0:00

Welcome to the MLK Tapes, a production

0:02

of I Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV.

0:05

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast

0:08

are solely those of the podcast author or

0:10

individuals participating in the podcast,

0:13

and do not represent those of I Heart Media,

0:15

Tenderfoot TV, or their employees.

0:18

Listener discretion is advised. We

0:24

had witness statements,

0:26

outlines of arguments. I mean, we

0:28

had a complete ready file.

0:31

He came through Birmingham and

0:33

we offered him that file. We offered to sit

0:36

down with him, We offered to outline

0:38

our defense with him, to give

0:41

him the witness state, every everything that we

0:43

had. All he wanted

0:45

to do, and all we did

0:48

was feeding steak and

0:50

scotch whiskey at the club in Birmingham

0:52

and hear him ramble on about

0:55

what a fabulous lawyer he was.

0:58

Truth of the matter is, Percy Form was the

1:00

biggest fraud and blow hard I ever

1:02

encountered in over fifty years

1:04

of practicing law. I

1:06

saw absolutely no evidence,

1:09

ever, either directly

1:12

or second hand, of any inclination

1:15

or willingness on his part to

1:17

defend that case as it should have been defended.

1:23

I called the Union Hall. I

1:25

said, it's a matter of life and death. I

1:28

said, I think these people of planning to

1:30

kill Dr King. The

1:32

authorities were parade. Oh, we found

1:35

a gun that James L. Ray bought in Birmingham

1:37

that killed Dr King. Except

1:40

it wasn't the gun that killed Dr King. James

1:43

Lvy was upon or

1:46

the official story from

1:49

my Heart radio intended for TV. The

1:52

plan was to get

1:54

King to the city because they

1:56

wanted it handled in Memphis for dead in them

1:59

could hamon and I've lived

2:01

with us alone, monsieur, and they skied

2:04

for me. The Lord told me to

2:06

not the word. I've been wanting to tell it

2:08

all my life. I'm Bill Claybury

2:12

and this is the MLK

2:14

tapes, speaking

2:21

from experience. When one tries to open

2:23

a conversation about who shot Martin

2:25

Luther King, if the person you're talking

2:27

to knows anything at all about the case, they

2:30

immediately come back with but the

2:32

guy said he did it, And the answer

2:35

to that is a patient no

2:37

he didn't. He always denied it, but

2:39

of course James Earl Ray did in

2:42

the end plead guilty. So how

2:44

did that plea come about? And what does

2:46

it tell us about the murder? As

2:49

we heard in the last episode. Arthur

2:51

Haynes Junior and Senior were criminal

2:53

defense attorneys who came to represent

2:56

James Earl Ray, the man accused

2:58

of killing Martin Luther Kane. Ray

3:01

was an escaped con He had been in

3:03

Memphis that day and there did seem

3:05

to be some connection between him and the murderer,

3:08

Dr. King. But despite all

3:10

the public posturing by the prosecution,

3:13

Ray's attorneys were surprised to find that

3:15

the actual case against Ray was weak. It

3:18

seemed to them that the connection to the murder

3:20

was that their client had been set up. They

3:23

investigated, interviewed witnesses,

3:25

and worked on the case for four months. As

3:28

the trial approached, they thought they had

3:30

good chances for an acquittal. Then

3:33

the night before the trial was to begin,

3:35

they were handed a note that said

3:37

they had been removed from the case. Why

3:40

did Foreman push his way into

3:42

the case? Did you ever wonder about that? Did

3:45

we ever wonder why and how Foreman

3:48

got in the case? Only every

3:50

day from that day until the day my father

3:53

died. When

3:56

I sat down with Ark Haynes Jr. In Birmingham,

3:59

he tried to explain how famous criminal

4:01

defense attorney Percy Foreman had pushed

4:03

them aside, there were pressure

4:05

points. How to pay for the defense

4:07

was one of them. Ray had no money,

4:10

and Haines father and son could not afford

4:12

to work for nothing and pay all the costs

4:14

of the defense. As well. Haines

4:17

knew a successful investigative writer

4:19

named William Bradford Huey, who was

4:21

also from Alabama and who was interested

4:24

in writing about the King murder. Huey's

4:26

books included The Americanization of Emily, The

4:29

Execution of Priva Slavik, and

4:31

The Revolt of Mami Stover, all

4:33

of which were made into movies. He

4:35

also wrote Wolf Whistle, the story

4:38

of the murder of the young Emmett Till, and

4:40

Three Live from Mississippi, which

4:42

told of the murders of the three civil rights workers

4:45

in Nashoba County. The forward

4:47

to this book was written by Martin

4:49

Luther King. No one

4:51

at the time knew what the real story was

4:54

with Ray and King, but Hughey

4:56

sense there was a book there and possibly

4:58

a movie, and he was willing to

5:00

put money up front to get access money

5:03

that was needed to fund the defense of James

5:05

Earl Ray two Art Haynes.

5:08

It seemed like a promising offer and

5:10

he brought it to James William

5:12

Bradford hue the author who

5:15

was writing for Look magazine,

5:17

whom we had encouraged Ray to

5:20

hire. Because Hughie was

5:23

was a noted uh anti

5:25

George Wallace, he was in

5:27

the middle of a series of articles

5:29

for Esquire, he had every

5:32

credential being in DUCTR.

5:34

King's camp, and he was from

5:37

Alabama and close to us, so we we

5:39

encouraged him to hire Hughie

5:42

Haines Sr. Brought a deal to Ray

5:44

where in simple numbers, Ray

5:47

would receive of whatever

5:49

Huey's books and articles brought in, Hughie

5:51

would get and Haynes

5:55

Judge Preston Battle would not permit anyone

5:57

besides his attorneys and his immediate family

5:59

to visit it or talked to Ray. So

6:01

the arrangement was made for Hughie to submit

6:04

questions to Ray and for Ray

6:06

to write out his answers in Longhand. All

6:08

that summer I had carried questions

6:11

from Hughie to Ray and raise handwritten

6:13

answers back to Hughie. We had facilitated

6:16

that all two hundred

6:18

pages of Ray's answers to Hughie's questions

6:20

have been preserved and make for an interesting

6:23

read if you can decipher Ray's handwriting.

6:26

It's the same story Ray has told

6:28

before of his prison break and is

6:30

moving about the country at the direction of a man

6:32

named Raoul. Hughie took

6:34

these notes and actually traced race

6:37

travels and found the people Race that he

6:39

had worked for or met along the way. The

6:42

one exception was Raoul. This

6:44

was not surprising because Ray didn't know Raoul's

6:47

last name, his address, or

6:50

even if Raoul was his real first name.

6:54

Race spent a great deal of time writing these pages,

6:56

and at first he was satisfied with how

6:58

his attorneys were going about things, but

7:01

not everyone was. I

7:04

suppose we were naive and that

7:07

we thought we were lawyers hired to defend

7:09

a murder case and that's what we were doing. There

7:11

were all kinds of reported

7:14

witness hangers on and people

7:17

involved who wanted to be a part of

7:19

it. Well. Jerry Ray was one of

7:21

those. He wanted to come to Birmingham

7:24

and have us support him

7:26

and let him be part of the defense.

7:29

Truthfully, we didn't have time for that. We

7:31

were trying to manage our practice

7:34

at the same time get that case ready for trial,

7:37

and we just didn't have time or inclination

7:40

to food Jerry Ray. We were

7:42

polite but not responsive

7:44

to that. But Jerry Raid

7:46

did get himself involved. He visited

7:49

James in prison, his attorneys in Birmingham

7:52

and author William Bradford, Huwey and Huntsville,

7:55

and he was also in touch with a certain attorney

7:57

in Texas who had soon arrived in Memphis.

8:00

According to everyone close to the case, James

8:03

Earl Ray very much wanted to go to trial.

8:06

As Jerry Ray would say, he didn't

8:08

kill King, and he wanted his chance

8:10

to prove it in court. He need

8:16

but this is where the trouble started. James

8:19

imagined a trial where he would be able

8:21

to tell his story, where he, James

8:24

Earl Ray, would be able to look the jurors

8:26

in the eye and have them believe that

8:28

he did not shoot Martin Luther King. But

8:31

Arthur Haynes Senior was an experienced

8:33

attorney and he knew that great

8:35

danger awaited a defendant when he took the

8:37

witness stand, especially if

8:40

the defendant had, like Ray, a

8:42

long record of criminal conduct that

8:44

the prosecution could explore in great

8:47

detail until less pretty much

8:49

all the jury would remember as they concluded

8:51

that such an outlaw should get what he deserved.

8:54

So, as Arthur Haynes explains, they

8:56

were not ready to promise Ray that

8:59

he would take the stand. Our

9:01

view of it was that we wouldn't know whether

9:03

Ray was gonna testify or

9:06

need to testify until the

9:08

end of the state's case. Obviously,

9:11

if he had testified, that would have

9:14

killed the value of Hughey's

9:16

connection to him. This

9:24

is how Jerry Ray saw it. On

9:27

Whomber firston making is sistime,

9:29

I blew out in the heart build Alabama

9:32

and talked to you, you take my way down because

9:34

he want another contact beside the

9:37

journey. So he

9:40

was showing these contracts and so

9:43

I told he hope. He said only again,

9:45

and now you go back and tell James. He's not about

9:47

to understand. He doesn't go. So

9:51

I went back and told James you on the phone hand

9:53

because when he's running stas So

9:56

with a little help from brother Jerry, James

9:59

began to fear that the case was not being pursued

10:01

with his best interests in mind. He

10:03

wanted to testify, and it seemed that Huey

10:06

and his book was now standing in the way. And

10:09

then the weekend before his trial

10:11

was to begin, he received a visit

10:13

from a famous Texas lawyer named Percy

10:16

Foreman. Foreman was six

10:18

foot four and weighed two hundred and fifty

10:20

pounds, and had a huge reputation

10:22

to go with it. He had grown up poor

10:24

in the wiles of East Texas, quit

10:27

school when he was fifteen, and made

10:29

something of himself because he had an agile mind

10:31

and a quick tongue. He put himself

10:33

through law school and came out ready for bear.

10:36

He had a knack for talking in a way that juries

10:39

liked, and he was especially good at

10:41

representing people accused of murder. In

10:44

his forty years a criminal law he claimed

10:46

to have represented over one thousand of

10:48

those. Only one, as the story goes,

10:51

was ever executed, and according to

10:53

Foreman, only sixty six of the

10:55

thousand spent even a day in jail.

10:58

The more obviously guilty, the easier

11:00

it seemed for him to get them off for a

11:03

price. He was hated by

11:05

the prosecutors he faced, and also

11:07

hated by his clients when they

11:09

felt the most vulnerable, as when he could have

11:11

them sign over every asset they had. I

11:14

don't represent wealthy clients, he once said,

11:16

if they aren't poor when they come to me, they

11:18

are when they leave. Foreman

11:21

had been talking to Jerry Ray, so he knew

11:23

all the right buttons to push. He told

11:25

James that Haynes should not have made a deal like that

11:27

with Hughie. Who is Hughie to give

11:30

advice to his attorney based on what might

11:32

or might not be good for a book. Foreman

11:34

talked about all the famous people he knew

11:37

in all the cases he had won, and how

11:39

James's case would be the easiest one he ever argued,

11:42

and added to that, Foreman said that

11:44

unlike the Haines defense team, he

11:46

was wealthy, wealthy enough to

11:49

move forward without any literary contracts,

11:51

and they'd figure out how to pay his fee after the trial.

11:54

But for a retainer, he had James sign

11:56

over the title to his Mustang and

11:59

the Remington thirty six that he purchased

12:01

in Birmingham, the one that was

12:03

said to have killed King. Here's

12:05

Ray for King jail

12:08

the same made. He told me that if

12:10

I would just miss things and are

12:12

him, he wouldn't get involved in literary

12:15

contrast, he financed trow trows

12:18

over and he would get

12:21

used to be then, so I

12:23

agreed, and I signed some

12:26

time and paper decade just missing

12:28

Haynes and all right him well.

12:30

On one of the national herring for the

12:33

trial work, Foreman

12:35

promised Batting would get involved any litter contracts.

12:38

At that time, I didn't know he was negotiating

12:40

with Hie to think for Hayes interesting

12:43

to contract and said that at

12:45

that time so Foreman's

12:47

big promise to Ray was the case would

12:50

not be driven by literary contracts, that

12:52

he Foreman was rich enough to defend

12:54

Ray without them. But a week

12:56

after he had taken over the case, Foreman

12:59

and Huie for Luncheon dallas Key

13:02

described that meeting in his book he slew

13:04

the dreamer quote Mr

13:06

Foreman, like my three way contract. All

13:09

he wanted was for Mr Haynes to get out of the

13:11

way so he could have what Mr Haynes

13:13

had. So you get Haynes out of the

13:15

way, he said, and then god damn it, get to

13:17

work and write us a good book, make us a good

13:19

movie, and make us some money. I

13:22

didn't think him myself. And then subsequently,

13:24

in January of nineteen six nine,

13:27

he came up there with a

13:29

literary contract. Yes

13:32

idea, and I signed in

13:35

fair Way third. Yes, signed

13:38

a literary contracts A

13:41

thing I got to go to him. The

13:45

contracts that Foreman had Ray signed on

13:48

January nine and February

13:50

three essentially stripped Ray of

13:52

every remaining asset he had

13:55

or might have. So why

13:57

did he sign them? As Ray

13:59

would explain later, Foreman had

14:01

come to see him in late January saying

14:03

the case was going very well, but he

14:06

needed to bring in another attorney, John

14:08

J. Hooker, and that was going to cost

14:10

money. So Ray, not

14:12

really having a choice, signed everything

14:15

over to Foreman. Now,

14:17

a Foreman had been telling the truth about representing

14:19

from the start that a plea bargain was their only option,

14:23

there would have been no reason for Ray to enter

14:25

into these contracts. So as

14:27

late as February three, Foreman

14:30

was saying that they were going to trial and

14:32

things were looking good. But

14:34

just ten days later, after Foreman

14:36

had plucked his client clean, as

14:39

Bradford Huey would describe it, Foreman

14:41

came back with bad news where

14:44

he had to plead guilty. Now,

15:05

I want to think we're thirteen. He

15:07

came into prisiness Jerman

15:10

Heart Danton, and he

15:12

uh suggested a human playing, he

15:14

says, and there's me and don't

15:16

in thankfully and well

15:19

anyway, when he came back to see

15:21

me next time, he was talking about he

15:23

said they might prosecute

15:26

my brother Jerry rag and expiracing

15:28

words and also he said they might

15:30

be pressed my father James

15:33

brother Jerry tells the same story a

15:35

forman's about face and

15:38

the first before we gave it said it's

15:41

little busy because he's I read a lot, I

15:43

erst whoever they are followed it and

15:45

he did that up until uh a

15:48

month before the Guildy plays that he

15:50

started cries that they're gonna acute and they're

15:52

going to do this, but so Jade fans

15:55

to read me paiously little

15:57

problem nyway and it

16:00

would resigned. At

16:02

this point, James Earl Ray was boxed

16:05

in. He was stuck with Foreman,

16:07

and Foreman refused to perform. He

16:10

kept telling Ray that the prosecution wanted

16:12

to turn him into barbecue form his

16:14

word. Then he told Ray

16:16

that if he insisted on going to trial, they

16:18

would put his father and brother in jail.

16:21

When Ray said he still wanted to trial, Foreman

16:24

said flat out that he wouldn't defend him. He

16:26

didn't feel up to it. Here

16:29

is an interchange between Bill Pepper and

16:31

Jerry Ray at the nine civil

16:33

trial, not

16:35

invisibly. He told me to the last my sier

16:38

he still had made up the money he's still to fight

16:41

doing for and he he

16:43

told he told me that foreman

16:45

told him if he did both

16:48

of my hand and my John

16:51

Earl back in the twenties, and is both

16:53

charged me being the assessed of

16:55

the word, I'm pretty sure you

16:58

left, Jerry.

17:00

That's certainly the

17:02

James little Ray Black versus Forman got

17:05

all about. This is the day of

17:07

a letter Archer that m

17:10

March Watson Arch nine,

17:12

nineteen fifty and when

17:14

is it going to be played here? Uh?

17:18

Right, right right? I was right,

17:20

was March following that this

17:23

is a letter from his council

17:26

on the eve of trop and

17:28

this letter offers you offers hand five

17:30

hundred dollars. What conditions was the over

17:32

five hundred dollars we have abdybe

17:35

played to the lea built embarrassment in coort

17:38

and it was agreed with We understand that five

17:40

hundred dollars was to be taking the higher

17:42

a new lawyer and her decided a sad Yet this

17:47

agreement signed the day before Ray entered

17:49

his guilty plea as a strange document.

17:52

Foreman signs on for a fee of a hundred

17:54

and sixty five thousand dollars if

17:56

such is produced by books for movies, and

17:59

Ray is handed five dollars.

18:02

The purpose of the five hundred is not stated

18:04

in the contract, but according to both James

18:06

and Jerry, it was so Ray could go find

18:09

a lawyer to overturn the plea, as

18:11

if five dollars could accomplish such

18:13

a thing. But Ray is

18:16

to get the five hundred only if he

18:18

meets to conditions. He enters

18:20

a plea of guilty of murder in the first degree,

18:23

and he doesn't make a scene of any kind at the

18:25

proceeding. And that's what unfolds.

18:28

Are you leading murder in the place degree

18:31

in this case because you killed Dr

18:33

Martin lives the king under sex secumstances,

18:36

it would make you legally guilty. But

18:39

in the place degree under the law is explained

18:41

to you by your lawyer. Ray's

18:43

answer was barely audible on the recording system

18:46

used by the court. What he said was quote

18:48

yes, legally guilty. According

18:52

to attorney Mark Lane, who would later

18:54

represent Ray, Ray told

18:56

him that when Foreman was using every

18:59

kind of argument to put him into a plea. Ray

19:01

blurted out that he didn't want to plead guilty because

19:04

he hadn't shot king. Doesn't

19:06

matter, replied Foreman. If you

19:08

were involved in any kind of illegal activity

19:11

with those who did, you are legally

19:13

guilty. You are as guilty as the man

19:15

who pulled the trigger. Foreman

19:18

was referring to the concept of felony murder,

19:20

where if three people say agree

19:23

to rob a store, and they all agree

19:25

that no one is to be heard, but something

19:27

goes wrong and one man pulls a gun

19:29

and kills the store clerk, all three

19:32

men are legally guilty of the murder. Most

19:35

states have such laws, though it is

19:37

far from clear that such a concept would

19:39

apply in a case where one man is purposely

19:42

deceived about the crime and brought along

19:44

only for the purpose of taking the blame. But

19:47

Foreman's little lesson was most likely

19:49

how the phrase legally guilty became

19:52

part of raise plea. After

19:55

the plea was entered, Ray's attorney, Percy

19:57

Foreman, was invited to speak. He

20:00

stood up and addressed the court. This

20:02

is what he had to say. It's

20:05

an honor to appear in this court. I

20:07

never expected or had any idea when

20:09

I entered this case that I would be able to accomplish

20:12

anything except perhaps save the defendant's

20:14

life. All of us, all

20:17

of you, were as well informed as I was

20:19

about the facts of this case, due

20:21

to the fact that we have such an effective news

20:23

media. Took me a month that convinced

20:25

myself of that which the Attorney General of the

20:28

United States and Jed Grohover

20:30

of the FBI announced last July that

20:33

there was no conspiracy. After

20:36

that bit of self congratulations from Percy

20:38

Foreman, Ray asked Judge Battle

20:41

if he might say something. The judge

20:43

agreed, and I'll read a slightly edited

20:45

version of what followed Ray.

20:49

I don't want to change anything that I have said. I

20:52

don't want to add anything onto it either. The

20:54

only thing I have to say is I don't

20:56

exactly accept the theories of Mr Clark.

20:59

In other words, I'm not bound to accept

21:01

the theories of Mr Clark. This

21:03

is an aside. But Percy Foreman,

21:06

who had just referred to Attorney General

21:08

of the United States, doesn't know who Ray

21:10

is speaking about, so he asked,

21:13

who is Mr Clark? Ray

21:16

Ramsey Clark Foreman Oh

21:20

Ray and Mr Hoover Foreman

21:23

Mr who Ray, Mr

21:26

j Edgar Hoover. I'm not trying

21:28

to change anything. I just want to add something onto

21:31

it. Judge Battle, you

21:33

don't agree with those theories, Ray,

21:36

I mean on the conspiracy thing. There

21:39

is a bit of cross talk, and no one seems

21:41

inclined to ask Ray what it is

21:43

he's trying to say. Judge Battle

21:45

then asks if he is still pleading

21:47

guilty to first degree murder, and

21:50

Ray says that he is. It was

21:52

a short, tense moment. Ray had

21:54

gone off script, but he hadn't cost a

21:56

huge scene, so he would still get his five

21:58

dollars. Three days

22:01

after recording his guilty plea, James

22:03

Earl Ray wrote to Judge Preston Battle

22:06

and asked to have the plea overturned and

22:08

allow him to go to trial. A

22:10

few days later, he wrote again asking

22:12

for the same thing. It was not

22:14

clear how Judge Battle was going to rule on

22:16

raised petitions. Often, in

22:19

the interests of justice, such petitions

22:21

are granted. But before Battle

22:23

could make a decision, he was found slumped

22:25

over his desk, dead from an apparent

22:28

heart attack, and according to various

22:30

accounts, Battle was slumped over raised

22:32

petitions on which he was to rule.

22:35

A new judge replaced Battle, and he didn't

22:37

allow Ray to reopen the case. So

22:40

Ray was led off to prison no

22:42

trial. But Percy

22:44

Foreman's statement at the end of the trial

22:46

is curious. If Foreman

22:49

was so certain that Ray had to plead

22:51

guilty, why did he connive

22:53

to get himself into the case, And

22:56

what was all this talk about the easiest case

22:58

I've ever argued? Did

23:01

you ever feel that you could ever do more

23:03

than save his life? Never had any time,

23:05

and so told him from the day I came here, and

23:08

he never expected anything else from

23:10

the first and I never expected to accomplish

23:13

this. This statement

23:15

by Percy Foreman, made out on the street

23:17

after race so called trial, is

23:20

most certainly a lie, and a big

23:22

one. Foreman says here

23:24

that he told Ray on the first day that they

23:26

met, that his only hope was to plead

23:29

guilty and take a life sentence. But

23:31

if that were true, why would

23:34

Ray need to change lawyers. Haines

23:36

father and son already possessed

23:38

a plea offer from the prosecution, as

23:41

art Hands revealed to me when we spoke,

23:44

we ever offered a plea bargain. Oh,

23:46

absolutely, we were offered a better deal that he

23:48

took. I think there was a little

23:51

anxiety on the part of the prosecution

23:53

is to the strength of the case.

23:56

Haines said that the deal they had been offered

23:59

was better than the one Ray finally had to

24:01

settle for. But it was better only

24:03

in that it allowed him an earlier date from

24:05

which he would be eligible for parole. Not

24:08

much of a difference, because no one was going to let

24:10

the convicted murderer of Martin Luther King

24:13

out on parole. But if Ray

24:15

wished to take a guilty plea in exchange

24:17

for life in prison, he already had

24:19

that. He didn't need the services

24:22

of some fancy outside lawyer. But

24:24

Ray wasn't thinking plea bargain. He

24:27

was thinking trial, and he went with Foreman

24:29

because Foreman says his would be

24:31

an easy case to win. So

24:33

why was Foreman now saying that

24:36

he had always told Ray that his only

24:38

chance was to plead guilty. Some

24:41

insights into this are provided by the House

24:43

Select Committee on Assassinations, which

24:45

published a deposition of Foreman pursuant

24:48

to a lawsuit brought by Ray concerning

24:51

the representation he received attorney

24:54

James Lassar asked Foreman exactly

24:57

what he had done on behalf of his client.

25:00

Did he hire an investigator? Foreman

25:02

said he hadn't. Then how did he

25:04

investigate the case? Foreman fumbled

25:06

about and then said he hired six or eight

25:08

Memphis Law School students who worked for him.

25:11

What did he ask them to do? Foreman

25:13

couldn't quite remember now? What were

25:16

their names? He couldn't remember that either.

25:19

Well, surely their names could be found on their pace

25:21

ups. Foreman said they had been paid in

25:23

cash. Well, where would

25:25

their work product be Foreman

25:27

didn't know, but he probably had it somewhere. Foreman

25:30

then said he owned eighty vacant houses

25:33

which were all filled with his case records,

25:35

but he kept no list of what was where. Foreman

25:38

did say he interviewed some witnesses, but

25:41

he couldn't say where the records of this might be found.

25:43

And so it went. But from

25:46

these questions and answers, it became

25:48

apparent that Percy Foreman had

25:50

nothing to show that he had done any

25:52

work on behalf of his client, James

25:55

Earl Ray. When

25:58

Percy Foreman appeared before the House Select

26:00

Committee, he was asked if he had

26:02

ever compared notes with Ray's previous

26:05

attorneys. Did you ever

26:07

consult with Mr Haynes, who had also reviewed

26:10

the evidence, to see whether he agreed with you? Did

26:13

you ever consult with with Arthur Haynes?

26:16

Well? I went to Birmingham

26:20

from Atlanta

26:23

in November within a

26:26

week, at ten days of accepting the

26:30

case, and Mr

26:33

Haynes, his wife and brother

26:35

in law and his wife took me to a club.

26:38

We spent the evening together and

26:40

we talked as to what we

26:42

said. I don't temporary

26:46

recall, but I

26:49

had difficulty getting the any

26:52

information from Mr Haynes.

26:55

I had to have him sighted for contempted

26:59

battle to get whatever I

27:01

did get. Foreman

27:03

was so full of the larky. This

27:06

is Art Hanes Jr. Reacting to Foreman's

27:08

charge that he and his father withheld

27:10

their files from Foreman. It

27:12

should be remembered that Foreman pushed his way

27:15

into this case and was the reason Haynes

27:17

was dismissed. But the four

27:19

month work product of Haines father and son

27:22

did not suddenly belong to Foreman because

27:24

Ray was now his client. Even

27:27

so, according to Art Haynes Jr.

27:29

They were willing to share the work they had done.

27:33

He came through Birmingham and

27:35

we offered him that file. We offered to sit

27:37

down with him, We offered to outline

27:40

our defense with him. All

27:42

he wanted to do, and all we did

27:46

was feeding steak and

27:48

Scotch whiskey at the club in Birmingham

27:51

and hearing him rambalong

27:53

about what a fabulous lawyer he

27:56

was. I saw absolutely

27:58

no evidence, ever, either

28:01

directly or second hand, of any

28:05

inclination or willingness on his

28:07

part to defend that case as

28:09

it should have been defended. Attorney

28:12

Mark Lane, who represented James Earl Ray

28:14

in the late nineteen seventies, sought

28:17

out Arthur Haynes Sr. And was generously

28:19

given access to his files, as Foreman

28:21

would have been had he had the interest. While

28:25

they were meeting, Lane asked Haynes

28:27

what he thought of Foreman, especially

28:29

after their meeting at the club in Birmingham. Mr

28:32

Haynes replied, my judgment

28:35

is that the man never considered trying

28:37

the case. As far as I can

28:40

ascertain, he never prepared

28:42

and he never investigated. He

28:44

never considered giving James Earl

28:46

Ray a trial. For what reason,

28:49

I don't know. Ye,

29:09

so Foreman said that the Haynes boys would

29:11

not give him anything, while Haynes Junior

29:13

and Senior claimed they were shocked by Foreman's

29:16

lack of interest in the case. So

29:18

who was telling the truth? Smart

29:20

money would be on art Haynes Sr. Because,

29:22

first of all, Judge Preston Battle never

29:25

cited him for contempt in this matter. And

29:27

second, Haynes was upset enough

29:29

about the whole thing that a few days

29:31

later he felt compelled to take the unusual

29:34

step to write a letter to Judge Battle, a

29:37

letter that is still in the official files. It

29:40

is my distinct impression, he wrote that

29:42

Foreman is disinterested in making

29:45

a genuine effort to obtain the

29:47

benefit from the fruits of our labor. His

29:50

brief visit from a layover between

29:52

planes has been the only contact

29:54

we've had with him. At

29:56

the House Select Committee hearing Congressman

29:59

McKinney of Connecticut question Foreman

30:02

on his hard cell of the plea bargain to Ray,

30:06

You had a government case where ballistics were

30:08

weak, You had a key eye

30:10

witness who was an alcoholic. You

30:13

had testimonial conflicts

30:17

on when the bundle was dropped in front

30:19

of the store. There were no prints

30:21

found in the rooming house or in the bathroom,

30:25

Solomon Jones, for for one,

30:27

place the shooter outside

30:29

of the area at the time. And

30:32

finally, Ray had never in his

30:34

background had any history of quote unquote

30:37

violence. Doesn't that bring the odds down

30:39

to a little better than a d I

30:42

mean, you're a pretty tough lawyer. I've reviewed

30:44

some of the work you've done, and wouldn't

30:46

that give you a fighting chance for a reasonable doubt?

30:49

The Foreman disagreed. My

30:52

experience in a

30:54

half a century of defending criminal

30:56

case makes me evaluate

31:01

case of a lot of standpoints that is

31:04

not available to the average

31:08

this passionate observer. So

31:11

Foreman pulled Frank and said

31:14

his years in court gave him special insight

31:16

into what was winnable and what wasn't,

31:19

even though on many occasions he had gotten

31:21

people way more guilty than Ray appeared

31:24

to be off scott free. But

31:26

what was missing here was the follow up question.

31:30

Foreman was a busy guy. Why

31:32

would he push his way into a case if

31:34

he knew from the start that all he would do is

31:36

oversee a plea bargain that the prosecution

31:39

had already offered, and after

31:41

that deed had been done publicly pat

31:44

himself on the back for pulling off

31:46

this miracle and saving this man's life.

31:49

None of this rings true. Let's

31:51

return to the House Committee Chairman.

31:54

I wonder if you could ask the committee clerk

31:56

to hand him this reform on a copy

31:59

of Martin Luther King Shibit f Dash two

32:01

fifty three. I'll describe

32:03

this exhibit for the record. This is a

32:06

copy of a Look magazine article.

32:08

It's dated April. The

32:12

title of the article, excuse me is against conspiracy.

32:16

The author is Mr Foreman, the

32:18

witness today captioned

32:20

his attorney for James Earl Ray. Do

32:23

you recognize the article? Mr Foreman, I

32:25

do. Did you write the article? I

32:29

wonder if I could direct your attention please

32:31

to the second paragraph in the article, and

32:35

if you'd follow along with me. I'll read that for the

32:38

record. When last

32:40

November the brothers of James L.

32:42

Ray sought me out and handed me a

32:44

letter from him, the seeching me to

32:46

represent him. Now this

32:49

article, that language is not mine, Mr.

32:52

That language is Bradford. You he rewrote

32:55

this. I wrote it all your good writing.

33:00

The issue here is this James

33:02

Earl Ray said he never invited Percy Foreman

33:05

to visit him in jail, that he just appeared

33:07

and was given entry, and then pitched

33:10

Ray as to why he would be the better choice

33:12

for an attorney. Ray liked

33:14

the part where he said he was rich enough that he wouldn't

33:16

need to depend on literary contracts and

33:19

that he'd be able to testify at his own trial,

33:21

which is what he wanted. But for

33:23

the House Committee, the issue was whether

33:25

Foreman had been asked to appear by Ray himself,

33:28

not his brother, and if he had not,

33:31

Foreman was on shaky legal ground. Foreman

33:34

had responded that Ray had written him a letter

33:36

at his office in Houston asking

33:38

for him to enter the case. I

33:41

did receive such a letter. It

33:43

came to my office on the eighth of about

33:46

the eighth seventh or eighth of November,

33:49

and I was in Wakeo, or near

33:52

Wakeo, trying a law shoot

33:54

when the letter came. It was read to be over the fall

33:57

who read the letters to you by secretary?

34:00

Did you have an opportunity when you return to your

34:02

office to see Mr. But

34:07

James Earl Ray insisted that he hadn't

34:09

written any such letter, and that

34:12

would be a rather bold story to tell because

34:14

if he had, all Foreman would

34:17

have to do to prove him a liar was

34:19

produce it. But Foreman couldn't,

34:22

He said, the letter was apparently lost with

34:24

all his other files on the case. Foreman

34:27

was becoming visibly uncomfortable.

34:29

He had begun this discussion by telling

34:31

the House Committee that he wrote the article

34:34

in Look magazine. Then the story

34:36

was that Hughie had polished a sentence or two. Suddenly

34:40

it seemed safer to say that none

34:42

of the words were his. The

34:44

entire article was rewritten, every

34:47

line of it. I was right

34:50

like a lawyer with long six

34:53

cylinder Latin words. Hugh

34:56

he writes for the public. He translated

34:58

to make it readable. I do

35:01

not speak literally when I when

35:03

I say all of its mind, I meant the sense

35:05

and the spirit of the article. I do not mean

35:08

the literal word by word.

35:11

So let's take this explanation. What

35:14

is Foreman's sense and spirit of the

35:16

article and Look magazine? What does

35:18

it tell us? Remember

35:20

raise guilty plea fixed in the public

35:23

mind. If there had been any doubt that James

35:25

Earl Ray and no one else had murdered

35:27

Martin Luther King, But why

35:30

that was still up for grabs, and

35:33

who would know better than Percy Foreman raised attorney

35:36

just so everyone would understand what a regular

35:39

guy he was. Foreman said early

35:41

in the article that he always assumed

35:43

that Ray was guilty, but that he took

35:45

the case to save Rai's life. This

35:48

is most certainly a lie, because, as Attorney

35:51

Art Haines has told us, Ray already

35:53

had a plea offer before Foreman showed

35:55

up. In the article, Foreman

35:57

goes on to group Ray with Oswald and her

36:00

Hand, the alleged killers of John and Robert

36:02

Kennedy, respectively, all of whom

36:04

wanted, according to Foreman, a

36:06

shortcut to fame. They wanted

36:09

credit he wrote, top billing headlines,

36:12

front page pictures. But Oswald,

36:14

just before he was murdered, said he was a patsy. Sir

36:17

Hands said he couldn't remember the crime, and

36:19

Ray said he didn't shoot Martin Luther King. So

36:22

whatever they did or didn't do, it doesn't

36:24

seem as though any of them was looking

36:26

for fame. But according to Foreman,

36:29

Ray made special efforts to make sure that

36:31

he got credit for this crime before

36:34

he fled the murder scene. Foreman wrote,

36:37

James Earl Ray carefully deposited

36:39

on the sidewalk the murder weapon that

36:41

he had wrapped in his own bed cover to protect

36:44

his fingerprints on the rifle from being

36:46

obliterated. Ray thought a war

36:48

between the racest was imminent and he

36:50

wanted to fire the first shot. The

36:53

shooting of doctor King was to him the

36:55

pearl harbor of that war. The

37:04

presumption here is that because Foreman was

37:06

Ray's attorney, he knew these damning

37:08

things about Ray because Ray had

37:10

told him. But Ray always said

37:12

he had nothing to do with the package wrapped in the bedspread

37:15

found on the street. He never told

37:17

Foreman that he placed the package there, or

37:20

that he wrapped it carefully so as not to erase

37:22

his fingerprints. This is Foreman's

37:25

invention. And of course, if Ray

37:27

had wanted the rifle to point back to him

37:29

so we would get credit for the crime, as Foreman

37:32

was now saying, he could have just left

37:34

it in his room and gotten a better start out of town.

37:37

And Ray never said to anyone, much less

37:39

Foreman, that he wanted to fire the first

37:41

shot in a race war that he was trying

37:43

to start. These are lies, rather

37:46

vicious lies, vicious because they

37:48

would shape the way people all over America would

37:50

see Ray as a ruthless killer

37:53

driven by hatred, So

37:56

Percy Foreman pushed his way into the case,

37:58

talking about what an easy when it would be,

38:01

made himself scarce as he attended to other business,

38:03

and then showed up one day saying that Ray had

38:06

to plead guilty. And after Ray

38:08

made the plea, Foreman published

38:10

an article where he congratulated himself

38:12

for saving Ray's life and then

38:15

went on to assassinate his character. What

38:18

was he doing here? Who was he working

38:20

for? Is there anything in Foreman's

38:22

subsequent history that might give us

38:25

a clue? Turns

38:27

out there is. In nineteen seventy

38:29

five, Percy Foreman received a felony

38:32

indictment for obstruction of justice

38:34

from a federal grand jury in Texas.

38:37

What did he do? In nineteen

38:40

seventy just one year after Foreman

38:42

leaned on Ray to plead guilty, Herbert

38:45

and Nelson bunker Hunt, the sons

38:47

of Texas billionaire H. L. Hunt, hired

38:49

private detective John Kelly to

38:52

do some illegal wire tapping, but

38:54

he got caught. The Hunt

38:56

brothers didn't want to go to jail, so they offered

38:59

Kelly money if he would not testify

39:01

against them, but Kelly didn't

39:03

want to go to jail either. Then

39:05

Percy Foreman shows up, offers

39:08

his services to Kelly and promises

39:10

to keep him out of jail. Kelly

39:13

pays Foreman a retainer of one thousand

39:15

dollars, but as soon as the ink

39:17

is dry on their contract, Foreman

39:20

approaches the Hunt brothers and says that he has

39:22

Kelly Quote under control, and

39:25

if the Hunts will give Foreman fifty thousand

39:27

dollars, he will guarantee that Kelly will

39:30

not incriminate them, As

39:32

the indictment tells us. Foreman

39:34

has paid his money and then goes back to

39:36

Kelly, acting all concerned, and

39:38

reminds him that the Hunts are very rich

39:40

with mob connections and they would think

39:42

nothing of killing him. So it's

39:45

Foreman's recommendation as his lawyer,

39:48

that Kelly go to jail and say nothing

39:50

about the Hunts. After all,

39:52

says Foreman, according to the indictment,

39:55

the government can't help you a whole lot if

39:57

you're dead. But by sheer

39:59

acts sit in, Kelly finds out about the

40:01

double cross, and Foreman and the Hunt

40:03

Brothers are indicted for obstruction of justice,

40:07

a crime that might well have cost Foreman

40:09

a license to practice law, But

40:11

the people Foreman is in trouble with are

40:13

very wealthy and connected. There

40:16

are negotiations, time goes by,

40:19

and the charges are quietly dropped, but

40:22

the facts are really not in dispute. Foreman

40:25

found a weak client with powerful people on the

40:27

other side. He signed up the client,

40:30

chopped him around, and received fifty dollars

40:32

for making sure the client pled guilty

40:35

and didn't involve anyone else. Does

40:38

that storyline sound familiar? Did

40:40

Foreman do something of the same with James Earl

40:42

Ray? Well, we think he did,

40:45

and we think we have the evidence to prove it. So

40:48

we will come back to this story later in the podcast

40:51

and take a trip to Mr Foreman's office in

40:53

Houston next

41:04

time. On the Emilk tapes, Showers

41:06

was in the frame right from the beginning, because

41:09

he was the one who run Jim Squirrel. He

41:11

looked back, he has stuck his frame in his socket.

41:14

Lord hair was standing up and he like

41:16

somebody had drained all the good d

41:19

He was so white. Oh you're so r

41:22

I said, Lord. I said, you know, they've been

41:24

a lot of discussion about the fact

41:26

you may have been involved in the Martin Luth

41:28

King assassination. And he said, well,

41:30

a lot of people talking about he said it. One thing, saure

41:32

that blanket back is not coming back. But

41:35

he said when he went to the back

41:37

door, just as he got to the door,

41:39

shot right now, and somebody

41:42

came out of the bushes and

41:44

handed him smoking rifle. He

41:47

wanted me to tell the truth about seeing

41:49

him with the rifle. He just wanted me change

41:52

just a little bit by saying I

41:54

saw him standing in the

41:56

back door and a black man. Hey

42:00

in my righte. Did James

42:02

Earl Ray killed Dr Mark Luther King? No,

42:04

they did not. Do you know who

42:06

killed Dr King? I know who

42:09

paid to do Thanks

42:17

for listening to the m l K Tapes a production of I

42:19

Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV. This

42:21

podcast is not specifically endorsed by

42:23

the King Family or the King of State. D

42:26

email KA Tapes is written and hosted by Bill

42:28

Claper. Matt Frederick and Alex Williams

42:30

are executive producers on behalf of I Heart

42:33

Radio with producers Trevor Young

42:35

and ben Keebrick. Donald Albright

42:37

and Payne Lindsay are executive producers on behalf

42:39

of Tenderfoot TV with producers Jamie

42:41

Albright and Meredith Steadman. Original

42:44

music by Makeup and Vanity Said. Cover

42:47

art by Mr Soul two six with

42:49

photography by Artemis Jenkins. Special

42:52

thanks to Owen Rosenbaum and Grace Royer

42:54

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42:57

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