Loyd Jowers

Loyd Jowers
Born November 20, 1926
Died May 20, 2000 (aged 73)
Tennessee, U.S.
Cause of death
 Heart attack
Occupation Owner of Jim's Grill

Loyd Jowers (November 20, 1926[1] – May 20, 2000) was the owner of a restaurant (Jim's Grill) near the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. In December 1993, Jowers appeared on ABC's Prime Time Live and related the details of an alleged conspiracy involving the Mafia and the U.S. government to kill King. According to Jowers, James Earl Ray was a scapegoat, and was not involved in the assassination. Jowers said that Memphis police officer Lieutenant Earl Clark fired the fatal shot.

In 1998, the King family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators" for the murder of King. A Memphis jury found Jowers responsible on December 8, 1999, and that the assassination plot also involved "governmental agencies."[2]

The Memphis county prosecutor said on several occasions that Mr. Jowers' claims were without merit and that his motivation was to sell his story for a book or a movie. Both sisters that worked at Jowers' restaurant recanted their support for the case. Their conversation in which the main witness for Jowers admitted that the story was false was taped by the authorities. The sister admitted that Jowers had fabricated the story so he could make $300,000 from selling the story, and she in turn corroborated his story in order to get some money to pay her income tax.[3][4]

Following the above-stated verdict, John Campbell, an assistant district attorney in Memphis who was not involved in the civil suit, but was part of the criminal trial against James Earl Ray, said: "I'm not surprised by the verdict. This case overlooked so much contradictory evidence that never was presented, what other option did the jury have but to accept Mr. Pepper's version?"[2]

At a 1999 press conference following this verdict, Coretta Scott King stated that "there is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr... the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame."[5]

Following statements by Dexter King and other family members, Dexter was subsequently asked by a reporter, "there are many people out there who feel that as long as these conspirators remain nameless and faceless there is no true closure, and no justice." He replied:

No, he [Mr. Lloyd Jowers] named the shooter. The shooter was the Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark who he named as the killer. Once again, beyond that you had credible witnesses that named members of a Special Forces team who didn't have to act because the contract killer succeeded, with plausible denial, a Mafia contracted killer.[5]
Gerald Posner, an investigative journalist who wrote the book Killing the Dream in which he makes the case that Ray is the killer, said after the verdict: "It distresses me greatly that the legal system was used in such a callous and farcical manner in Memphis. If the King family wanted a rubber stamp of their own view of the facts, they got it."[2]

Death

Jowers died from a heart attack on May 20, 2000, at the age of 73.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Indexed at SSDI
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing", New York Times, December 09, 1999
  3. ↑ "Washingtonpost.com: Martin Luther King Jr.: The Legacy". The Washington Post. January 30, 1999.
  4. ↑ "Loyd Jowers, 73, Who Claimed A Role in the Killing of Dr. King". The New York Times. May 23, 2000.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Assassination Conspiracy Trial". The King Center. December 9, 1999.
  6. ↑ http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part1.php

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