphis police, and organized crime. The jury took an hour to find for the King family. In An Act of State, you finally have the truth before you-how the US government shut down a movement for social change by stopping its leader dead in his tracks.

An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King

“In 1977 the family of Martin Luther King engaged an attorney and friend, Dr. William Pepper, to investigate a suspicion they had. They no longer believed that James Earl Ray was the killer. For their peace of mind, for an accurate record of history, and out of a sense of justice they conducted a two decade long investigation. The evidence they uncovered was put before a jury in Memphis, TN, in November 1999. 70 witnesses testified under oath, 4,000 pages of transcripts described that evidence, much of it new. It took the jury 59 minutes to come back with their decision that exonerated James Earl Ray, who had already died in prison. The jury found that Lloyd Jowers, owner of Jim’s Grill, had participated in a conspiracy to kill King. The evidence showed that the conspiracy included J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, the Memphis police department, and organized crime.”

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Back Cover

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was in Memphis supporting a worker’s strike. By nightfall, army snipers were in position, military officers were on a nearby floor with cameras, and Loyd Jowers had been paid to remove the gun after the fatal shot was fired. When the dust had settled, King had been hit and a clean-up operation was set in motion — James Earl Ray was framed, the crime scene was destroyed, and witnesses were killed. William Pepper, attorney and friend of King, has conducted a thirty-year investigation into his assassination. In 1999, Loyd Jowers and other co-conspirators were brought to trial in a civil action suit on behalf of the King family. Seventy witnesses set out the details of a conspiracy that involved J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, Memphis police, and organized crime. The jury took an hour to find for the King family. In An Act of State, you finally have the truth before you–how the US government shut down a movement for social change by stopping its leader dead in his tracks.

Testimonials

“Dr Pepper, a trusted associate of my father in the anti-war movement and a dedicated follower of his teaching, has conducted exhaustive research and shed new light on all of the critical questions including the extent of the involvement of government intelligence agenices, military units and organized crime in the assassination, the motives behind it, and the individuals who ordered and participated in it.” – Dexter King

“For a quarter of a century, Bill Pepper conducted an independent investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He opened his files to our family, encouraged us to speak with the witnesses, and represented our family in the civil trial against the conspirators. The jury affirmed his findings, providing our family with a long-sought sense of closure and peace, which had been denied by official disinformation and cover-ups. Now the findings of his exhaustive investigation and additional revelations from the trial are presented in the pages of this important book. We recommend it highly to everyone who seeks the truth about Dr. King’s assassination.” – Coretta Scott King

“Within the first chapter, An Act of State presents enough circumstantial evidence to raise questions about Ray’s involvement as the sole assassin.” – Washington Post

“Pepper has gathered an impressive array of testimony and evidence that, even to determined skeptics, throws doubt over the state’s case against James Earl Ray.” – Kirkus

“Few Facts are more important to the future of our country and our understanding of the nature of our species than the identities and motives of the persons responsible for the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Malcolm X. These deaths have affected more than mere events. They have torn our people between belief and disbelief. Conscious, persistent pursuit of the truth of these assassinations is essential to our character and faith. No one has done more than Dr. William F. Pepper to keep alive the quest for the truth concerning the violent death of Martin Luther King who in courageous and important words once said ‘The greatest purveyor of violence on earth is my own government.’ In An Act of State, Bill Pepper argues that very government violence was turned on America’s greatest prophet of non-violent change.” – Ramsey Clark, US Attorney General, 1967-69