Subject: Loyd Jowers Contradictions Find 12 Believers Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 15:26:57 GMT From: Jerry Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk Jowers's claims, contradictions find 12 believers By Marc Perrusquia The Commercial Appeal [www.gomemphis.com] Finally, Loyd Jowers is believed. For six years, the former cafe owner claimed in ever-evolving accounts that he knew of a plot behind the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. He persisted, even after failing a nationally televised lie-detector test and facing allegations in a government report that he'd dreamed up his story in the hope of making a buck. On Wednesday, 12 people agreed with him. A Shelby County Circuit Court jury found that Jowers and "unknown conspirators'' within the government were liable for King's April 4, 1968, assassination in Memphis. Jowers, 73, never testified and wasn't present for the verdict. Frail- looking and rail thin, Jowers sat through early parts of the trial but reportedly was too ill to continue making appearances in court. Conspiracy theorist and lawyer William Pepper, who convinced the King family to file its wrongful death suit against Jowers, claimed the verdict as validation of his contention that King's murder was the result of a sweeping conspiracy involving the federal government, Memphis police and Mafia figures. Prosecutors responsible for keeping confessed assassin James Earl Ray in prison until his death last year, watched the civil trial from afar and called it a one-sided affair. It featured witnesses passing on second- and third-hand hearsay with little cross-examination from Jowers's lawyer, Lewis Garrison, they said. So, can Jowers be believed? What follows is a summary of his claims and contradictions through the years: April 4, 1968: Jowers tells police shortly after the 6:01 p.m. assassination that he knew nothing about the shooting. At the time, he operated Jim's Grill, a South Main Street cafe below the rooming house from which prosecutors believe Ray fired the rifle that killed King. Jowers said he heard a noise that "sounded like something that fell in the kitchen.'' Feb. 10, 1969: One month before Ray pleaded guilty, the District Attorney General's Office learns of a witness who alleged that Jowers was involved in King's murder. Betty Spates, a waitress at Jim's Grill, claimed Jowers found a gun behind the cafe and may have shot King. Two days later, Spates told prosecutors she was offered $5,000 to make up the story. Spates said the bogus tale originated with King supporters. Dec. 16, 1993: Jowers tells ABC news reporter Sam Donaldson in a nationally televised interview that he received $100,000 from now- deceased Memphis produce dealer Frank C. Liberto to arrange King's murder. The FBI had investigated and discounted in 1968 a tip involving Liberto. A congressional committee that re-examined King's murder a decade later concluded in a published report in 1979 that Ray shot King and that there was no merit to allegations regarding Liberto and numerous other conspiracy accounts. Dec. 19, 1993: Frank Holt, a homeless fruit-picker whom Jowers said he had paid to shoot King, denies any involvement. The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville reported that it found Holt in Florida and gave him a lie-detector test, which he passed. Jan. 25, 1994: Spates tells the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that money motivated her renewed claims that she'd seen Jowers enter the back of the cafe with a rifle in 1968. "Loyd Jowers and his attorney, Lewis Garrison, said I blew $300,000 in royalties we could have split'' by sticking with the story, Spates said in a sworn affidavit. September 1995: Ray's lawyer, William Pepper, claims in a book that Jowers was swept up in a wide government conspiracy to kill King. Pepper wrote in Orders To Kill that a former Memphis police officer under hypnosis retrieved repressed memories, including the name, Earl Clark, a deceased police captain. Jowers would name Clark as the triggerman in subsequent accounts. March 27, 1997: Persuaded by "new evidence'' from Pepper, King's younger son, Dexter, meets with Ray in prison and tells him he believes Ray is innocent. March 27, 1998: The Shelby County prosecutor's office concludes after a seven-month probe that there is no credible evidence to support Jowers's claims. Jowers's story appears to have been motivated by a desire to make money, the investigation found. A final report said Jowers took a "very active role in getting people to make statements that implicate him.'' April 22, 1998: Prime Time Live, the ABC network news show that first aired Jowers's account in 1993, reports that Jowers failed a lie- detector test. Jowers's latest account, which he shared in two meetings with the King family, is that a police officer shot King from behind Jim's Grill, then handed the still-smoking rifle to Jowers. Aug. 26, 1998: U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno announces she is opening an inquiry into claims by Jowers and a retired FBI agent who offered separate details about a possible plot. The inquiry, which remains open, came after a personal plea by King's widow, Coretta Scott King, to President Clinton. Oct. 2, 1998: King's family files a wrongful death suit against Jowers in Shelby County Circuit Court. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.