-Caveat Lector-
"The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978
that James Earl Ray shot King. The House committee also said Ray might have
had help from others -- but it did not investigate whether there was a
conspiracy."
King Murder Probe Said Incomplete
By WOODY BAIRD
.c The Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The congressional committee that investigated Martin
Luther King Jr.'s death in the 1970s failed to dig deep enough into
allegations of a murder conspiracy, a committee member says.
Walter Fauntroy, a former congressman from the District of Columbia, gave
that assessment Monday at the trial of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the
King family.
``We didn't have the time to investigate leads we had established but could
not follow,'' Fauntroy said.
The Kings are suing Loyd Jowers, a former Memphis businessman who told ABC in
1993 that he played a part in the assassination.
The suit seeks unspecified damages from Jowers and ``other unknown
co-conspirators,'' but what the Kings are really after is having a trial jury
hear allegations of a murder conspiracy.
The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978 that
James Earl Ray shot King. Ray confessed to the murder in 1969 but then spent
the next three decades trying to take it back. He died last year in prison.
His confession was upheld eight times by state and federal courts.
Jowers had said in 1993 that he hired King's killer, as a favor to a friend
with underworld ties, and it wasn't Ray.
The House committee also said Ray may have had help from others before or
after the murder, but Fauntroy said the committee did not investigate
allegations of a widespread conspiracy.
``We asked the Justice Department to follow up ... and to see if there was
more than just a low-level conspiracy,'' Fauntroy said after his testimony.
He said the committee was unaware of the extent of the FBI's efforts to spy
on King and discredit him. The committee also was unaware of allegations that
U.S. Army agents had King under surveillance at the time of his death,
Fauntroy said.
The House committee concluded that Ray may have hoped to cash in on a $50,000
bounty on King allegedly offered by a small group of racial bigots in St.
Louis.
But Fauntroy said he remains unsure how the murder was carried out.
``I'm hopeful as truth rises we'll get a better picture,'' he said.
The trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.
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