Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” That is exactly what he did, being one of the biggest leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. On his fateful day, an ordinary April 4, 1968, he was shot dead with a bullet to the neck. “…King’s assassination was itself soon followed by the murder of Robert Kennedy, violence at the Democratic National Convention, and a general unraveling of the country into a period of violence and despair” (Wilson). The follow-up on King’s assassination was cloaked in turmoil, with riots breaking out across the country, alongside the dramatic hunt for his killer and the many trials that took place afterward. News spreads very quickly, and the …show more content…
Unfortunately, sorting out the events of the assassination from before it even occurred was the F.B.I.’s most time-consuming process yet. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty at his first trial, which was only the beginning of a plethora of cases spanning three decades after the killing. For instance, according to Ray himself, a character named Raoul had planned the whole assassination and had handed the reigns over to him, telling him where to go and what to do. Ultimately, this man was never found, nor was it proven that he even existed, which worked against Ray’s cases in court. It appeared dubious that James Earl Ray had murdered Martin Luther King Jr. without an apparent reason. Speculations hinted that he had alternative motives: money, racially charged hatred, or even fame, perhaps. “After his arrest, he constantly asked the policemen designed to guard him about the publicity over the case and how he was portrayed in the press” (Posner 333). Unfortunately, much of the assassination plot was never uncovered, and as a result, the majority of conspiracies did not have proper evidence to back them up. Ray was eventually given a lifetime sentence of 99 years in prison. He devoted the remainder of his life to getting out of jail before finally passing away at the age of seventy on April 23, 1998. Precisely what happened on April 4, 1968 may remain a mystery to the world forever. The assassination of a high-profile political figure, such as Martin Luther King Jr. would not be as likely today due to the increased security. Forensic science, technology, and new investigation procedures currently used would also likely prevent a long, drawn out