WEBVTT - Sweet-Talking Percy [4] 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.480 Welcome to the MLK Tapes, a production of I Heart 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:07.280 Radio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.479 this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.200 individuals participating in the podcast, and do not represent those 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:18.640 of I Heart Media, Tenderfoot TV, or their employees. Listener 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:28.320 discretion is advised. We had witness statements, outlines of arguments. 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.200 I mean, we had a complete ready file. He came 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.680 through Birmingham and we offered him that file. We offered 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.520 to sit down with him, We offered to outline our 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.360 defense with him, to give him the witness state, every 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.120 everything that we had. All he wanted to do, and 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:51.400 all we did was feeding steak and scotch whiskey at 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.400 the club in Birmingham and hear him ramble on about 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.280 what a fabulous lawyer he was. Truth of the matter is, 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.160 Percy Form was the biggest fraud and blow hard I 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:06.760 ever encountered in over fifty years of practicing law. I 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:12.919 saw absolutely no evidence, ever, either directly or second hand, 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.840 of any inclination or willingness on his part to defend 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:24.360 that case as it should have been defended. I called 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.960 the Union Hall. I said, it's a matter of life 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.080 and death. I said, I think these people of planning 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:34.280 to kill Dr King. The authorities were parade. Oh, we 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.880 found a gun that James L. Ray bought in Birmingham 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.480 that killed Dr King. Except it wasn't the gun that 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:47.560 killed Dr King. James Lvy was upon or the official 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:52.600 story from my Heart radio intended for TV. The plan 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.320 was to get King to the city because they wanted 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.720 it handled in Memphis for dead in them could hamon 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.200 and I've lived with us alone, monsieur, and they skied 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.440 for me. The Lord told me to not the word. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.440 I've been wanting to tell it all my life. I'm 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:22.160 Bill Claybury and this is the MLK tapes, speaking from experience. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.200 When one tries to open a conversation about who shot 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.560 Martin Luther King, if the person you're talking to knows 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.679 anything at all about the case, they immediately come back 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.560 with but the guy said he did it, And the 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.079 answer to that is a patient no he didn't. He 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.839 always denied it, but of course James Earl Ray did 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.040 in the end plead guilty. So how did that plea 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.840 come about? And what does it tell us about the murder? 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.320 As we heard in the last episode. Arthur Haynes Junior 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.040 and Senior were criminal defense attorneys who came to represent 0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:00.239 James Earl Ray, the man accused of killing Martin Luther Kane. 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.840 Ray was an escaped con He had been in Memphis 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.520 that day and there did seem to be some connection 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.240 between him and the murderer, Dr. King. But despite all 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.679 the public posturing by the prosecution, Ray's attorneys were surprised 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.240 to find that the actual case against Ray was weak. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.360 It seemed to them that the connection to the murder 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.919 was that their client had been set up. They investigated, 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.280 interviewed witnesses, and worked on the case for four months. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.760 As the trial approached, they thought they had good chances 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.560 for an acquittal. Then the night before the trial was 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.840 to begin, they were handed a note that said they 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.760 had been removed from the case. Why did Foreman push 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.720 his way into the case? Did you ever wonder about that? 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.720 Did we ever wonder why and how Foreman got in 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.360 the case? Only every day from that day until the 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.360 day my father died. When I sat down with Ark 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.000 Haynes Jr. In Birmingham, he tried to explain how famous 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:05.040 criminal defense attorney Percy Foreman had pushed them aside, there 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.800 were pressure points. How to pay for the defense was 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.160 one of them. Ray had no money, and Haines father 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.680 and son could not afford to work for nothing and 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.400 pay all the costs of the defense. As well. Haines 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.680 knew a successful investigative writer named William Bradford Huey, who 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.520 was also from Alabama and who was interested in writing 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.480 about the King murder. Huey's books included The Americanization of Emily, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.479 The Execution of Priva Slavik, and The Revolt of Mami Stover, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.440 all of which were made into movies. He also wrote 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.200 Wolf Whistle, the story of the murder of the young 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.200 Emmett Till, and Three Live from Mississippi, which told of 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.200 the murders of the three civil rights workers in Nashoba County. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.200 The forward to this book was written by Martin Luther King. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.719 No one at the time knew what the real story 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.960 was with Ray and King, but Hughey sense there was 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.880 a book there and possibly a movie, and he was 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.400 willing to put money up front to get access money 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.919 that was needed to fund the defense of James Earl 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.640 Ray two Art Haynes. It seemed like a promising offer 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:14.200 and he brought it to James William Bradford hue the 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.560 author who was writing for Look magazine, whom we had 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.799 encouraged Ray to hire. Because Hughie was was a noted 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.960 uh anti George Wallace, he was in the middle of 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:33.120 a series of articles for Esquire, he had every credential 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.599 being in DUCTR. King's camp, and he was from Alabama 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.600 and close to us, so we we encouraged him to 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.080 hire Hughie Haines Sr. Brought a deal to Ray where 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.800 in simple numbers, Ray would receive of whatever Huey's books 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:55.600 and articles brought in, Hughie would get and Haynes Judge 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.640 Preston Battle would not permit anyone besides his attorneys and 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:00.920 his immediate family to visit it or talked to Ray. 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.520 So the arrangement was made for Hughie to submit questions 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.120 to Ray and for Ray to write out his answers 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.200 in Longhand. All that summer I had carried questions from 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.479 Hughie to Ray and raise handwritten answers back to Hughie. 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:19.080 We had facilitated that all two hundred pages of Ray's 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.360 answers to Hughie's questions have been preserved and make for 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.440 an interesting read if you can decipher Ray's handwriting. It's 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.799 the same story Ray has told before of his prison 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.200 break and is moving about the country at the direction 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.600 of a man named Raoul. Hughie took these notes and 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.120 actually traced race travels and found the people Race that 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.000 he had worked for or met along the way. The 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:46.400 one exception was Raoul. This was not surprising because Ray 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.400 didn't know Raoul's last name, his address, or even if 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:55.160 Raoul was his real first name. Race spent a great 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.480 deal of time writing these pages, and at first he 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.320 was satisfied with how his attorneys were going about things, 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.920 but not everyone was. I suppose we were naive and 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.280 that we thought we were lawyers hired to defend a 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.120 murder case and that's what we were doing. There were 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.920 all kinds of reported witness hangers on and people involved 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.760 who wanted to be a part of it. Well. Jerry 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.360 Ray was one of those. He wanted to come to 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.600 Birmingham and have us support him and let him be 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.520 part of the defense. Truthfully, we didn't have time for that. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.600 We were trying to manage our practice at the same 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.080 time get that case ready for trial, and we just 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:42.000 didn't have time or inclination to food Jerry Ray. We 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.840 were polite but not responsive to that. But Jerry Raid 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.360 did get himself involved. He visited James in prison, his 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.560 attorneys in Birmingham and author William Bradford, Huwey and Huntsville, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.320 and he was also in touch with a certain attorney 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.840 in Texas who had soon arrived in Memphis. According to 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.280 everyone close to the case, James Earl Ray very much 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.360 wanted to go to trial. As Jerry Ray would say, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.600 he didn't kill King, and he wanted his chance to 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:17.480 prove it in court. He need but this is where 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.040 the trouble started. James imagined a trial where he would 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.640 be able to tell his story, where he, James Earl Ray, 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.800 would be able to look the jurors in the eye 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.720 and have them believe that he did not shoot Martin 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.200 Luther King. But Arthur Haynes Senior was an experienced attorney 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.520 and he knew that great danger awaited a defendant when 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.000 he took the witness stand, especially if the defendant had, 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.880 like Ray, a long record of criminal conduct that the 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:49.199 prosecution could explore in great detail until less pretty much 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.079 all the jury would remember as they concluded that such 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.440 an outlaw should get what he deserved. So, as Arthur 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.079 Haynes explains, they were not ready to promise Ray that 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.959 he would take the stand. Our view of it was 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.959 that we wouldn't know whether Ray was gonna testify or 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:11.680 need to testify until the end of the state's case. Obviously, 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.440 if he had testified, that would have killed the value 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:25.200 of Hughey's connection to him. This is how Jerry Ray 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:30.360 saw it. On Whomber firston making is sistime, I blew 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.839 out in the heart build Alabama and talked to you, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.120 you take my way down because he want another contact 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:41.959 beside the journey. So he was showing these contracts and 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.480 so I told he hope. He said only again, and 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.440 now you go back and tell James. He's not about 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:52.240 to understand. He doesn't go. So I went back and 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.400 told James you on the phone hand because when he's 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.240 running stas So with a little help from brother Jerry, 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.120 James began to fear that the case was not being 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.720 pursued with his best interests in mind. He wanted to testify, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.280 and it seemed that Huey and his book was now 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.920 standing in the way. And then the weekend before his 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.800 trial was to begin, he received a visit from a 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.400 famous Texas lawyer named Percy Foreman. Foreman was six foot 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.360 four and weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, and had 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.200 a huge reputation to go with it. He had grown 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.360 up poor in the wiles of East Texas, quit school 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.360 when he was fifteen, and made something of himself because 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.959 he had an agile mind and a quick tongue. He 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.680 put himself through law school and came out ready for bear. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.360 He had a knack for talking in a way that 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.040 juries liked, and he was especially good at representing people 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.560 accused of murder. In his forty years a criminal law 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.199 he claimed to have represented over one thousand of those. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.800 Only one, as the story goes, was ever executed, and 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.480 according to Foreman, only sixty six of the thousand spent 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.280 even a day in jail. The more obviously guilty, the 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:02.800 easier it seemed for him to get them off for 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.440 a price. He was hated by the prosecutors he faced, 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.640 and also hated by his clients when they felt the 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.120 most vulnerable, as when he could have them sign over 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.679 every asset they had. I don't represent wealthy clients, he 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.040 once said, if they aren't poor when they come to me, 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.880 they are when they leave. Foreman had been talking to 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.640 Jerry Ray, so he knew all the right buttons to push. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.280 He told James that Haynes should not have made a 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.080 deal like that with Hughie. Who is Hughie to give 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.480 advice to his attorney based on what might or might 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.600 not be good for a book. Foreman talked about all 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.240 the famous people he knew in all the cases he 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.000 had won, and how James's case would be the easiest 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.400 one he ever argued, and added to that, Foreman said 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.520 that unlike the Haines defense team, he was wealthy, wealthy 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.680 enough to move forward without any literary contracts, and they'd 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.720 figure out how to pay his fee after the trial. 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.160 But for a retainer, he had James sign over the 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.679 title to his Mustang and the Remington thirty six that 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.760 he purchased in Birmingham, the one that was said to 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:09.120 have killed King. Here's Ray for King jail the same made. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.520 He told me that if I would just miss things 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.920 and are him, he wouldn't get involved in literary contrast, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:21.280 he financed trow trows over and he would get used 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:26.040 to be then, so I agreed, and I signed some 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.760 time and paper decade just missing Haynes and all right 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.920 him well. On one of the national herring for the 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:38.119 trial work, Foreman promised Batting would get involved any litter contracts. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:40.760 At that time, I didn't know he was negotiating with 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.920 Hie to think for Hayes interesting to contract and said 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.840 that at that time so Foreman's big promise to Ray 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.920 was the case would not be driven by literary contracts, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.319 that he Foreman was rich enough to defend Ray without them. 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.320 But a week after he had taken over the case, 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.000 Foreman and Huie for Luncheon dallas Key described that meeting 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.200 in his book he slew the dreamer quote Mr Foreman, 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.160 like my three way contract. All he wanted was for 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:12.360 Mr Haynes to get out of the way so he 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:15.360 could have what Mr Haynes had. So you get Haynes 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.439 out of the way, he said, and then god damn it, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.360 get to work and write us a good book, make 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.199 us a good movie, and make us some money. I 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.360 didn't think him myself. And then subsequently, in January of 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:30.600 nineteen six nine, he came up there with a literary contract. 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:37.480 Yes idea, and I signed in fair Way third. Yes, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:41.880 signed a literary contracts A thing I got to go 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:47.959 to him. The contracts that Foreman had Ray signed on 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:53.000 January nine and February three essentially stripped Ray of every 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:57.160 remaining asset he had or might have. So why did 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.400 he sign them? As Ray would explain later, Foreman had 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.120 come to see him in late January saying the case 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.679 was going very well, but he needed to bring in 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.920 another attorney, John J. Hooker, and that was going to 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.720 cost money. So Ray, not really having a choice, signed 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.360 everything over to Foreman. Now, a Foreman had been telling 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.880 the truth about representing from the start that a plea 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.800 bargain was their only option, there would have been no 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.440 reason for Ray to enter into these contracts. So as 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.000 late as February three, Foreman was saying that they were 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.640 going to trial and things were looking good. But just 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:38.440 ten days later, after Foreman had plucked his client clean, 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.400 as Bradford Huey would describe it, Foreman came back with 0:14:42.560 --> 0:15:05.040 bad news where he had to plead guilty. Now, I 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:10.120 want to think we're thirteen. He came into prisiness Jerman 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:14.800 Heart Danton, and he uh suggested a human playing, he says, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.680 and there's me and don't in thankfully and well anyway, 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.040 when he came back to see me next time, he 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.680 was talking about he said they might prosecute my brother 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.680 Jerry rag and expiracing words and also he said they 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:35.040 might be pressed my father James brother Jerry tells the 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:39.400 same story a forman's about face and the first before 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.320 we gave it said it's little busy because he's I 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.440 read a lot, I erst whoever they are followed it 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.280 and he did that up until uh a month before 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.200 the Guildy plays that he started cries that they're gonna 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.800 acute and they're going to do this, but so Jade 0:15:54.880 --> 0:16:00.040 fans to read me paiously little problem nyway and it 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:05.280 would resigned. At this point, James Earl Ray was boxed in. 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.240 He was stuck with Foreman, and Foreman refused to perform. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.360 He kept telling Ray that the prosecution wanted to turn 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.440 him into barbecue form his word. Then he told Ray 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.960 that if he insisted on going to trial, they would 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.360 put his father and brother in jail. When Ray said 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.240 he still wanted to trial, Foreman said flat out that 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.840 he wouldn't defend him. He didn't feel up to it. 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.160 Here is an interchange between Bill Pepper and Jerry Ray 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.880 at the nine civil trial, not invisibly. He told me 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.280 to the last my sier he still had made up 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.080 the money he's still to fight doing for and he 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:47.000 he told he told me that foreman told him if 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:51.840 he did both of my hand and my John Earl 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.560 back in the twenties, and is both charged me being 0:16:54.680 --> 0:17:00.600 the assessed of the word, I'm pretty sure you left, Jerry. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:05.720 That's certainly the James little Ray Black versus Forman got 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.040 all about. This is the day of a letter Archer 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:14.760 that m March Watson Arch nine, nineteen fifty and when 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.200 is it going to be played here? Uh? Right, right right? 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:23.920 I was right, was March following that this is a 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:28.440 letter from his council on the eve of trop and 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.520 this letter offers you offers hand five hundred dollars. What 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.399 conditions was the over five hundred dollars we have abdybe 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.560 played to the lea built embarrassment in coort and it 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.359 was agreed with We understand that five hundred dollars was 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.800 to be taking the higher a new lawyer and her 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:48.600 decided a sad Yet this agreement signed the day before 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.480 Ray entered his guilty plea as a strange document. Foreman 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.879 signs on for a fee of a hundred and sixty 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.760 five thousand dollars if such is produced by books for movies, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.119 and Ray is handed five dollars. The purpose of the 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.920 five hundred is not stated in the contract, but according 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.600 to both James and Jerry, it was so Ray could 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.840 go find a lawyer to overturn the plea, as if 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.920 five dollars could accomplish such a thing. But Ray is 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.119 to get the five hundred only if he meets to conditions. 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:21.800 He enters a plea of guilty of murder in the 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.600 first degree, and he doesn't make a scene of any 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.800 kind at the proceeding. And that's what unfolds. Are you 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.119 leading murder in the place degree in this case because 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.919 you killed Dr Martin lives the king under sex secumstances, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.400 it would make you legally guilty. But in the place 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.520 degree under the law is explained to you by your lawyer. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.160 Ray's answer was barely audible on the recording system used 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.119 by the court. What he said was quote yes, legally guilty. 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.360 According to attorney Mark Lane, who would later represent Ray, 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.160 Ray told him that when Foreman was using every kind 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.080 of argument to put him into a plea. Ray blurted 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.040 out that he didn't want to plead guilty because he 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:08.520 hadn't shot king. Doesn't matter, replied Foreman. If you were 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.920 involved in any kind of illegal activity with those who did, 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.159 you are legally guilty. You are as guilty as the 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.879 man who pulled the trigger. Foreman was referring to the 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.080 concept of felony murder, where if three people say agree 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.520 to rob a store, and they all agree that no 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.440 one is to be heard, but something goes wrong and 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.760 one man pulls a gun and kills the store clerk, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.240 all three men are legally guilty of the murder. Most 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.240 states have such laws, though it is far from clear 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.040 that such a concept would apply in a case where 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.160 one man is purposely deceived about the crime and brought 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.320 along only for the purpose of taking the blame. But 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.919 Foreman's little lesson was most likely how the phrase legally 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:56.080 guilty became part of raise plea. After the plea was entered, 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.280 Ray's attorney, Percy Foreman, was invited to speak. He stood 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.040 up and addressed the court. This is what he had 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.920 to say. It's an honor to appear in this court. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.120 I never expected or had any idea when I entered 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.639 this case that I would be able to accomplish anything 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:16.960 except perhaps save the defendant's life. All of us, all 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.520 of you, were as well informed as I was about 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:21.840 the facts of this case, due to the fact that 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:24.960 we have such an effective news media. Took me a 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.600 month that convinced myself of that which the Attorney General 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.920 of the United States and Jed Grohover of the FBI 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:36.680 announced last July that there was no conspiracy. After that 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.560 bit of self congratulations from Percy Foreman, Ray asked Judge 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.760 Battle if he might say something. The judge agreed, and 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:48.400 I'll read a slightly edited version of what followed Ray. 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:51.359 I don't want to change anything that I have said. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.320 I don't want to add anything onto it either. The 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:56.960 only thing I have to say is I don't exactly 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.119 accept the theories of Mr Clark. In other words, I'm 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.639 not bound to accept the theories of Mr Clark. This 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.080 is an aside. But Percy Foreman, who had just referred 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.159 to Attorney General of the United States, doesn't know who 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.440 Ray is speaking about, so he asked, who is Mr Clark? 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:23.120 Ray Ramsey Clark Foreman Oh Ray and Mr Hoover Foreman 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:28.640 Mr who Ray, Mr j Edgar Hoover. I'm not trying 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.119 to change anything. I just want to add something onto it. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.320 Judge Battle, you don't agree with those theories, Ray, I 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:39.600 mean on the conspiracy thing. There is a bit of 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:42.600 cross talk, and no one seems inclined to ask Ray 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.920 what it is he's trying to say. Judge Battle then 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:49.440 asks if he is still pleading guilty to first degree murder, 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.600 and Ray says that he is. It was a short, 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.920 tense moment. Ray had gone off script, but he hadn't 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:58.320 cost a huge scene, so he would still get his 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:03.639 five dollars. Three days after recording his guilty plea, James 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.560 Earl Ray wrote to Judge Preston Battle and asked to 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.520 have the plea overturned and allow him to go to trial. 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.680 A few days later, he wrote again asking for the 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.080 same thing. It was not clear how Judge Battle was 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.560 going to rule on raised petitions. Often, in the interests 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:23.680 of justice, such petitions are granted. But before Battle could 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.600 make a decision, he was found slumped over his desk, 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.840 dead from an apparent heart attack, and according to various accounts, 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.200 Battle was slumped over raised petitions on which he was 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:37.760 to rule. A new judge replaced Battle, and he didn't 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.800 allow Ray to reopen the case. So Ray was led 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:45.639 off to prison no trial. But Percy Foreman's statement at 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:49.040 the end of the trial is curious. If Foreman was 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.880 so certain that Ray had to plead guilty, why did 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:56.080 he connive to get himself into the case, And what 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.000 was all this talk about the easiest case I've ever argued? 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.240 Did you ever feel that you could ever do more 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:05.680 than save his life? Never had any time, and so 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:08.720 told him from the day I came here, and he 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.840 never expected anything else from the first and I never 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:17.080 expected to accomplish this. This statement by Percy Foreman, made 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.080 out on the street after race so called trial, is 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.160 most certainly a lie, and a big one. Foreman says 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:26.600 here that he told Ray on the first day that 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:29.560 they met, that his only hope was to plead guilty 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:32.760 and take a life sentence. But if that were true, 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.240 why would Ray need to change lawyers. Haines father and 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:40.960 son already possessed a plea offer from the prosecution, as 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.639 art Hands revealed to me when we spoke, we ever 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:47.680 offered a plea bargain. Oh, absolutely, we were offered a 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:50.200 better deal that he took. I think there was a 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:53.680 little anxiety on the part of the prosecution is to 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:58.080 the strength of the case. Haines said that the deal 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:00.520 they had been offered was better than the one Ray 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:03.240 finally had to settle for. But it was better only 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:05.880 in that it allowed him an earlier date from which 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:09.240 he would be eligible for parole. Not much of a difference, 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:11.920 because no one was going to let the convicted murderer 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:15.359 of Martin Luther King out on parole. But if Ray 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:17.920 wished to take a guilty plea in exchange for life 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:21.440 in prison, he already had that. He didn't need the 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:25.600 services of some fancy outside lawyer. But Ray wasn't thinking 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:28.879 plea bargain. He was thinking trial, and he went with 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:32.280 Foreman because Foreman says his would be an easy case 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:36.399 to win. So why was Foreman now saying that he 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:39.040 had always told Ray that his only chance was to 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.960 plead guilty. Some insights into this are provided by the 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:47.080 House Select Committee on Assassinations, which published a deposition of 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:51.480