1545
THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE
THIRTIETH JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT MEMPHIS
_____________________________________________
CORETTA SCOTT KING, MARTIN
LUTHER KING, III, BERNICE KING,
DEXTER SCOTT KING and YOLANDA KING,
Plaintiffs,
Vs. Case No. 97242-4 T.D.
LOYD JOWERS and OTHER UNKNOWN
CO-CONSPIRATORS,
Defendants.
_____________________________________________
PROCEEDINGS
December 2, 1999
VOLUME XI
_____________________________________________
Before the Honorable James E. Swearengen,
Division 4, Judge presiding.
______________________________________________
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI,
RICHBERGER & WEATHERFORD
COURT REPORTERS
22nd Floor, One Commerce Square
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
(901) 529-1999
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(901) 529-1999
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- APPEARANCES -
For the Plaintiffs:
MR. WILLIAM PEPPER
Attorney at Law
575 Madison Avenue, Suite 1006
New York, New York 10022
(212) 605-0515
For the Defendant:
MR. LEWIS K. GARRISON, Sr.
Attorney at Law
100 North Main Street, Suite 1025
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
(901) 527-6445
Reported by:
MS. MARGIE J. ROUTHEAUX
Registered Professional Reporter
Daniel, Dillinger, Dominski,
Richberger & Weatherford
2200 One Commerce Square
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
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- INDEX -
WITNESS: PAGE NUMBER
REV. SMAUEL B. KYLES
Direct Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1551
Cross-Examination
By Mr. Pepper ----------------- 1577
Redirect Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1598
FRANK W. YOUNG
Direct Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1599
Cross-Examination
By Mr. Pepper ----------------- 1613
ELI ARKIN
Direct Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1621
Cross-Examination
By Mr. Pepper ----------------- 1635
REBECCA A. CLARK
Direct Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1641
Cross-Examination
By Mr. Pepper ----------------- 1649
JOHN DOE (By Video)
Direct Examination
By Mr. Garrison --------------- 1676
EXHIBITS
34 --------------- 1596
35 --------------- 1601
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P R O C E E D I N G S
THE COURT: Mr. Garrison and
Mr. Pepper, I'd like to see you.
MR. GARRISON: Sir?
THE COURT: Come up here.
(A bench conference was held at
sidebar outside the hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: Bring the jury out.
THE SHERIFF: Yes, sir.
(Jury In 10:25 a.m.)
THE COURT: Good morning, Ladies
and Gentlemen. Before we get started, the
Court has another matter that it has to deal
with. Mr. Campbell, would you come around,
please, sir.
THE COURT: Mr. Campbell, my
deputy had these pictures processed, and it
appears that you did take pictures of the
jurors in violation of the Court's order.
MR. CAMPBELL: I did not realize
that. It wasn't on purpose, Judge. I tried
to get Mr. King, and I guess I got everybody
from the angle I had.
THE COURT: Well, I'm hoping it
was inadvertance rather than deliberate.
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And, of course, I'm going to reflect that in
my judgment. But I do find that you're
violating of the order was an act of
contempt, and I'm going to impose on you a
fine in the amount of $25 which would cover
the cost of the rapid development of this
film and the cost that my deputy had to incur
in gas and time for having them developed.
MR. CAMPBELL: I understand.
I'm surprised they came out very good -- good
at all.
THE COURT: All right. You can
settle up with the deputy.
MR. CAMPBELL: Okay. I'll have
to do it later. I ran down here with no
money at all. So I'll catch you --
THE COURT: Well, we sure would
hate to have to put some handcuffs on you.
MR. CAMPBELL: Don't do that.
Don't do that. I can get it. I just got to
get to the bank. When we have a break, I'll
go out and bring it back.
THE COURT: All right. You will
do it before 12 o'clock.
MR. CAMPBELL: Yes, sir. I
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would like to stay for this and --
THE COURT: Well, if you
consider that more important than taking care
of this --
MR. CAMPBELL: Dr. King is more
important to me.
THE COURT: You can do it like
you want to. But at 12 o'clock it's either
paid or I'll send you --
MR. CAMPBELL: I'm going to sit
here for a while, and then I'll go out.
THE COURT: I'm not going to
advise you on it.
MR. CAMPBELL: I got you,
Judge. Thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Garrison, are
you ready to proceed?
MR. GARRISON: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, you may.
MR. GARRISON: Call Reverend
Kyles.
REV. SAMUEL B. KYLES,
Having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
THE WITNESS: Your Honor, may I
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just have -- reflect for the record that I
was subpoenaed to come, not of my own free
will.
THE COURT: All right, sir. Let
the record reflect that Reverend Kyles is
here under subpoena.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Good morning, Reverend Kyles.
A. Good morning.
Q. Let me ask you, sir, if you will tell
us your full name.
A. Samuel Billy Kyles.
Q. All right. And, Reverend Kyles,
you've been around Memphis a long time,
haven't you?
A. 40 years.
Q. And what presently do -- what do you
do presently?
A. Pastor, Monumental Baptist Church.
Q. All right, sir. And how long have
you been a pastor of that church?
A. 40 years.
Q. All right. You were here, Reverend
Kyles, during the Sanitation Strike; were
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you, sir?
A. I was.
Q. All right. And did you have the
occasion during the Sanitation Strike back in
1968 to have some conversation or association
with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
A. I did.
Q. Tell us, Reverend Kyles, during that
time when you first recall having any
conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King.
A. The garbage workers had been on
strike, I think in February. And I was in
Miami, Florida, with a group of ministers
from around the nation. Dr. King had called
a group of us down there. And I got the word
that the garbage workers had gone on strike.
And I said, just rather offhandedly, you may
have to come to Memphis to help us out on the
strike. I had no idea it would go that
long.
And, of course, when the strike
picked up momentum, we called and -- "we"
being a group called Community On The Move
For Equality -- called Dr. King about coming
to Memphis to make a speech for us. This was
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in March.
Q. Of 1968?
A. Of 1968, yes, sir. And the staff
says, well, he doesn't have time to come.
We're behind schedule on the Poor People's
Campaign. But he overruled the staff and
came because he thought that the garbage
strike was so important and was very akin to
what he was doing with the Poor People's
campaign. So that was our beginning
conversation about the strike.
Q. Let me ask you something. Back
before -- before March of 1968 had you -- had
you had some association with Dr. King? Had
the two of you been together in revivals or
preaching or anything like that?
A. We were pastors together, and we were
in the same convention. He was president of
the Congress -- or one of the vice presidents
of the Congress. But the meeting I mentioned
in Miami was a meeting that SCLC had called
of ministers of urban communities to see what
we could do about the violence and other
things happening in the community.
Q. All right, sir.
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A. So we had a relationship before his
coming to Memphis.
Q. All right, sir. Now, when Dr. King
first came to Memphis -- that was in March of
'68; am I correct, sir? The first time --
during the first march that they had.
A. Yes, for a speech.
Q. And were you in his presence some
during the time when he first came here?
A. I'm sorry.
Q. Were you in his presence some of the
time --
A. Yes.
Q. -- when he first came here?
A. Yes. Each time he came I was
involved.
Q. Let me ask you, Reverend Kyles, did
you have any conversation or any meeting with
Dr. King before the first march that was held
here in Memphis?
A. Yes. That's -- he came to make the
speech -- not the Mountain Top Speech, but he
made another speech when he finally came.
That -- don't hold me to dates, I just can't
remember.
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Q. That's fine.
A. But I'm fairly certain it was March.
Q. All right, sir. Let me ask you, when
the march was held, there was some, I guess,
violence you call it. Were you present at
that time with Dr. King?
A. Yes, sir, I was.
Q. You were in the march?
A. I was, yes.
Q. All right. Now, when he left Memphis
to go back to Atlanta -- at that point did
you have any conversation with him about
coming back to Memphis?
A. Yes. During the march break-up, the
police had been just so vicious and so
violent. There were a number of young guys
who really started breaking out windows
during the march. And rather than isolate
them, the police just waded into the crowd
and started beating anybody just randomly. I
was not at the front of the march because I
was trying to give some direction in the
back.
And I could hear on the police radio
the officers -- I heard this -- this sound.
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I didn't even make it to Beale Street. I was
still on the street leading up to the
church. And I heard this noise. And I could
hear a sound, and I could hear the police
saying: Permission to break up the
march. Permission to break up the march.
The Negroes are rioting. The Negroes are
rioting.
And finally the permission was
granted. And he said, permission granted.
I'm listening to this on a police radio. And
then this wave of people started coming back
to the church. They started spraying tear
gas and just beating people randomly. My
six-year old daughter was sprayed in the eyes
with mace by some big burly policeman.
But they were quite vicious. And we
were concerned for Dr. King's safety. So we
flagged a car down. I wasn't an eye witness
to this, but this is how I'm told it
happened. They flagged a car down and went
to -- took him to the nearest motel -- hotel,
which was the Rivermont Hotel. After things
had calmed down, I finally went by the
hotel. He was lying on the bed fully dressed
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and was very depressed.
Q. Is that the Rivermont Hotel?
A. Yes, the Rivermont Hotel.
Q. Yes, sir, go ahead.
A. He was very depressed. And he said,
Billy, what happened? I said, I don't know.
I don't know. He said, well, we have got to
have a peaceful march in Memphis. If we
don't have a peaceful march in Memphis, we
can't go to Washington. The Washington march
was not going to be a march. It was really a
campaign for poor people. He had -- he had
gathered poor people from the African-
American community, from Native Americans,
Appalachian, whites.
And it was not a case of going to
Washington making speeches and leaving, but
we were going to build tents and live in
Washington until this nation did something
about its poor. So he said, if we don't have
a peaceful march in Memphis, we can't go to
Washington. And so we determined that -- he
determined that he would come back.
That's how all the staff happened to
have been in Memphis at the time of the
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assassination because he sent the staff in to
workshop Memphis so we could have a peaceful
march.
Q. All right, sir. Now, when he came
back to Memphis, which was what, April the
3rd --
A. Yes.
Q. -- '68? Did -- were you present
when he arrived in Memphis?
A. No. I did not go -- I was -- I was
not at the airport. I was at the church. He
came from the airport to the church and had a
press conference there at Centenary United
Methodist Church where Jim Lawson was pastor.
Q. And I believe that plans were made at
some point that he and Reverend Abernathy and
some others would dine in your home that
afternoon; am I correct, sir?
A. No, that was -- not -- not that day.
The 3rd they had dinner at another place --
at another home. Usually when you're on the
road like that and you -- you're eating hotel
food all the time, it's kind of expected that
somebody locally would have a home-cooked
meal. And so someone else had it the 3rd.
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Q. On the 3rd. It was your home on the
4th.
A. The 4th, yes.
Q. All right. I've got my dates wrong.
So you were on the 4th. During the date now
of the 4th of April, 1968, would you tell us
what happened that day as best you recall,
what transpired between you and what you saw
Dr. King --
A. Yes. Dinner was to be served at my
home at six o'clock.
Q. 6 p.m.?
A. Yes.
Q. And what time did you first talk to
him that day or see him that day?
A. It was earlier that day. I think we
had a minister's meeting at one of the
churches, and then he went back to the
hotel -- to the motel -- the Lorraine Motel.
He went back there to conduct some meetings.
One of the things that he was really
concerned about -- and I think the last staff
meeting that he had, he got a recommitment to
non-violence from his staff.
He said, this is a non-violent
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movement. And even if you don't embrace
non-violence as a philosophy, you have to
embrace it as a tactic because we're
non-violent. Now, anybody that really can't
embrace non-violence cannot be in this
movement. He was very, very clear on that.
And he was meeting during the day
with several groups including his own staff.
I went over to the motel about 4 o'clock. I
told he and Ralph that dinner was at 5
because we were already running so late.
When I got to the room, knocked on the door,
and they let me in. And I said, okay, it's
almost 5 o'clock. And they said, oh, no, we
called the house, dinner is not until 6, and
we're not in a hurry. And that gave me that
wonderful privilege of spending the last
hour, he and Abernathy and myself, in Room
306 waiting for the 5 o'clock hour -- or the
6 o'clock hour.
Q. Now, I know I've seen you talk about
this. You said you talked preacher talk
while you were there, is that --
A. Well, the night before -- the
Mountain Top Speech was so unusual, so
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different than what we had heard. The
reporters were very curious as to what mood
he was in the next day and how -- had he come
off that. The Mountain Top Speech almost
didn't take place because there were thunder
storm warnings that night, and it was
thundering and lightning and raining.
And he thought there would not be
many people at the temple. So he told
Abernathy, Jesse Jackson and myself and
others to go over and have the meeting. He
would stay at the hotel and work on the Poor
People's campaign.
Well, when we got there, there
were -- the place was nearly full -- more
than half filled. And even though it was
raining and thundering and lightning, people
came. And so when Abernathy walked in and I
walked in and Jesse Jackson walked in, the
people started clapping. And Abernathy's
preacher sense told him -- he said, these
people are not clapping for us, they think
Martin is behind us. Show me a phone, let me
go call Martin. So he went and called him.
He said, man, you need to get over
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here. These people have come to hear you.
And we're not -- I'm not making a speech
tonight. And so he said, if you think I need
to come, I'll come. We almost missed his
Mountain Top Speech. But he did come and --
and that night he dwelt on death more than I
had ever heard him.
He talked about the time that he was
stabbed in New York City. A woman came up to
him and said, are you Dr. King? He said
yes. And she stabbed him in the chest with a
letter opener. And he said of all the --
he's telling this at the meeting.
He said of all the greetings I got,
the most telling came from a young girl who
wrote: Dear Dr. King, I read about your
misfortune. And the paper said that the
blade was so close to your aorta that if you
had sneezed, you would have drowned in your
own blood. And she put at the bottom: I'm
glad you didn't sneeze.
And he picked up on that and did a
whole litany on I'm glad I didn't sneeze. If
I had sneezed I would have missed the march,
I would have -- he just listed all of the
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things he would have missed. And by that
time we were on our feet, we were crying, and
there was such passion and pathos in his
voice. I mean, we just -- we didn't know
what to do.
And he just said, I'm not fearing
any man. I may not get to the Promise Land
with you, but you -- we as a people will get
to the Promise Land. And I thought about
that. And I'm so certain that he knew he
wouldn't get there, but we couldn't stand to
hear him say, I won't get there. So he said,
I may not. He softened it for us. I may not
get there with you. And it was such a
powerful presentation.
And so the press was very curious as
to what mood he was in after that. But after
that, the next day, he was all right. I
mean, he was back doing what he needed to
do.
Q. Let me ask you this. At that point
had you been aware of threats against
Dr. King? Had you heard about it or had any
first-hand knowledge?
A. That was always the case. There were
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always threats. There were always threats.
Q. How were these threats communicated,
through telephone calls, or how did they come
about?
A. I'm sure many of them were phone
calls. Some of them were written. But he --
he would say that he's not going to -- he's
not going to live in that fear. He just
wouldn't let that -- and I think part of what
that speech was about at Mason Temple was
preaching through the fear of death. He
preached it out of him. He just got it out
of him. He said, I'm just not fearing any
man. I'm not worried about anything.
And I'm not sure he knew that it was
as imminent as it was. But he -- he just
preached through it. And then -- and lived
with -- with that fear.
Q. Now tell us, Reverend Kyles, on the
day of the assassination what happened
there. Walk us through that if you can.
A. When I went to -- to get them at the
motel and told them it was time to go and
they said, no, no, no, we got another hour.
So in the room, Abernathy had washed one of
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those drip-dry shirts, and he couldn't button
it. So he took it off. And he said, Ralph,
you mean you're not going to wear that --
that shirt, and I washed it? He said, I
can't button it.
So he took it off. And he was
speaking very kindly about his father and
mother. Three preachers in the room really
talking. Ralph needed an Evangelist to
preach a revival in Atlanta. And Martin
said, why don't you get Kyles? And when I
was told -- I said, what date is it? And
they gave me the date. I said, well, I will
be in Columbus, Georgia, preaching for Fred
Lofton, who is now pastor here of
Metropolitan. He was in Columbus.
Martin said, wait a minute. Anybody
with good sense would rather spend a week
preaching in Atlanta than Columbus, Georgia.
So I said, does that mean I don't have good
sense? He said, I didn't say that. Hear
what I said. Anybody with good sense would
rather spend a week preaching in Atlanta.
And it was very light. And I'm so glad it
was. It was light conversation.
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He talked about what we were having
for dinner. And we had recently purchased a
new home. And he said, now, if we go there
and you bought a home and can't buy furniture
and -- like a friend in Atlanta. A preacher
bought a house, I won't call his name, but we
had to eat on a card table, and the kool-aid
was hot and the ham was cold. He said, if
that happens at your house, I'm going to
spread it on you. So he was in a very light
mood.
And we did that until about quarter
to six and we walked on the balcony. He
stepped on the balcony. And he was greeting
people he had not seen. And he saw Jesse and
he told Jesse -- Jesse Jackson -- you're not
dressed for dinner. He didn't have a suit on
or something. Jesse said, I didn't know a
shirt and tie was a prerequisite, I thought
an appetite was and I have that.
And he spoke to Chauncy Eskridge and
his -- his lawyer from Chicago, and we stood
together on the balcony. And someone said,
it's going to be cold tonight. Abernathy was
still in the room putting on shaving lotion.
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And Martin went back to the door. He didn't
go in the room. He said, Ralph, get my
coat. And he came back to the balcony and
was greeting people again.
Jesse said, this is Ben Branch who
is a musician from Chicago who grew up in
Memphis. And Jesse Jackson was having a
conversation with Martin and Ben Branch.
Martin and I stood together greeting. I
said, come on, guys, let's go. I got about
five steps and the shot rang out. I looked
back, and I saw him lying on the balcony.
One of his feet was hanging through
the railing. There was a tremendous hole in
his face. There was a bigger wound under his
shirt that we couldn't see, and there was
blood everywhere.
And I ran in the room, picked up the
phone to call an ambulance. The phone is
operator assisted. The operator had left the
switch board. She was out in the courtyard.
And when she saw that Dr. King had been shot,
she had a heart attack. And she died the
next day. She was the motel owner's wife.
And then I ran back out. The police
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were coming with their guns drawn. And I
hollered to them: Call an ambulance on your
police radio. Dr. King has been shot. And
they said: Where did the shot come from?
And the picture you see of people pointing is
in response to them saying "where did the
shot come from?"
Q. Where were you at this point? Were
you up on the balcony?
A. I was still up on the balcony running
between the room and the balcony. When the
police got there, they secured the balcony.
Some people had come up, but they wouldn't
let others come up. And then we finally got
someone on the switchboard. They did call
the ambulance. I took the spread from one of
the beds in the room and covered him from his
neck down. Someone put a towel to his face.
And there was just -- just -- blood was just
everywhere.
Q. Reverend Kyles, did you know a young
gentleman named Marrell McCullough at that
point?
A. I heard his name, but I didn't know
who he was until -- I guess when this trial
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started I knew who he was.
Q. That's the first time you ever heard
his name called?
A. No. I heard his name before, but I
really didn't know who he was.
Q. Well, was he up there that day when
Dr. King --
A. I'm told that he's on the
photograph. I don't know. I don't know him.
I didn't know him, so I don't know.
Q. Now, when Dr. King -- when the shot
was fired, are you still on the balcony or
were you going down the steps at that time?
A. No, I was still on the balcony.
Q. How many feet would you say you were
away from him roughly?
A. Five.
Q. Do you remember at that time which
direction you were facing?
A. The -- I was going down the right
side, so that would be north.
Q. All right. So you would have been
facing north looking toward the back, I
guess --
A. The back of the buildings on Main
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Street.
Q. All right. And when you heard the
shot, did it sound like a shot? Did it sound
like a shot to you from a gun?
A. It's -- yes, it sounded like a shot.
But I really kind of thought it was a car
back-firing until I saw people ducking.
Everybody on the ground took for cover. And
then I realized it was -- it was the shot.
Q. All right, sir. And did you look
back in the direction of the bush area of the
rooming house and all -- did you look back in
that direction?
A. Yes. I did, yes.
Q. Did you see any movement of anyone in
that area at all?
A. I did not.
Q. All right. And you had a clear view
where you could see. Wasn't anything
obstructing your view since you were up on
the balcony; is that right?
A. Yes, I would have had a clear view.
I'm sure I looked in that direction, but I
guess I was in such shock I can't -- I can't
say that.
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Q. Reverend Kyles, you've talked to, I
know, many, many people and read many things
and had many conferences about this. Can I
ask you this, sir. Is it your opinion or has
it been your opinion that James Earl Ray
acted alone in this case?
A. Never has. The first interview I
gave after that I said I was certain that
there was a conspiracy -- that others were
involved. I thought there was enough
physical evidence to point to James Earl
Ray. But all day that day of April the 4th,
I heard on the radio and all the news casts:
Martin Luther King, Jr., is back in town to
lead a march. He's at the Lorraine Motel in
Room 306.
And I finally mentioned that to Andy
Young. I said, Andy, they're putting
Martin's room number on the radio. And he
said, yes, we need to check it. But I don't
think he ever did because he was in court
down here trying to get the injunction lifted
against the march.
And I just knew that any news person
who came into the -- into the news room and
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took that off the teletype would read that
copy. But somebody had to put it in there.
And that -- that was just too many details to
give in a regular news cast. So all the
interviews that I've given over the -- over
the years, I've mentioned from day 1 that I
thought more people were involved than
Mr. Ray.
Q. But you have no first-hand knowledge
of anyone else.
A. I do not.
Q. Of course you didn't see anything
else that day. Could you tell us which
direction or which -- where did the shot seem
to come from to you when you heard it? Which
direction was it from the position you were
standing in?
A. As I said, I thought it was a car
back-firing. So I looked over the -- I
looked over the railing when I saw people
ducking. That's when I realized it was a
shot. I don't know at what point -- I
don't -- I really don't know if I'm one of
the people pointing. I don't think I am. I
mean, it's just -- I was in shock. I just
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really don't know.
Q. Let me ask you, Reverend Kyles --
now, you had talked to Dr. King about the
Poor People's March which was, what, planned
for later in that year?
A. Yes.
Q. And had you planned to be a part of
that campaign?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And had Dr. King had any
feedback from anyone in the Capitol about
this march that you're aware of?
A. They did not want it to happen. It
was -- it was so dramatic. It was something
that had not been done before. If we had
gone to make speeches and come back, that
would have been okay. But when you talk
about building tents -- a tent city, which we
eventually did, and living on the mall, that
was different. That had not -- nothing like
that had been done with regard to the Civil
Rights movement. And it was a very bold
step.
And it had come to us that Martin
was not to reach Washington with the Poor
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People's campaign. There was no long-range
plan for him even to come to Memphis because
the staff really didn't want him to come.
They didn't have time. But I think the order
was that he was not to reach Washington, so
it happened --
Q. Are you aware of the speech with
Senator Byrd a few days before that he made
where he was very critical of Dr. King and
indicated what would happen if the march took
place, how he would tear up the Capitol, and
how it would evolve around the world?
A. I know about that speech. I heard
that. And also there was a concern that with
as many soldiers being away at Vietnam that
if something broke out in Washington, it
would just -- it would exacerbate the whole
thing.
Q. Do you know of any security that was
around Dr. King when the assassination
occurred?
A. No, there was not. There was -- the
police were there so quickly because they
were stationed -- after the march broke up,
every fire station in the black community had
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a TAC squad comprised of local police,
sheriffs, national guard and the like. And
they had tanks and that whole thing. They
had all of it. And they were just -- right
across from the motel is a fire station, and
they were there at that fire station.
Plus, we also found out that we were
under surveillance. There were policemen in
the fire house spying on us. I don't have
the facts to this, but -- I mean, the
first-hand knowledge, but I was told that the
young fellow who was assigned to do the
surveillance that day had such guilt that he
became an alcoholic, that he couldn't live
with the fact that he had spied on Dr. King.
And I don't know -- subsequently I
think he died. I don't know if he took his
life or what.
Q. Did he have the same security on this
visit that he had on previous visits from the
police department?
A. No, because the police had been so --
they had been so vicious at that march that
the committee -- the Committee On the Move --
the umbrella group that all of us worked
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under called COME, Committee On the Move for
Equality, said we don't want the police
around. We just don't want them around, and
we'll deal with them later.
The security that they would have
had would have been at least two
African-American policemen that they assigned
to us at our discretion. And so it wasn't
like a large contingent or something pulled
off. It simply meant the guys who would be
with him as bodyguards. But that had
happened -- that had happened after that
terrible march break-up by the police.
Q. Let me ask you, Reverend Kyles, do
you know -- or had word reached Dr. King that
Washington didn't want him to come up to the
Capitol and have this --
A. Oh, I'm sure it had.
Q. Did you ever have a conversation with
him about it?
A. No, I didn't.
Q. After the shot was fired, the only
policemen that you saw were ones who came
running up with their guns drawn; is that
correct, sir?
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A. Yes, two of them -- two policemen.
Could have been three, but I think it was
two.
Q. Did you see any movement of police
cars in and around the area just down below
the balcony there?
A. No, I did not.
MR. GARRISON: That's all I
have. Thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Pepper?
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MS. AKINS:
Q. Good morning, Reverend Kyles.
A. Good morning.
Q. You testified that it sounded like a
car back-firing. So I'm assuming that -- and
tell me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming that the
sound came more from a downward location than
an upward location; is that correct?
A. I couldn't say. That could be true.
I mean, I just thought it was -- I didn't
think it was a shot.
Q. But cars are usually on the streets
somewhere; is that correct?
A. Yes.
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Q. That's true, okay. You mentioned
that you were aware that there was some
surveillance on Dr. King's activities; is
that correct?
A. That's true.
Q. And -- now, would it surprise you if
this surveillance consisted of video or audio
surveillances? Would that surprise you any?
A. Oh, no, it would not.
Q. Okay. Would it surprise you that
every move that was made by Dr. King was
somehow being recorded?
A. No. We knew that.
Q. You knew that?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. You testified that you knew
that there was a young fellow who had -- was
part of surveillance team. Was that the
first --
A. I was told this, yes. I don't know
him for sure. I don't know him.
Q. You don't know him. But you
testified that this person had so much guilt
that he later committed suicide.
A. No. I said he later became an
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alcoholic and he died. I don't know if he
committed suicide or not.
Q. Okay. I'm sorry. Now, would it
surprise you that that young fellow's name
was Richmond -- would it be Richmond? Were
you aware of his name?
A. No, I didn't know him. I mean, we
were under surveillance too. I mean, it
wasn't just the surveillance of Dr. King.
The local -- local leadership was under
constant surveillance by the local police.
As I said, they were just -- they were quite
vicious toward us.
Q. Now, the person that did that
surveillance, he was actually here in
court. He's not dead, okay?
A. Oh, okay.
Q. He was here. He came to court and he
testified. I want to give you a copy of his
report. It's Exhibit Number 22. If you
would turn to the fourth page, I believe.
Well, actually, third page, I'm sorry.
A. I'm sorry.
Q. Third page.
A. Front page?
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Q. Third page.
A. Third, okay.
Q. At the bottom, approximately the
sixth paragraph, it starts at -- let's go to
"at 2:05." Do you see that?
A. Mm-hum, I see it.
Q. "At 2:05 p.m. Reverend Samuel Kyles
arrived and went to Room 307, departed at
2:23 p.m. Do you -- who was in Room 307?
A. I think that room was already
occupied, I think. That's where -- I think
that's the room with the big bed where Martin
ordinarily would have stayed but I think was
occupied.
Q. What were you doing in Room 307?
A. I'm sorry.
Q. What were you doing in Room 307?
What was going on in Room 307?
A. I don't know that that's the room I
went to. It's been a good while ago. I had
a room there at the motel that we always kept
for people who -- who would come in -- VIP's
who would come in. I was one of the few
people who had an American Express card. And
I had secured a room. As it turned out, his
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brother did come unannounced.
Now, whether that room was 307, I'm
not sure. It might have been a -- I think
307 was occupied by someone else, and that
was the room that -- if you go to the motel
now at the museum, you will see in 307 a
large king-size bed where Dr. King would have
ordinarily stayed, but I think somebody was
in that room. So he and Dr. Abernathy both
stayed in 306 with two beds.
Q. Okay. Now, Dorothy Cotton -- Dorothy
Cotton, do you know who she was?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. Now, that was her room, okay?
A. I don't know. I mean, I don't know
who was in that room.
Q. I'm just telling you that that was
her room --
A. Oh.
Q. -- maybe to refresh your memory as to
what you were doing --
A. Okay.
Q. -- in Room 307 at that time.
A. I don't remember going -- I don't
know if -- I didn't go to that room. I don't
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know -- I don't recall going to that room.
Q. Okay. I understand. It was a long
time ago. That's fine. It says you arrived
at 2:05 and you left at 2:23. Do you
remember -- whatever room you went to whether
it -- do you remember what -- where did you
go at 2:23?
A. I don't recall at all really. I
really don't. I don't know if he got the
room numbers mixed up. I know there was some
conversation about my not having gone in 306
at all.
Q. And that's not what I'm talking about
now. I'm talking about earlier in the --
before the shooting, we're talking at 2
o'clock.
A. Quite frankly, I don't remember going
to that room.
Q. Okay. Can you turn to the next
page. Let's start from "at approximately
5:50." It's at the very top of that. Do you
see that?
A. Yes.
Q. Would you read that?
A. "At approximately 5:50, John B.
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Smith, Milton Black, Charles Cabbage and one
female colored and approximately six or seven
more of the Invaders opened the door of their
room, and I could see them gathering their
belongings. They then brought them
downstairs and placed them in the trunk of a
light blue Mustang, license BF3-750. And
they left the motel area going to meet --
going west on Butler to Main.
"Immediately after the Invaders
left, the Reverend Samuel Kyles came out of
Room 312 and went to the room where Martin
Luther King was living. He knocked on the
door and Martin came to the door. They said
a few words between each other, and the
Reverend Martin Luther King went back into
the room closing the door behind him, and the
Reverend Kyles remained on the porch."
Q. Now, this is the written statement
that was recorded on -- on that day saying
that you arrived -- you went to Dr. King's
room at 5 -- some time after 5:50, okay. Yet
you testified that you had been there one
hour earlier.
A. That's true.
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Q. Okay. So you're saying that this
report is not correct?
A. I am.
Q. Okay. You also have testified that
James -- at the James Earl Ray hearing; is
that not correct?
A. I have.
Q. And on that day you said that you had
been there for an hour.
A. Yes.
Q. Isn't it true that you've gotten much
notoriety out of wearing that title as being
one of the people -- one of the few people
who were with King the last hour of his death
(sic)?
A. No, I have not.
Q. Isn't it true that people have
wanted -- old women have wanted to just come
and shake your hand just because you were
there? Yes? No? Yes? No?
A. When I said to my audiences that it
was a wonderful privilege for me to have
spent the last hour of Martin's life on
earth, I did that because there is such
interest in his life. And I had to wonder
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for a very long time: Why was I there?
Q. But it was interest in his life; is
that not correct?
A. Why -- that's right, in his life.
Why was I there?
Q. You --
A. And I didn't quite finish.
THE COURT: You may finish.
Q. (BY MS. AKINS) Go ahead.
A. It took some time for the revelation
to come. I had some feelings I couldn't even
express. It took a good while. I said, if
he hadn't been going to my home, would he
have been killed? If he hadn't have been
coming to Memphis, would he have been
killed? And then God revealed to me why I
was there. I was there to be a witness. And
my witness is that his life was so wonderful
and so full. That he didn't die in some
foolish way. He didn't die overdosing or a
jealous lover's gun, but he died helping
garbage workers.
And so as I share that story with
people, they will come up and shake my hand.
They will say, may I shake your hand because
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you knew Dr. King. I've sought no notoriety
out of this. And I just -- I think I know
where that came from. I'm sorry.
Q. Okay. That's -- since you were so
adamant about finishing your statement, let's
go back to my question. What is the answer
to the question?
A. Have I received notoriety from --
Q. Well, actually --
A. -- from Dr. King's death?
Q. No, that's the one you answered. The
one you didn't answer was: Wasn't it true
that women -- old women have just wanted to
come and just shake your hand because of the
fact that you were present?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. That's all I asked. You were
one of the organizers or the planners of the
30th anniversary celebration of Dr. King; is
that not correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And that was a big event here
in Memphis?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And was that event
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city-funded? Did you get private donations?
How did that come about?
A. Private donations.
Q. I want to -- it's going to take him
some time to get that warmed up. When you
testified earlier, you testified about how
Dr. King -- I think you said that the night
before his speech dealt -- kind of dealt with
death -- was on the topic of death. Is that
correct?
A. I said he dealt with the whole
question of the fear of death.
Q. And is it your opinion that you think
he might have had some type of premonition or
that he --
A. Oh, yes, he did.
Q. That he knew that something -- didn't
know when, but just knew --
A. He always said he would never live to
be forty. Not that he didn't want to, he
just thought he never would.
Q. Okay. I'm going to show you a
video.
(Whereupon said video was played
for the Court and Jury.)
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Reverend Kyles: "And so we will
be gathering in Memphis April 3rd through
5th. And we planned a number of activities.
Some of the activities are geared especially
for the young who did not have a chance to --
to get the feel to know what the Civil Rights
Movement actually was about. Even as they
marched, now they could have stopped in a
hotel. But when you think about marching
from Memphis to Jackson or Jackson to
Memphis, there weren't hotels.
"You stayed in churches. You
stayed in people's homes. And -- and that's
how we got over. That's how we got through.
The struggle was a very -- was a spiritual
struggle. You couldn't pay people to do what
we had to do. You couldn't pay people to
stand before mad dogs and fire hoses and
billy clubs and cattle prods. It was
strictly a spiritual and moral movement.
"So we wanted that dimension to be
in the pilgrimage to Memphis. We will
revisit the Mountain Top Speech site. That's
the Mason's Temple where Dr. King made his
last address. Which he almost didn't make
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because the night that we were having that
rally, there were tornado warnings, that he
was behind on the Poor People's campaign.
"And he said, you guys go on over
and have the rally. I'm going to stay at the
motel and work on the Poor People's
campaign. When we got there and
Dr. Abernathy walked in and Jesse Jackson
walked in and I walked in and others, people
started clapping because they thought Martin
was behind us. And so Ralph's preacher sense
said to him, this is not our crowd. And he
went to the phone and called Dr. King.
"And any of the marches that --
that -- that we had in those days, you had
the opportunity to bring the children and
bring the family and march with us. And when
I finished sharing with them the last hour of
Dr. King's life ... but that gave me the
wonderful privilege of spending the last hour
on earth. Three preachers in a room --
Abernathy, King and Kyles. And we spent that
last hour together in Room 306 at the
Lorraine Motel.
"The press is always curious and
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writers -- what went on? What did you talk
about? I say, we just talked preacher talk.
What preachers talk about when they get
together, revivals and all the like. About a
quarter of six we walked on the balcony, and
he was talking to people in the courtyard.
He stood here, and I stood there. Only as I
moved away so he could have a clear shot, the
shot rang out.
"I turned around and it had knocked
him back on the balcony. This tremendous
hole was in his face, and all of this was
torn out under his shirt. We couldn't see
that. The bullet mushroomed and tore all of
his insides out. He was bleeding profusely.
I ran in the room, picked up the phone and
tried to get the operator. The phone was
operator-assisted.
"I said, answer the phone, answer
the phone. And no one answered the phone
because the operator left the phone --
switchboard and came out in the courtyard.
When she saw what happened, she had a heart
attack on the spot. So there was no one on
the phone. I came back out and hollered to
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the police: Call an ambulance on your police
radio. They were coming with their guns
drawn saying, where did the shot come from?
The picture you see pointing is in answer to
the police saying, "Where did the shot come
from?" And the point is in the direction of
the rooming house.
"And, of course, he finally came --
the ambulance finally came. I kept shaking
my head trying to wake up because I thought I
was having a nightmare. But I was -- I was
not having a nightmare. It was real. I took
the spread from bed and covered him from his
neck down. Somebody put a towel to his
face. And I had to wonder, Reverend
Campbell, a long time, of all the places I
could have been, all the places that Martin
could have been, why was I there, why was it
at that moment?
"And I had to find out, through
living, God revealed to me that I was there
to be a witness -- a witness that Martin
Luther King, Jr., didn't die in some foolish
way. He didn't O.D. He wasn't robbing
somebody, wasn't running from the scene of a
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crime. But he came to Memphis to help
garbage workers -- the least of these. And
so we commemorate the life and times.
"I started telling you about the
Louisville trip. 80-year old lady came up on
the stage. I said, no, ma'am, I'll come down
there. She says, no, I want to come up. 30
years later she came up. And she was shaking
with her program in her hand. And she said,
I have never in my life -- I'm 87 years old.
I have never asked the mayor for an
autograph. But because you had your hand in
Dr. King's hand, I want your autograph. 30
years later.
"And so we commemorate this great
American. Join us in Memphis, April 3rd
through 5th. The first SCLC meeting after
Dr. King's death was in Room 306. Reverend
Jim Orange was right there in that meeting.
Thank you again, Mr. Mayor, we appreciate
what you're doing" --
The Mayor: "Thank you, sir."
Rev. Kyles: -- "in support of all
these people who are here."
(End of videotape portion.)
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Q. (BY MS. AKINS) Now, that was you at
the 30th anniversary of -- well, discussing
the 30th anniversary.
A. That's correct.
Q. And in that you again stated that you
were -- had been with King the last hour of
his death (sic); is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, can you tell us any reason why
Lieutenant Richmond would want to lie about
the whereabouts -- what you was doing at that
time?
A. I just think he made a mistake. I
think the whole idea of him spying was
just -- he just -- it was too much for him.
If that's the young man you're talking
about. I don't know him. I never met him.
But I was -- I was -- the information just
came to me. I just think he was in error. I
think he was newly on the force too at that
time.
Q. So you think he was in error when he
said that you arrived at 2:05, left at 2:30,
then subsequently arrived and went to Room
312, then left Room 312 at 10 after 5 -- all
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of the activities involving you he made a
mistake on?
A. He could have made it on others too,
I don't know. I'm not -- I'm really not
following what we're trying to do here. I
mean, I don't know. I came as a witness for
this man because I was subpoenaed. Now it
sounds like I'm on trial or something. I
don't understand this.
Q. Reverend Kyles, I represent the
plaintiff, and this is cross-examination
time. That's what I'm doing, okay. Just
bear with me. I only have just really one
more question to ask you. And --
concerning -- well, actually, I guess two
more. You've heard the tape and your account
of the events. What is your feeling about
that?
A. I'm sorry.
Q. You've heard the tape and your
recount -- or your account of the events that
occurred.
A. The amazing thing to me again is that
people are so interested in his life 30 years
after his death. If that gives me notoriety
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because I share that -- they want to hear
it. I mean, I don't -- I don't know what --
I don't know what to say.
Q. No. I mean, what is your opinion
concerning the tape? That was you.
A. Yes, I was in Jackson, Mississippi.
The mayor gave me a proclamation to bring
back to Memphis because he couldn't come to
the -- to the -- to the affair. It was the
30th celebration -- 30-year celebration of
the assassination of Dr. King.
And I shared that information at a
press conference on the steps of the
mayor's -- of City Hall in Jackson,
Mississippi.
Q. And that was the recording of -- that
occurred in Jackson?
A. Yes.
MS. AKINS: Okay. Your Honor, I
would like to move this as -- into
evidence, the video tape.
THE COURT: Any objection?
MS. AKINS: Now, one more
question.
MR. GARRISON: The report of
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Officer Richmond?
THE COURT: No, the tape.
MR. GARRISON: I don't have any
objection.
THE COURT: All right.
(Whereupon said videotape was
marked as Exhibit Number 34.)
Q. (BY MS. AKINS) When you gave an
account of what occurred, you mentioned
"he." And I want to know who "he" was. Can
you replay that section, please.
(Whereupon a portion of the
videotape was replayed for the Court and
Jury.)
Rev. Kyles: "What preachers
talk about when they get together, revivals
and all the like. About a quarter of 6 we
walked on the balcony, and he was talking to
people in the courtyard. He stood here and I
stood there. Only as I moved away so he
could have a clear shot, the shot rang out."
(End of videotape portion.)
Q. (BY MS. AKINS) Who was "he"? You
said, "only as I moved away, so he could have
a clear shot." And I want to know who "he"
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was. Who was the person that you moved away
to give him a clear shot?
A. In the conversation I was talking
about James Earl Ray.
Q. Okay. One second. Just to make sure
there's no confusion, you moved away so James
Earl Ray could get a clear shot?
A. Only as I moved away. I don't think
he wanted to risk shooting the wrong person,
whoever shot him.
Q. Okay.
A. And since we both were standing
there, we're both African-American men, he
wanted to be sure that he hit the right --
the problem we had, we thought if he had kept
shooting he could wipe out the whole staff
because they were all exposed -- all of us
were exposed.
Q. So you're moving away so that he
could --
A. My moving away had to do with going
to get in the car to go to my house for
dinner. That's what my moving away had to do
with.
MS. AKINS: Okay. I have no
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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further questions.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Reverend Kyles, let me ask you this,
sir. In referring to this statement that was
just seen, you said, "so he could get a
shot." You're referring to James Earl Ray,
that was your --
A. Yes.
Q. -- thinking, wasn't it?
A. That's who I was referring to, yes.
MR. GARRISON: That's all.
Thank you, sir.
THE COURT: Anything further?
All right. Reverend Kyles, you may stand
down, and you can remain in the courtroom or
you're free to leave.
THE WITNESS: Thank you.
(Witness excused.)
THE COURT: Let's take a short
break.
(Brief break taken.)
THE COURT: Mr. Garrison, are
you ready?
MR. GARRISON: Yes, sir.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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THE COURT: Bring the jury.
THE SHERIFF: Yes, sir.
(Jury in 11:48 a.m.)
THE COURT: Mr. Campbell.
MR. CAMPBELL: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Did you give him
those other pictures?
THE SHERIFF: I'm going to do
it.
THE COURT: All right. We're
ready to proceed.
MR. GARRISON: Call Mr. Warren
Young.
FRANK WARREN YOUNG,
Having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Tell us your full name, please, sir.
A. It's Frank Warren Young.
Q. And, Mr. Young, where are you
employed, sir?
A. Shelby County Criminal Clerks's
Office.
Q. Mr. William Key, who was here
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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1600
earlier, is a criminal court clerk?
A. Yes, sir, he is.
Q. And you work in that office?
A. I do, yes, sir.
Q. Pursuant to a subpoena did you bring
certain records to the court today?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
Q. And would you explain to the Court
and the Jury what those records consist of.
A. It's a transcript of Mr. Ray's guilty
plea that was entered in Judge Battle's court
on March the 10th, 1969.
Q. All right, sir. And I provided with
you a copy. And would you tell His Honor and
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury if the copy
I provided you -- is it a replica, a direct
copy, of the one that what you have in the
Court.
A. I've looked at it and, yes, sir, it
is.
MR. GARRISON: I'd like to have
that marked as an exhibit to his testimony at
this time.
THE COURT: Any objection?
MR. PEPPER: No objection.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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(Whereupon said document was
marked as Trial Exhibit Number 35.)
Q. (BY MR. GARRISON) Mr. Young -- just
hand it back to him. Do you have a copy --
it says "Petition For Waiver Of Trial And
Request For Acceptance Of Plea Of Guilty."
Do you have that copy, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that's signed by you. It has the
signature of the defendant, James Earl Ray.
All right, sir. Now, let me ask you if you
will turn over then to the part that says
"Voir Dire Of Defendant On Waiver And Order."
Do you see that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Would you read what you see there and
down there through the next page and the end
of the first three pages?
A. I will. Yes, sir. This is Judge
Battle: "James Earl Ray, stand. Have your
lawyers explained all your rights to you and
do you understand that?"
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "Do you know that you
have a right to a trial by jury on the charge
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of Murder in the First Degree against you,
the punishment for Murder in the First Degree
ranging from death by electrocution to any
time over 20 years? The burden of proof is
on the State of Tennessee to prove you guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral
certainty, and the decision of the Jury must
be unanimous both as to guilt and
punishment.
"In the event of a jury's verdict
against you, you would have the right to file
a Motion for a New Trial addressed to the
trial judge. In the event of an adverse
ruling against you on your Motion for a New
Trial, you would have the right to successive
appeals to the Tennessee Court of Criminal
Appeals and the Supreme Court of Tennessee
and to file a petition for review by the
Supreme Court of the United States. Do you
understand that you have all these rights?"
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "You are entering a
plea of Guilty to Murder in the First Degree
as charged in the Indictment and are
compromising and settling your case on agreed
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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punishment of ninety-nine years in the State
Penitentiary. Is this what you want to do?"
Defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "Do you understand
that you are waiving, which means `giving
up,' a formal trial by your Plea of Guilty
although the laws of this State require the
prosecution to present certain evidence to a
jury in all cases of Pleas of Guilty to
Murder in the First Degree?
"By your plea of guilty, you're
also waiving your rights to (1) Motion for a
New Trial; (2) Successive Appeals to the
Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals and the
Supreme Court of Tennessee; (3) Petition for
Review by the Supreme Court of the United
States.
"By your plea of guilty, you are
also abandoning and waiving your objections
and exceptions to all the Motions and
Petitions in which the Court has heretofore
ruled against you in whole or in part, among
them being:
"1. Motion to withdraw a plea and
quash indictment.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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2. Motion to inspect evidence
3. Motion to remove lights and
cameras from jail
4. Motion for private consultation
with attorney
5. Petition to authorize defendant
to take depositions
6. Motion to permit conference with
Huie
7. Motion to permit photographs
8. Motion to designate court
reporters
9. Motion to stipulate testimony.
10. Suggestion of proper name."
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "Has anything besides
this sentence of ninety-nine years in the
penitentiary been promised to you to get you
to plead guilty? Has anything else been
promised to you by anyone?"
The defendant answered: "No."
Judge Battle: "Has any pressure of
any kind by anyone in any way been used on
you to get you to plead guilty?"
Defendant answered: "No."
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Judge Battle: "Are you pleading
guilty to Murder in the First Degree in this
case because you killed Dr. Martin Luther
King under such circumstances that would make
you legally guilty of Murder in the First
Degree under the law as explained to you by
your lawyers?"
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "Is this the Plea of
Guilty to Murder in the First Degree with
agreed punishment of ninety-nine years in the
State Penitentiary, freely, voluntarily and
understandingly made and entered by you?"
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle: "Is this plea of
guilty on your part the free act of your free
will, made with your full knowledge and
understanding of its meaning and
consequences?"
The defendant answered: "Yes."
Judge Battle said: "You may be
seated."
Q. (BY MR. GARRISON) Then would you turn
over to Page 1 of the transcript and down
where it says "this is a compromise and
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settlement," would you start reading there.
A. Where I had previously read?
Q. On Page 1 of the transcript.
A. Oh, yes, sir. "James Earl Ray,
Guilty Plea," it's entitled, Monday, March
10, 1969.
The Court: "The calendar has been
transferred to Division 1. All right. I
believe the only matter we have pending
before us is the matter of James Earl Ray."
Mr. Foreman: "Would Your Honor give
me just a minute?"
The Court: "Yes, sir."
Mr. Foreman: "May it please the
Court, in this cause we have prepared the
defendant, and I have" --
Q. Signed.
A. -- "signed and Mr. Hugh Stanton, Sr.
and Jr. will now sign a Petition for Waiver
of Trial and Request for Acceptance of Plea
of Guilty. We have an order. I believe the
Clerk has this."
The Court: "This is a compromise
and settlement on a plea of guilty to murder
in the first degree and an agreed settlement
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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of 99 years in the penitentiary; is that
true?"
Mr. Foreman: "That's the agreement,
Your Honor."
The Court: "Is that the agreement?
All right. I'll have to voir dire Mr. Ray.
James Earl Ray, stand. Have you" --
Q. That's "a lawyer."
A. "Have you a lawyer to explain all
your rights to you and do you understand
them?"
Answer: "Yes, sir."
The Court: "Do you know that you
have a right to a trial by jury on a charge
of Murder in the First Degree against you,
the punishment for Murder in the First Degree
ranging from death by electrocution to any
time over 20 years? The burden of proof is
on the State of Tennessee to prove you guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral
certainty. And the decision of the jury must
be unanimous, both as to guilt and
punishment. In the event of a jury verdict
against you, you would have the right to file
a Motion for a New Trial addressed to the
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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Trial Judge.
"In the event of an adverse ruling
against you on your Motion for a New Trial,
you would have the right to successive
appeals to the Tennessee Court of Criminal
Appeals and the Supreme Court of Tennessee
and to file a Petition for Review by the
Supreme Court of the United States. Do you
understand that you have all these rights?"
Answer: "Yes, sir."
The Court: "You're entering a Plea
of Guilty to Murder in the First Degree as
charged in the indictment and are
compromising and settling your case on an
agreed punishment of 99 years in the State
Penitentiary. Is this what you want to do?"
Answer: "Yes, I do."
The Court: "Is this what you want
to do?"
Answer: "Yes, sir."
The Court: "Do you understand you
are waiving, which means giving up, a formal
trial by your Plea of Guilty although the
laws of this State require the prosecution to
present certain evidence to a jury in all
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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cases on pleas of guilty to Murder in the
First Degree? By your plea of guilty, you
are also waiving your right to: (1) Your
Motion for a New Trial; (2) Successive
appeals to the Supreme Court, to the
Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and the
Supreme Court of Tennessee; and (3) Petition
to Review by the Supreme Court of the United
States. By your plea of guilty, you are also
abandoning and waiving your objections and
exceptions to all the motions and petitions
in which the Court has heretofore ruled
against you in whole or in part.
"Among them being: (1) Motion to
Withdraw Plea and Quash Indictment; (2)
Motion to Inspect the Evidence; (3) Motion to
Remove Lights and Cameras from the Jail; (4)
Motion for Private Consultation with
Attorney; (5) Petition to Authorize Defendant
to take Depositions; (6) Motion to Permit
Conference with Huie; (7) Motion to Permit
Photographs; (8) Motion to Designate Court
Reporter; (9) Motion to Stipulate Testimony;
(10) Suggestion of Proper Name.
"You are waiving or giving up all
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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these rights. Has anything besides this
sentence of 99 years in the State
penitentiary been promised to you to get you
to plead guilty? Has anything else been
promised to you by anyone?"
Answer: "No, it has not."
The Court: "Has any pressure of any
kind by anyone in any way been used on you to
get you to plead guilty?"
Answer: "Now, what did you say?"
The Court: "Are you pleading guilty
to Murder in the First Degree in this case
because you killed Dr. Martin Luther King
under such circumstances that it would make
you legally guilty of Murder in the First
Degree under the law as explained to you by
your lawyers?"
Answer: "Yes. Legally, yes."
The Court: "Is this Plea of Guilty
to Murder in the First Degree with an agreed
punishment of 99 years in the State
Penitentiary freely, voluntarily and
understandingly made and entered by you?"
Answer: "Yes, sir."
The Court: "Is this plea of guilty
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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on your part the free act of your free will
made with your full knowledge and
understanding of its meaning and
consequences?"
Answer: "Yes, sir."
The Court: "You may be seated. All
right. Are you ready for a jury?"
Q. (BY MR. GARRISON) Would you turn now
to Page 9 and read beginning with the
first -- second -- "I just want to make one
more statement."
A. Yes, sir. "I just want to make one
more statement to you gentlemen" --
Q. Let me ask you first of all, who is
it doing -- doing the --
A. This is General Philip Canale, Jr.
Q. All right.
A. Who was the District Attorney General
at the time. "I just want to make one more
statement to you gentlemen before we proceed
in this matter. There have -- actually, in
any case, there have been rumors going all
around, perhaps some of you have heard them,
that Mr. James Earl Ray was a dupe in this
thing or a fall guy or a member of a
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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conspiracy to kill Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
"I want to state to you as your
Attorney General that we have no proof other
than that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
killed by James Earl Ray and James Earl Ray
alone, not in concert with anyone else.
"Our office has examined over 5,000
printed pages of investigation work done by
local police, by national police
organizations and by international law
enforcement agencies. We have examined over
300 physical bits of evidence, physical
exhibits. Three men in my office, Mr. Duire,
Mr. Beasley and Mr. John Carlisle, the Chief
Investigator of the Attorney General's
Office -- you can't see him over here -- have
traveled thousands of miles all over this
country and the many cities and foreign
countries on this investigation, our own
independent investigation.
"And I just state to you frankly
that we have no evidence that there was any
conspiracy involved in this. I will state
this to you further. If at any time there is
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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evidence presented -- competent evidence
presented which we can investigate and bear
out that there was a conspiracy involving
this, I assure you as your Attorney General
that we will take prompt and vigorous action
in searching it out and in asking that an
Indictment be returned if there are other
people or if it ever should develop that
other people were involved.
"And you have my assurance on
that. Not only me but the local law
enforcement officers and your national law
enforcement officers. I just wanted to give
you that thought. Thank you very much."
Q. Thank you. If you will just leave
the exhibit here.
A. Yes, sir.
MR. GARRISON: Thank you.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Young.
A. How are you, sir.
Q. Mr. Young, if you will just turn
again to the first page of the "Voir Dire of
Defendant and Waiver and Order."
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where the judge orders Mr. Ray to
stand.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you see -- and the judge then
begins to address Mr. Ray.
A. Right. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you see any instance there where
the judge has put Mr. Ray under oath?
A. No, sir, I do not.
Q. Would you turn, Mr. Young, please, to
Page 16?
A. All right, sir.
Q. At this point in the proceedings, the
defendant, Mr. Ray, has -- has interrupted
the proceedings. And would you read what he
has said starting --
A. Is that the lower portion of the
page?
Q. Yes, the last full paragraph starting
at "James Earl Ray."
A. Yes. It states: "Your Honor, I
would like to say something. I don't want to
change anything that I have said, but I just
want to enter one other thing. The only
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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thing that I have to say is that I can't
agree with Mr. Clark."
Q. Please continue.
A. Mr. Foreman: "Ramsey Clark?"
And the Court said: "Mr. who?"
Would you like for me to continue?
James Earl Ray stated: "Mr. J.
Edgar Hoover, I agree with all these
stipulations, and I'm not trying to change
anything."
The Court: "You don't agree with
whose theories?"
James Earl Ray: "Mr. Canale's,
Mr. Clark's and Mr. J. Edgar Hoover's about
the conspiracy. I don't want to add
something on that I haven't agreed to in the
past."
Q. That's fine to that point. Now,
would you please turn to Page 48.
A. All right, sir.
Q. This Court and Jury have heard
testimony about a white Mustang with Arkansas
plates parked in this -- in the same position
as this -- this statement here. I'd like you
to read, please, from "Gentlemen, coming back
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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to the overall mock-up, the State's proof" --
do you see that? It's the fifth line down --
the end of the fifth line.
A. Yes, sir. "Gentlemen, coming back to
the overall mock-up, the State's proof would
show that between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m.
Mrs. Elizabeth Copeland, who worked across
the street from this area designated as
Canipe Amusement Company, observed a small
white automobile pull up and park in this
general area, as designated by the smaller
car here on the mock-up, to the north of this
light pole and to the south here of Canipe
Amusement Company.
"Mrs. Copeland told a Mrs. Peggy
Hurley: `Peggy, your husband is here for
you.' Mrs. Hurley came to the window and
looked out. She said: `No, that's not my
husband. My car is a Falcon, a white Falcon,
and this is a white Mustang."
Q. Continue.
A. "She did note a man sitting in the
car. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Hurley's
husband arrived. She got in the car and
left."
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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Q. That's fine. Thank you. Would you
please turn over to the next page, Page 49.
This Court and Jury have heard testimony
about the condition of Mr. Stephens at the
time -- a rooming house resident. Would you,
on the fourth line from the bottom, starting
"at approximately 6 p.m.," would you read
from there, please.
A. "At approximately 6 p.m.,
Mr. Stephens heard a shot coming apparently
through this wall in the bathroom. He then
got up and went through this room, out into
the corridor in time to see the left profile
of the defendant as he turned down this
passageway which leads to an opening with a
stairway going down to Main Street."
Q. Now, that's one aspect of proof that
was put the forth. The second aspect of
proof continues right after that. This Court
and Jury have heard evidence with respect to
the dropping of the bundle in front of
Canipe's. That's the second area of proof
that is being referred to. Would you read
from there, please?
A. "Now, gentlemen, you can see here
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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this mock-up. This offset area here is in
front of Canipe Amusement Company. It is
reflected here on this mock-up at this
point. Mr. Guy Warren Canipe along with two
customers, Bernell Finley and Julius Graham,
were in Canpie's Amusement Company when they
heard a thud in the area immediately here and
up in this little offset and, looking out,
saw the back of a white man going away from
that area in a general southern direction on
down Main Street observing momentarily
thereafter a white Mustang pull from the curb
heading north on Main Street, one occupant.
"This packet was subsequently
guarded and found to be the rifle, the box,
the suitcase wrapped in a green spread and so
forth that has heretofore been introduced to
you gentlemen through some of the witnesses."
Q. That's -- that's fine. Would you
please turn next to Page 53. This Court and
Jury has heard evidence with respect to the
window sill of the bathroom and the dent in
the window sill. The State's -- would you
comment on the State's proof, please, reading
exactly what was said from "the sill of this
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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window."
A. "The sill of this window in the
bathroom was observed by Inspector Zachary to
have what appeared to be a fresh indentation
in it. This sill was ordered removed, was
cut away, and was subsequently sent to the
FBI for comparison. And the proof will show
through expert testimony that the markings on
this sill were consistent with the machine
markings as reflected on the barrel of the 30
aught 6 rifle which has heretofore been
introduced to you."
Q. Would you one more time, please, read
from the line on Page 53 starting with "the
markings on this sill."
A. "The markings on this sill were
consistent with the machine markings as
reflected on the barrel of the 30 aught 6
rifle which has heretofore been introduced to
you."
Q. That's fine. Thank you. Would you
turn to Page 56, please.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. The Court and Jury have heard
evidence with respect to the 30 aught 6 rifle
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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in evidence and the fact that the scope was
not sighted in. If you would back up to Page
55, last full sentence, "he changed the
scope" -- State's proof there.
A. "He changed the scope from the
.243 to the .30 aught 6. And at 3 o'clock
that afternoon, he delivered the 30 aught 6,
which is the same rifle that has been
identified here in the courtroom to the
defendant along -- he didn't have a box with
a scope on it."
MR. PEPPER: That's -- that's
fine. Mr. Young, thank you very much for
laboring through this with us. No further
questions.
MR. GARRISON: We have no
further questions.
THE COURT: Go ahead, call your
next witness.
MR. GARRISON: Eli Arkin.
ELI H. ARKIN, Jr.,
Having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
THE COURT: You may proceed.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Mr. Arkin, tell us your full name
please, sir.
A. Eli H. Arkin, Jr.
Q. And you live here in Memphis,
Tennessee?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. Where do you presently work? Where
are you employed presently?
A. The Cottonwood Company.
THE COURT: Is that A R K I N?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
Q. (BY MR. GARRISON) Now, let me ask
you, you're formerly retired from the Memphis
Police Department; am I correct, sir?
A. I left the police department in 1976.
Q. How long were you with them?
A. 20 years.
Q. All right. And going back to the
year 1967 and 1968 specifically, what
division of the police department were you
working in then?
A. I was in the inspectional bureau.
Q. And so His Honor and Ladies and
Gentlemen of the Jury will understand, what
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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do you do in the inspectional bureau?
A. The inspectional bureau was broken
into three parts: inspections, internal
affairs and intelligence.
Q. All right. And was any of these --
specifically these that you worked in,
consisted of what?
A. After I was in the bureau for a
while, I was in intelligence.
Q. Were you the head of the intelligence
division at the time --
A. No.
Q. -- in early '68?
A. No.
Q. Who was the -- who was the chief over
the -- who was over the intelligence
division?
A. Inspector Tynes.
Q. What, Mr. Arkin, was your -- were you
a lieutenant, captain? What was your
ranking?
A. I was a lieutenant.
Q. All right. Now, in early '68, you're
in the Sanitation Strike. Were you asked to
take part in any type of investigation into
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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the Sanitation Strike?
A. We were well involved in observing
what was going on and letting the Chief of
Police know when they were going to have a
march or things of that nature.
Q. All right, sir. Who was the chief of
police at that time?
A. Let's see. Chief McDonald had just
left, and Chief Henry Lux.
Q. And who was the police director at
that time?
A. Director Frank Holloman.
Q. Let me, Mr. Arkin, ask you this.
Where was your office located at that time,
in early '68 -- March, April?
A. It was on the second floor of the
police department near the rotunda.
Q. The old police station?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right. Was there a time after
the first march by Dr. King in '68 -- or
maybe after the march or before -- when some
Army personnel became stationed in your
office?
A. Yes, sir.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
1624
Q. Okay. Did you have any -- did you
have any warning? Did you know that they
would be coming into your office?
A. I'm sorry, sir. I didn't hear you.
Q. Did you have any warning or notice
that they would be coming into your office?
A. Not until they were there.
Q. And who did they say they were? What
were they supposed to do?
A. They said -- they identified
themselves as Army intelligence.
Q. All right. And do you know who sent
them in here?
A. No, sir, I have no idea.
Q. But they were U.S. Army intelligence?
A. According to what Inspector Tynes
told us, yes, sir.
Q. And how many people were there in
your office?
A. Possibly --
Q. In other words, what's the largest
number at one time?
A. Possibly three or four at any one
time.
Q. And what were they doing while they
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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were there in your office?
A. Basically observing and taking notes.
Q. How long were they -- were they there
stationed in your office?
A. Sir, I'm sorry, I can't remember.
Q. A week or two, month or two, what
would you --
A. No. At some point I asked Inspector
Tynes to please have them relocated and get
out of our offices.
Q. Had they -- had they just moved in
and pretty much taken over your office?
A. No, sir, they didn't take it over.
They were just there standing around and
listening to what you had to say, whether you
were on the telephone or in any
conversations, and taking notes at the same
time.
Q. I was going to ask you that. Were
they taking notes or recording, making any
photographs or pictures or photos of
anything?
A. Not to my knowledge. Taking notes --
writing notes.
Q. Were they there every day pretty
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much?
A. For a while, yes.
Q. Did -- were they in uniform?
A. No, sir.
Q. They were not in uniform?
A. No, sir.
Q. Well, when they came in, did you have
to arrange some desk space for them, or how
did that come about?
A. No, sir.
Q. How were they -- were they just
standing around all day or did they have
space they worked in?
A. To my knowledge, they didn't have any
desks in there at all. They just roamed back
and forth. We had a fairly large office.
Q. Did you ever have any conversation
with any of those people?
A. Oh, yes, sir.
Q. But they identified themselves as
U.S. Army personnel on the telephone; am I
correct, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That's what they said?
A. Yes, sir.
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Q. And they never said who sent them in
here or what they were doing?
A. They didn't tell me, no.
Q. All right. Mr. Arkin, did there come
a time on April the 4th of 1968 when you used
your vehicle or used a police vehicle to go
down to South Main Street?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. At what time did you go down?
A. Sir, I'm sorry, I don't remember.
Q. Well, are we looking like at mid
afternoon, early morning, what time?
A. I would suggest that probably in the
afternoon.
Q. All right. And where did you go on
South Main Street?
A. To the fire house at Butler and Main.
Q. Okay. And do you know who was in
charge of the fire station there at that
time?
A. No, sir, I don't.
Q. Okay. What was your purpose in going
down there?
A. I was going down there to talk to one
of our patrolman who was stationed there at
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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that time.
Q. And what was that patrolman's name?
A. Reddoch.
Q. All right. How long had he been down
there?
A. Sir, again, I'm -- several weeks, I
assume.
Q. And what was the reason you were
dispatched then to talk to him, Mr. Arkin?
A. I was sent down there to retrieve him
and bring him back to the office.
Q. Okay. And under whose orders or
direction did you go down and get him?
A. Director Holloman.
Q. Director Holloman told you to go get
him?
A. Yes. Well, Director Holloman and
Inspector Lux. And I don't remember which
one actually told me to.
Q. Okay. And did they tell you the
reason why they wanted you to go get this
particular officer?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was the reason given to you?
A. They said that they had information
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that possibly someone who was from the east
was possibly coming down here to assassinate
a police officer -- a colored police
officer. And the assumption was made, I
guess by them, that it possibly might be
Reddoch.
Q. Okay. So we'll understand, they did
not tell you that this threat was made
against Officer Reddoch, they just said a
police officer; is that right, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And Officer Reddoch was African-
American; am I correct, sir?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. An officer with the police
department?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And so Director Hollomon's direction
to you was to go to the South Main fire
station to get Officer Reddoch off the job;
am I -- is that correct?
A. Yes, sir. I went to the fire house,
picked up Reddoch, and brought him back to
the police department.
Q. Did anyone go with you?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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A. No, sir.
Q. Okay. Now -- and you say it was
around the middle of the afternoon, what, 3
or 4 o'clock, in that range? Would that be a
fair or reasonable time?
A. Sir, I don't remember.
Q. But it would have been the afternoon
you think?
A. Yes, sir, I believe so.
Q. All right. When you arrived at the
fire station, did you see Officer Reddoch?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Okay. And what communication did --
what was said between the two of you?
A. I just basically, I'm sure -- I don't
really remember word for word.
Q. Obviously it's been a long time. But
what do you remember being said between the
two of you?
A. That he was supposed to go back to
the police department with me.
Q. Okay. Did he have any comment about
that?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. All right. And then did you take him
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back to the police department?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
Q. And when you returned to the Police
Department with him, who was there?
A. I'm sorry, who was --
Q. When you returned to the Police
Department with Officer Reddoch, who was
there when you took him back?
A. I brought him to our office.
Q. All right. And who was in your
office when you arrived back?
A. I don't remember, sir.
Q. Was Director Holloman there?
A. I don't remember.
Q. Okay. Were any FBI personnel that
you know of?
A. No, I don't think so.
Q. Any CIA representatives in the office
at the time?
A. I never saw a CIA agent.
Q. Were there any Army personnel still
there?
A. No, sir.
Q. Intelligence. When you took him back
to the office then, what happened after that?
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A. At some point I was called down to
Director Holloman's office, I believe, and
told to take Officer Reddoch home.
Q. Who told you that?
A. Sir, I'm sorry, I can't remember
exactly.
Q. I understand. It's been 30 years.
Okay. And someone told you to take him
home. How long was that after you arrived
that you were told to take him home?
A. I don't remember exactly. I can tell
you this, that when we pulled up in front of
his house, he went in the house to talk to
his wife. And during that period of time is
when I heard another officer who was
stationed at the fire house or the
dispatcher, one, I'm not sure which, said
that Dr. King had been shot. So it must have
been right around 6 o'clock or a little
after.
Q. Okay. All right. On the way home
from the police station, Mr. Arkin, did you
have any conversation with Officer Reddoch
about why you were taking him home instead of
returning him to duty?
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A. Yes, sir, I'm sure I did.
Q. Okay. And do you remember anything
he said about -- any statement he made about
any threat or anything of that nature?
A. No, sir, I can't remember much about
the conversation at all. His main concern
was that -- it was either his mother or his
wife's mother -- he didn't think that they
would try and move away from the house and go
into an apartment somewhere incognito.
Q. Did you stay there with him then that
afternoon or that night or --
A. No, sir, I did not. They sent, if
I'm not mistaken, a marked squad car.
Q. Okay. And how long did they stay?
Do you have any idea?
A. I have no idea, no.
Q. About the time you arrived is when
you heard on the radio from the dispatcher
Dr. King had been shot?
A. Shortly after we arrived, yes, sir.
Q. Now, Mr. Arkin, are you aware of the
fact that Director Holloman says he didn't --
he never told you to go pick Officer Reddoch
up or didn't have any knowledge that Officer
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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Reddoch was supposed to be picked up? Are
you aware of that?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you conduct any type of
investigation or were any part of an
investigative team that investigated the
assassination of Dr. King? Did you do
anything toward the investigation of the
assassination?
A. No, sir.
Q. You said the threat was -- had came
in from the east, is that what they told
you? Came in the from the east?
A. Came in from Washington D.C. from
what I understand.
Q. All right. And when you arrived at
the fire station, were there any other
African-American firemen or police officers
at that time there?
A. There was a police officer there,
yes.
Q. Do you know who that was?
A. I believe it was -- his name was
Richmond.
Q. Okay. Did he remain at the fire
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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station or did he leave also?
A. He stayed there.
Q. Okay. And did you see any
African-American firemen there when you
arrived?
A. No, sir, I didn't.
MR. GARRISON: That's all I
have. Thank you.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
Q. Good afternoon, Lieutenant. A few
questions. Officer Richmond was also on
surveillance at the fire station.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was he working under your command?
A. He was working out of the
intelligence bureau, yes, sir.
Q. Did you find him to be a reliable
surveillance officer?
A. I had no reason to doubt him.
Q. And when he submitted reports to you
and others, did you find those reports, as a
rule, to be accurate?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Professionally prepared?
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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A. Yes, sir.
Q. Because one of his reports has been
put into evidence in these proceedings, and
it's quite impressive in terms of its
detail. And I would have hoped that would
have been your response. Had you ever heard
of -- from the intelligence side, have you
ever heard that there were photographs taken
from the fire station roof by Psychological
Operation Army photographers of the entire
assassination of Martin Luther King?
A. No, sir.
Q. That evidence has been introduced
here. Have you ever heard of that?
A. No, sir.
Q. Never? Never saw any of those
photographs that were taken from --
A. No, sir.
Q. -- the roof? Were you ever advised
that the captain of that fire station,
Carthel Weeden, put those Army photographers
on the roof and put them in the vantage point
for the taking of those photographs?
A. No, sir.
Q. Would that have been something that
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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perhaps Inspector Tynes would have known
about and not shared?
A. I have no idea, sir.
Q. But you didn't hear about it --
A. No, sir.
Q. -- in any event. Did you in the
course of April 3rd or 4th speak with or talk
to any out-of-town agents -- from whatever
source, you might not have known where they
even were from -- but individuals who you
didn't know as being part of the local FBI
office or the Memphis Police Department? At
any time do you recall speaking to any of
those individuals -- any persons?
A. I'm not sure I understand the
question exactly.
Q. I know it's a long time ago. But do
you recall speaking, in the course of --
let's take April 4th -- with any persons who
came into town from one or another federal
agency about any strategic intelligence
activities?
A. I don't believe I did. I can't
remember if I did.
Q. Okay. You don't remember speaking
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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with any of them. Now, lastly -- this is
really just more for the historical record
than anything else. As a trained
intelligence officer, without naming -- we're
not going to ask you to name any informants.
Did you use -- as a part of the modus
operandi, did you use informants in
organizations in Memphis, Tennessee?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. So you -- you ran informants and
obtained -- as a way of obtaining
intelligence information.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Without naming any names, because I
know that you would not want to do that,
would there have been any informants who were
close to Dr. King's organization when he was
in Memphis?
A. I'm not sure I know what you mean by
"close to Dr. King's organization."
Q. Well, people who would have been in
contact with Dr. King or members of his
organization, SCLC, or people who were
aligned with them in support of the
sanitation workers, would you have had any
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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informants in those organizations?
A. We had an informant in a local group
called the Invaders.
Q. Yes. And that man's name is public,
so that's -- that's Mr. McCullough, is that
right, Mr. Marrell McCullough?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right. But would you have had
any sort of deeper cover -- not interested in
the names -- but any deeper cover individuals
who would have been able to feed you
information with respect to what was going
on?
A. No, sir.
Q. No -- no other ones other than --
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Did the FBI office have, again to
your knowledge, any informants in any of
these organizations?
A. They probably did, yes.
Q. So they might have had a wider
intelligence net. Did they share that
information with you?
A. Some information they did, yes.
Q. Okay. So they had informants and
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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their informants they were running would have
provided you with information.
A. No.
Q. Through them I mean, through the
office.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Thank you. Do you know what
Mr. McCullough did when he left the Memphis
Police Department?
A. No, sir, I have no idea.
Q. Do you know what Mr. McCullough does
today?
A. No, sir, I do not.
Q. You've never heard of what his
occupation is or what he might --
A. I've heard, but --
Q. What have you heard that he is doing?
A. Well, I've heard that he's in the CIA
now.
Q. That he works for the CIA now.
A. But I have no proof of that.
MR. PEPPER: Not directly, but
you just heard that. Okay. Nothing
further. Thank you.
MR. GARRISON: I have nothing
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else. Thank you, Mr. Arkin. You're free to
go.
THE COURT: You may stand down.
THE WITNESS: Thank you, sir.
(Witness excused.)
THE COURT: It's that time
again -- 2 o'clock.
(Lunch recess.)
THE COURT: All right,
Mr. Garrison.
REBECCA A. CLARK,
Having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. Ms. Clark, would you tell us your
full name, please, ma'am.
A. Rebecca A. Clark.
Q. And you live here in Memphis,
Ms. Clark?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. And you've lived here most of your
life?
A. Since high school.
Q. All right. At one time, Ms. Clark,
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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you were married to -- I believe it was
Captain Earl Clark with the Police
Department; am I correct?
A. Well, actually, he started out as a
patrolman and went as far as chief inspector.
Q. Okay. Now, Ms. Clark, let me say
this -- or ask you this. You and Inspector
Clark were divorced at some period; am I
correct?
A. Yes.
Q. But in 1968, you were married to him
then; is that right?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. During the time of the Sanitation
Strike and the assassination of Dr. King --
A. Yes, sir.
Q. -- you were married to Inspector
Clark; am I correct? Okay. Let me ask you
this. We have taken your testimony before
now. But Inspector Clark had a large
collection of weapons, did he?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. And he was one of the better -- I
guess you call a marksman with the police
department. He had a lot of honors for that,
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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didn't he?
A. Well, not just for the Police
Department. He won the Tennessee State Trap
Shoot one year.
Q. Okay. And did he work on the -- at
the -- for the police department at the track
where they used weapons to shoot things, like
target practice, things like that? Did he
work there at one time?
A. Yes, he worked at the pistol range.
Q. Pistol range, that's a better word
for it. Do you know, Ms. Clark, during the
Sanitation Strike, was he tied up with that
where he didn't come home -- I mean, did the
police department have him pretty much in --
on duty full time where he wasn't able to
come home for some time?
A. That's correct.
Q. And on the day of April the 4th,
1968, how long had it been since he had been
home then; do you recall?
A. Probably three or four days. Might
have been longer.
Q. Okay.
A. I can't remember.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
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Q. Now, you were working somewhere at
the time, weren't you?
A. Yes.
Q. And, in fact, you used to work for
the police department. Am I correct that at
one time you were employed at the police
department yourself?
A. Yes, before we married.
Q. Right. I understand. On the day of
April the 4th, 1968, do you remember what
time you came home that day?
A. Well, I got off work at 4 in the
afternoon.
Q. Okay. And how long did it usually
take you to drive home?
A. Probably 10 to 15 minutes.
Q. And when you arrived at your home,
was your husband there?
A. No.
Q. He was not there then.
A. No.
Q. Okay. So you got home around 4:15,
roughly in that range; would that be right?
A. Right.
Q. And how long was it roughly before he
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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came home?
A. I really don't remember. It wasn't
right away, but -- probably an hour or so
maybe.
Q. Okay. And he came home -- did you
know he was coming home then?
A. No.
Q. Okay. So he came home unexpectedly.
A. Right.
Q. And what happened when he reached
your home? What happened?
A. Well, he said he came home to get
some clean uniforms. And so when he got
there, he said he thought he would lie down
on the couch in the living room for a few
minutes and take a nap. And then he was
going to take a bath and go back because they
had been staying up all night over at the
pistol range. And so he asked me to listen
to the police radio for him.
Q. Okay.
A. So that's when I heard -- a short
time later -- I don't know how long he was
asleep, maybe 30, 40 minutes -- 45. But
that's when I heard on the radio that
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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Dr. King had been killed -- had been shot.
Q. Okay. Had your husband made any
statement about the fact that Dr. King was
here and the Sanitation Strike was going
on? Had he made any statement -- comment to
you about that?
A. About him being here?
Q. Yes, ma'am.
A. Well, everybody knew he was here.
Q. Well, had he made any comment to you
about it, the fact that it was tying up a lot
of the police officers and causing a lot of
problems here with the Sanitation Strike?
Did he make any statement to you --
A. I don't recall any conversation like
that.
Q. Well, on your deposition -- let me
ask you -- you remember giving your testimony
before?
A. Yes.
Q. Page 25, the question: "Did you ever
make -- did he ever make any comment about
Dr. King at all? Did he ever say anything
about Dr. King, right, wrong or indifferent?"
Answer: "I'm sure he did. I'm sure
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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1647
he was concerned about this being here and
the Sanitation Strike might cause a problem,
which was" --
Do you remember giving that answer?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Okay.
A. But I don't recall any specific
conversation that he -- you know, I'm sure he
must have commented about it.
Q. Okay. At some point you left to go
get a uniform for him.
A. Yes, sir, I did. When I woke him up
and told him that Dr. King had been killed,
he said, you've got to go get my uniforms out
of the cleaners before they close. And he
was going to take a bath while I was gone.
Q. Okay. And, Ms. Clark, you're aware
of the fact -- you know that there's been
some testimony/allegation made that
Lieutenant Clark was at the back of the
rooming house across from the Lorraine Motel
on the day that this occurred. You know
that, don't you?
A. Well, at the time of the deposition I
didn't know that. Matter of fact, I didn't
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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1648
really know why I was called to give a
deposition.
Q. Okay.
A. I mean, I had heard of this thing
about a conspiracy but I, in my wildest
imagination, never dreamed that they thought
that he was involved or the police department
was involved.
Q. Okay.
A. I found out about a week later when
two -- two gentlemen from the Justice
Department called me and asked me if they
could come out and talk to me. And then
that's when they told me that you all thought
that he was involved. And that was the first
I had heard.
Q. Okay. Well, he had only been home
for a very short time when you left to go get
his uniform, hadn't he?
A. Yes. I don't think he was asleep
over 30, 45 minutes.
Q. Okay. Ms. Clark, I know we talked
about this before when we took your
deposition. But isn't it true that Inspector
Clark had a rather bitter feeling toward
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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African-American people? Truthfully.
A. I don't -- I wouldn't say that he had
a -- bitter feelings. I know that after his
brother was killed that he probably felt some
kind of animosity for a period of time. But
I know that he had a lot of black friends
that he had met through law enforcement over
the years.
Q. Okay. Let me ask you something.
Now, you said that when he reached his home
that he had a police radio with him.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What type of police radio was it?
A. It's kind of like a little walkie
talkie because it was laying on the dining
room table.
Q. Okay. Now, are you sure about that?
A. Well, I could hear him.
Q. According to the information we have,
they didn't have walkie talkies back in
1968. Are you sure it was a walkie talkie?
A. It was some kind of radio.
MR. GARRISON: That's all.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. PEPPER:
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
1650
Q. Ms. Clark, excuse me one minute, I'm
just reorganizing the copy of the deposition
that we let you examine and that counsel has
just used. I know this may not be very easy
for you. Thank you for coming here this
afternoon.
How many children do you have,
Mrs. Clark?
A. I have two.
Q. And the first time that we met -- do
you recall that afternoon?
A. Yes, I did. I didn't know who you
were the second time I met you, which was
some years later, but --
Q. Okay. And were one of your children
present when we spoke? Your son?
A. I believe he was. I'm not sure.
Q. Do you know how old he was then?
A. There's about -- he's 27. It was
about in '92 or 3. So --
Q. When was he born, Mrs. Clark?
A. He was born in February of '73.
Q. So he was in his early 20's at that
time?
A. Right.
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999
1651
Q. May I ask, are you a Christian?
A. Yes, I am.
Q. Do you believe that the sins of the
father should be visited upon the children?
A. No, I don't.
Q. And that the children should bear no
blame for any sins of the fathers?
A. I certainly believe that.
Q. Do your children believe that?
A. Yes.
Q. That's clear?
A. Sure.
Q. Okay. Now, in Mr. Clark's
professional life were there things that he
did -- activities that he conducted that you
knew nothing about?
A. You mean in -- as far as police
work? I'm sure.
Q. And in his personal life?
A. He may have. I don't -- I don't
know.
Q. Did you know Mr. Frank Liberto?
A. Well, in my deposition you all asked
me that. And the only Frank Liberto that I
had ever heard of owned a liquor store down
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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1652
in south Memphis. And the reason I
remembered that name was we had gone down
there one night, and this black gentleman
came in with high heels and a dress on.
And back then, that was kind of odd
to me, so that's the only reason I recall
that incident. But that's the only Frank
Liberto I've ever heard of.
Q. You've never heard of Frank Liberto
who owned and ran a warehouse -- a produce
warehouse called Scott Street Market?
A. No. I've seen that name over there
because I've been to Scott Street Market lots
of times. And I've seen the name, but I
didn't know the man.
Q. You didn't know him?
A. No.
Q. Did you not know of his -- your
husband's relationship with --
A. No.
Q. -- this man?
A. No.
Q. Did you know of your husband's
relationship with Mr. Loyd Jowers, the
defendant in this action?
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A. No, I didn't.
Q. But your husband used to go,
according to testimony and evidence in this
case, hunting with Mr. Jowers. You didn't
know he went hunting with Mr. Jowers?
A. No. I've never heard that name
mentioned with him going hunting. And I know
a lot of people that he went hunting with.
Q. All right. And you never heard about
him going hunting with Mr. Jowers?
A. No, sir.
Q. Or of his -- his close relationship
with Mr. Jowers?
A. No, sir.
Q. And you never heard him -- he never
mentioned Mr. Frank Liberto to you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did he ever mentioned Inspector John
Barger?
A. I remember him.
Q. You remember that name?
A. Yes.
Q. Inspector Eddie Zachary?
A. I remember him.
Q. But not Mr. Liberto and not
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Mr. Jowers?
A. No.
Q. If, Mrs. Clark -- if what evidence
has been placed into this Court by -- in
fact, by the defendants in these
proceedings. If that evidence is true and
your husband was involved in the
assassination of Martin Luther King, how do
you -- how would you feel about that?
A. That's impossible.
Q. You can't imagine that?
A. Well, I know not. I know he was
there.
Q. You know he wasn't --
A. And there's not any possibility as
far as I'm --
Q. There's not any possibility?
A. No, sir.
Q. What time did you get home from work
again on the 4th of April?
A. I get off at 4.
Q. You got home about 4:15?
A. About 4:15.
Q. All right.
A. Now, what time he got there, I do not
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remember. It's been a long time ago.
Q. In your deposition, you indicated he
got home fairly soon after you arrived home
from work. Do you know when that would have
been?
A. 30, 45 minutes. Fairly soon.
Q. Fairly soon after you arrived is 30
or 45 minutes?
A. I can't remember exactly, sir.
Q. You don't remember what time he
arrived?
A. No, I don't.
Q. What did you do when you got home
from work that day?
A. What did I do?
Q. Mm-hum.
A. Changed clothes, probably started
cleaning or something, like everybody does
when they get home, I guess. I don't know.
Q. At what point in the course of you
performing your tasks did he come into the
house?
A. Sir, I don't remember what time it
was.
Q. I mean, you don't know if you were
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cleaning --
A. No.
Q. -- or changing, or what it was you
were doing at that time?
A. I can't remember.
Q. All right. And what car was he
driving when he came home?
A. I really couldn't say. I just
assumed that he was driving a police car.
Q. Well, where would he park the car
when he came in?
A. Right at the back door of the
apartments.
Q. At the back door. Was there a
driveway that ran up to the back door?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. So he would have parked the car in
the driveway --
A. Yes.
Q. -- near the back door. Did you look
at it?
A. No.
Q. Did you look out? Did you see the
car?
A. No.
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Q. Did you see him depart?
A. I don't know that I went to the back
door to watch him leave. I'm sure I said
goodbye, but I don't specifically remember
going and, you know, waving.
Q. All right. Did you see him drive
off?
A. I don't recall that.
Q. You don't recall seeing him drive
off?
A. No, I don't.
Q. And he drove off after -- after you
came back from the cleaners with his -- his
clean uniform?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he call you that afternoon before
he arrived home?
A. No.
Q. He just came home.
A. Yes.
Q. Ms. Clark, on Page 54 of your
deposition -- which was taken some while
earlier, in April of this year -- you were
asked: "And how long did it take you to get
home?"
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You answered: "Not long. 10, 15
minutes."
The question is: "So you were
probably home around 4, 4:15 or so, something
like that."
A. Right.
Q. "Yes."
"And soon after you set foot in the
house did Mr. Clark call you?"
Your answer was: "Not long as I
recall."
The question was: "15 -- 10, 15
minutes, something like that?"
Answer: "Well, yes."
Question: "He might have been home
some time around 4:30; is that right?"
The answer was: "I don't know to be
honest. I don't really remember. I just
know that I was home from work and he wasn't
asleep very long when I heard the radio. I
woke him up. He ran to get a shower while I
went to get his uniforms. That's all I
remember."
Now, in fact, Martin Luther King was
killed just shy of two hours -- two hours
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after you arrived home. What I'm trying to
understand is if your husband came in shortly
after you arrived home and was only there for
30 or 45 minutes, that still would leave
almost an hour after he left the house of
unexplained time.
A. Well, as I said, I wasn't sure about
the times that he got there or how long he
was there.
Q. Yes.
A. The only thing I do know was that I
was listening to the radio when they came on
and said that he was shot.
Q. You were listening --
A. Because I remember about the blue --
they were talking about a blue Mustang.
Q. A blue Mustang?
A. Yes. Something about a Mustang. I
don't know whether it was blue or not, but it
was --
Q. And you heard that on a police
radio --
A. Yes.
Q. -- at some point --
A. Yes.
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Q. -- that was sitting somewhere in your
dining room?
A. Right.
Q. And your husband had been asleep
somewhere -- in the living room?
A. He was asleep on the couch in the
living room.
Q. I'm trying to understand what
happened during that hour. How long did he
sleep?
A. I don't know. I don't remember. I
have to hide my own Easter eggs. I can't
remember.
Q. That's a very long time ago. That's
a very long time ago. But you understand the
problem?
A. I know what you're saying, but I just
can't -- you know, if I could remember how
long or when he got there -- I really don't.
Q. The problem that I'm putting to you
is the possibility that your husband did come
home -- and you're telling the truth. To the
best of your recollection, you're telling the
truth.
A. I know I am.
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Q. And he came home.
A. Yes.
Q. But the times indicate that not only
did he come home and ask you to go to the
cleaners -- Dent Cleaners on Broad Street to
get fresh uniforms --
A. Yes.
Q. Which you did and which you brought
it back and he put it on and left. The times
indicate that he left, in fact, much
earlier -- within an hour of the killing.
A. It couldn't --
Q. And that he was somewhere else during
that hour.
A. He couldn't have been. He could not
have been anywhere else. Because when it
came over the radio -- and I heard it. He
asked me to listen to his radio because he
was going to take a short nap.
Q. That's the thing we haven't taken
into account.
A. And that's what I did. And that's
when I heard that he was shot. So it
couldn't have been -- so he had to have been
there longer than the hour or whatever you're
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talking about.
Q. That's what we haven't taken into
account, isn't it?
A. Right. See, I can't remember --
Q. This walkie talkie --
A. -- exactly how long he was there.
Q. This walkie talkie, this radio, which
as counsel has --
A. He's had one as long as I can
remember.
Q. Counsel has indicated that they
weren't standard issue yet --
A. They may not have --
Q. -- in the Memphis Police Department.
A. -- been standard issue, but he had
one. He -- you know, at my deposition -- at
that time I thought I recalled that he was on
the TAC squad at the time, but I don't --
looking back now, I think that he probably
was just assigned to the pistol range because
I think that was too early in his career --
'68. So, you know.
Q. And he wasn't on the TAC squad, that
he was assigned --
A. He may have just been assigned to the
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pistol range, and that's where they were
staying. I don't -- you know, I hadn't
looked -- I hadn't looked back to see or
researched to see exactly where he was
assigned. He was on the TAC squad at one
time, but whether it was that particular time
or not, I -- you know, I'm not positive.
Q. It's the walkie talkie or the radio
that convinces you that he was still there at
the time because you heard it.
A. Yes.
Q. That's what you're saying?
A. Yes, sir. I woke him up, and that's
when he said, you've got to get over to the
cleaners before they close to get my
uniforms. Because he came home specifically
to take a bath and get some clean uniforms
because they had been gone for so many days.
Q. Ms. Clark, if the -- if these -- if
these were not available at the time, if they
in fact were not standard issue or special-
issue walkie talkie communications to Memphis
Central Police Headquarters -- if this was
not possible, these were not available, what
are we to believe?
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A. Why would I make that up about a
police radio if I didn't hear it?
Q. Did you discuss the assassination
with Mr. Clark --
A. No.
Q. -- after it took place?
A. No.
Q. You didn't have any --
A. I don't think so.
Q. -- discussion with him at all?
A. Not that I recall. We may have
mentioned it. He may have mentioned it, or
we may have mentioned it. But a specific
conversation I don't remember.
Q. Ms. Clark, the assassination of
Martin Luther King, you will agree, was a
heinous, terrible act --
A. Absolutely.
Q. -- and a blot on this community?
A. Absolutely.
Q. Which has never -- from which this
community has never really fully recovered?
A. Absolutely. I do understand that.
Q. Is it possible that here this
afternoon, every good intention in the world,
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that you are trying to protect your loved
children from being a part of this whole
scenario -- being dragged into this in any
way?
A. Sir, I have told this story about
what happened or where he was as far back --
before there was ever any thought of
conspiracy, ever.
Q. Who has asked you about this
question? Who has asked you to tell this
story?
A. I've told it to everybody. Everybody
has said: Well, what was Earl doing? Where
were you? And so and so. I've told
everybody at work where -- where he was.
And, you know, this story has been told a
million times. I told you this story back in
1992 --
Q. Yes, you did.
A. -- before I ever heard of a
conspiracy. So why would I have lied then?
Q. Yes, you -- well, the reason I
started my query of you about the children
was because I recalled the presence of your
son at that time and his attentiveness in the
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course of that -- of that discussion. And
that's why I've asked you the last question
about the protection of the children.
A. Sir, I'm just telling the truth.
I -- you know, it never entered my mind that
I'm trying to protect my children. I would
if I -- you know, I would want to protect my
children.
Q. If in fact you --
A. But I am not -- I am telling the
truth as far as I know the truth as much as I
remember.
Q. That's fair enough. If in fact the
truth were something else, would you tell
this story? To protect your children, to
insulate them from any possible repercussions
of this act, would you tell this story?
A. No. I would never lie. I would
never tell --
Q. No matter what the consequences would
be?
A. No matter. I mean, their father is
dead. I mean --
Q. But they're alive.
A. Pardon?
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Q. They're alive and they have lives.
A. Yes, they do. And they're making
good lives.
Q. Why would --
A. And I love them dearly, but I would
not lie.
Q. Why would anyone put your husband in
the middle of this frame? What reason would
they have?
A. I don't have the faintest clue.
Q. Why would a Memphis taxi driver quote
your husband as saying: I'm going to kill
Martin Luther King the next time he comes to
Memphis, Tennessee? Why would --
A. I don't know.
Q. -- James McCraw --
A. Why is anybody --
Q. Why would he say that about your
husband?
A. -- saying all this stuff? I just
don't -- you know.
Q. You don't know why people say things,
of course. But that's a problem that we
have.
A. All I know is --
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Q. We don't know why --
A. All I know is I'm telling you the
truth the best that I know -- the best that I
know it.
Q. The truth as best you know it is you
came in around 4:15, he came in some time
shortly thereafter.
A. Yes. What time, I do not know.
Q. You're not sure of that exact time.
But at some point in the course of his
sleep -- and he was sleeping then maybe for
an hour and a half -- not 30 minutes, as you
indicated earlier in the deposition, but
maybe he was asleep for an hour and a half.
Because he would have had to be asleep for
about an hour and a half for you to hear on
the radio that Martin Luther King had been
assassinated.
A. Unless he came in later than 30
minutes.
Q. Unless he came in later.
A. See, I don't remember. But all I'm
saying is that I was listening to the radio
and heard it with my own ears.
Q. When you came back from the cleaners,
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was he awake?
A. No -- yes, yes. I woke him up when I
heard it. And that's when he said, you've
got to get over to the cleaners and get my
uniforms before they close.
Q. Okay. So you -- you were in the
house all the time. He was asleep. You
heard it, you woke him up. He said, go to
the cleaners.
A. Yes.
Q. But he had been asleep for all this
period of time, for whatever period --
A. Yes.
Q. -- hour, hour and a half?
A. Yes.
Q. On the sofa?
A. Yes.
Q. And he then put on his uniform and
reported to work. Where did he go?
A. I have -- I assume that he was going
back to the pistol range.
Q. Why would he go to the pistol range?
A. Because that's where they had been
staying.
Q. He would go back to the pistol range
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when there -- the city was in turmoil --
fires and turbulence and assassination?
A. Sir, I don't know where he was
assigned. I do not know where he -- I just
assumed -- when he told me they had been
staying over at the pistol range and sleeping
over there, I just assumed that he was going
back over there. I do not know where he went
from there.
Q. When he left the house he was in
uniform?
A. I don't specifically remember, but
I'm -- feel sure he was in a uniform because
I had to go get his uniforms.
Q. And what uniform was he wearing at
that time of year?
A. Well, I don't remember. I don't
recall what kind of uniform. If he was -- if
he was assigned to the pistol range, he had
on gray uniforms -- gray khaki uniforms.
Q. Which uniform did you pick up,
Mrs. Clark --
A. I don't remember.
Q. -- at the cleaners?
A. I don't remember which.
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Q. As he walked out the door was he --
A. In fact, you all asked me that before
and I couldn't remember.
Q. That's fair enough. As he walked out
the door was he in short sleeves or did he
have --
A. I do not know. I don't remember.
Q. Did he leave from the rear door or
the front door?
A. The rear door.
Q. Because that's where the car was?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he normally drive a police car
home?
A. Yes, lots of times.
Q. Was it an unmarked car or was it a
regular Memphis police car?
A. Most of the time it was a regular
car.
Q. And what color was that car?
A. Black and white, I think.
Q. It was a black and white regular --
not a traffic car but a regular black and
white car?
A. Right, far as I can remember.
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Q. And his rank at that time --
A. I don't recall.
Q. -- in 1968?
A. I want to say he was lieutenant, but
I'm not sure.
Q. I see. Okay. And you don't remember
whether he had short sleeves, long sleeves --
A. No.
Q. -- a jacket or anything else on?
A. He didn't have too many short-sleeve
uniforms. They had -- they had some -- the
gray uniforms when they were shooting on the
pistol team, but that's the only short sleeve
ones I remember.
Q. And when you --
A. He could have been -- he could have
been wearing short ones over there at the
pistol range where he worked.
Q. When you were listening to this radio
sitting on your dining room table, where were
you?
A. I think I was in the kitchen.
Q. Right off the dining room?
A. Right.
Q. And he was in the living room off the
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other side?
A. Well, you go through the kitchen into
the dining room and there's the living room.
It was just an apartment -- a two-bedroom
apartment. It wasn't a house.
Q. Did any investigators from the House
Select Committee on Assassinations in 1977 or
'78 interview you?
A. At where? In what?
Q. The Congressional committee --
A. No.
Q. -- that looked into this case. They
never interviewed you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did any FBI investigators ever
interview you?
A. No, sir. The only interviews that I
ever had was when you came and talked to me
that time. And then after I gave my
deposition there were two guys from the
Justice Department that called and came out
and talked to me. And that's when they told
me that -- that you all thought my husband
was involved.
Q. At that point in time?
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A. Yes.
MR. PEPPER: Thank you,
Mrs. Clark. Nothing further, Your Honor.
MR. GARRISON: I have nothing
further. You may step down.
THE COURT: You may stand down,
ma'am. You can remain in the courtroom or
you're free to go.
THE WITNESS: Okay. Thank you.
(Witness excused.)
MR. GARRISON: Your Honor, at
this time I'd like to read from the
deposition of a witness. For security
reasons, same as the jury, we did not want
his identity known. He will be referred to
as John Doe.
This is the deposition of John Doe
taken on November the 5th, 1999. And I was
present for the defendant, Mr. Jowers, and
Dr. Pepper was present for the plaintiffs.
And these were the questions that were asked
of this witness. Page 5:
(Whereupon the following is the
deposition of John Doe that was read into the
record.)
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THE VIDEOGRAPHER: This is the
videotaped deposition of Mr. John Doe. It's
being taken by the plaintiffs in the matter
of King versus Jowers in the Circuit Court of
Tennessee for the Thirtieth Judicial District
at Memphis. It's being held via telephone at
the offices of Daniel, Dillinger, Dominski in
Memphis, Tennessee, on November 5, 1999, the
time being approximately 4:03 p.m.
The court reporter is Kristin
Peterson from Daniel, Dillinger, Dominski.
The videotape specialist is Ted Schurch with
The Data Company in Memphis.
Will counsel now please introduce
themselves.
DR. PEPPER: William Pepper for
the King family, plaintiffs in these
proceedings.
MR. GARRISON: I'm Lewis
Garrison for defendant, Loyd Jowers.
VIDEOGRAPHER: Do you have any
announcements or stipulations you'd like to
put on the record?
DR. PEPPER: None for the
plaintiffs.
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MR. GARRISON: And none for the
defendant.
JOHN DOE,
Having been first duly sworn, was examined
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. GARRISON:
Q. All right. We're referring to you as
John Doe. As I've indicated to you earlier,
we have an agreement that we will not reveal
your identity for purposes that you and I
have discussed.
Let me ask you this. In the year of
1968, were you in the Memphis area?
A. Yes.
Q. And you, of course, know that the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
occurred on April 4, 1968?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Now, let me ask you this. You
and I have talked about this many times.
Would you start -- I believe the first time
that you gave me information was along about
January of 1998. Is that about correct?
A. That's correct.
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Q. All right. Would you tell us at that
point what -- what happened, what you know
and what personally you were involved and how
you know about it.
A. As regards --
Q. The very beginning of your meeting in
a hotel -- Holiday Inn in Detroit, I believe;
is that correct?
A. Well, it was in -- let's see, okay.
Let's -- it's Battle Creek, Michigan.
Q. All right. Go right ahead.
A. Yeah. All right. I had known some
individuals, one person in particular was a
layoff bookmaker from the Houston/Galveston
area who owned a seafood place there on the
Gulf Coast. He said his name was J.B.
Bonner. And at that particular time, I was
working in the sports department at the
Houston Post, and he had called for
information because -- you've got to remember
that they -- that high school football was
like their Super Bowl. Anyway, that's how I
got to know J.B. Now --
Q. Could you spell his last name for
us -- this gentleman you are talking about --
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J.B --
A. O N N E R.
Q. Okay. Go right ahead.
A. Okay. Now, then through him, I was
in Battle Creek, Michigan, later on in my
employment to do some things there in East
Lansing, Michigan.
Q. Okay.
A. And Mr. Bonner wanted me to contact
or sit down and talk to a fellow by the name
of Emil Mazey, M A Z E Y, who I learned later
is the -- was the treasurer of the United
Auto Workers.
I met him there, and then we met two
or three more occasions on -- and at the Red
Apple Inn in Northwest Arkansas, mainly, is
where we talked, and it was at this time that
it was explained to me what Mr. Mazey wanted
and what he was doing. And the idea that was
given to me was that Walter Ruther, who was
president of the UAW had been hit on pretty
hard by Hubert Humphrey and L.B.J. about
Martin Luther King's sudden -- whatever he
did, he came out against the Vietnam War, and
you have to remember that there was a problem
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there between the UAW and the CIO with George
Meedy.
And Meedy and the CIO -- they were
pushing for the war, and the UAW, up until
that point, had been a real supporter of
the -- let's see if I remember -- Southern
Leadership Conference of which King was
involved nominally. I mean, he really didn't
have anything to do with it. But, anyway, it
was put to me is there a way to satisfy
Mr. Humphrey and Mr. Johnson by making Martin
Luther King, quote-unquote, I guess, "shut
up" about the Vietnam War. And I asked him
what that -- what did they mean by that.
And they said, well, by just taking
him out, getting through with it. And I had
done some work in the military and things
like that. And so I said, I can do that.
And they offered four hundred thousand
dollars to --
Q. Okay. Now, we got to the point where
you said that they had been offered four
hundred thousand dollars maybe, and just go
on from there.
A. Okay. Now, to me, this was kind of
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an interesting proposition. This has nothing
at all what to do with race or anything like
that. It was obvious that they had some
things already put in motion.
What I did was contact Jim Harmon,
H A R M O N, a pilot who died in Korea, and
who's supposed to be buried in Mills City,
Oregon, but he's not, and then through Carlos
Marcello in New Orleans, Ruelsa Mellon,
R U E L S A M E L L O N, who was based out
of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
There was another lady involved.
Her name was Dori, D O R I, Wyse, W Y S E.
She was from Belize, and she was in that area
supposedly to do research on antebellum homes
and so forth.
The way I understood it, the
Trafficante down in Tampa had gotten a hold
of Marcello and asked him if he could take
care of this, and he said, no, he couldn't.
Most of the FBI was all over him because of
his J.F.K. problem, not which was correct,
and so then through that and Ruelsa, we
got -- kind of got together about the whole
thing in New Orleans and discussed it.
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Marcello was there, and he said he
couldn't be involved, XYZ, but we could
use -- there was about a three-mile-long
seashell-type small runway on his property
just west of the Mississippi there, and I
don't -- it's Metairie or however the
Louisianans say it.
Anyway, we agreed to do this, and
the idea was we knew whatever King was doing,
but Dori Wyse's job was to indicate when King
would be back at the motel. We knew the
room, but -- so we could set that up, and
when he finally went out to do whatever he
was doing -- he was preaching to somebody
or -- anyway, he comes back. She calls then
through to Mellon, and he contacts Harmon,
who picks me up in Tampa.
We go on up there, find the little
airport, fly right up the Mississippi on Mud
Island. She picks the two of us up,
Harmon -- Jim stayed at the plane. We come
down to the area that was selected. Now,
I --
Q. What kind of vehicle was she driving,
do you remember?
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A. Yeah. It was a sixty -- I believe a
1967 gray Corvette.
Q. Okay.
A. Not a Corvette.
Q. Corvair?
A. Corvair, yeah.
Q. All right. Chevrolet Corvair?
A. Yeah, two-door.
Q. Okay.
A. And on the side, it had on there
Aztec Aerial Mapping, just like the plane,
and then -- you know, to give you a reason
why you were in there in the first place.
So then we went on up there, and she
moved on around down by Mulberry there,
kind of a -- kind of just to park there, and
drop them. And Raul, he went upstairs to
the window area up there. Nobody told him to
go in the -- into any kind of bathroom or
closet or anything like that, but he
apparently decided that, already had his bag
full of everything he was supposed to leave.
James Earl Ray was never even
there. He had left for Atlanta. I think he
spent the night in Starkville, Mississippi,
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on the way over, but he'd left about three
hours before all this even came down. He was
set up for that type of thing.
And then when the actual shooting of
King took place, it was behind kind of a
brushy little wall there just a couple
hundred feet away. He used a sixteen-gauge
modified rifle that had been made by a Pedro
Ginton.
Q. Okay. What was it again? Tell us
what it was again.
A. Ginton, G I N T O N.
Q. Okay.
A. Of Belize City.
Q. Belize City is where it was made?
A. Yeah.
Q. Okay.
A. The idea was that -- it's the kind of
shot that when it hits something, it starts
to mess around. And if you move with it, it
just falls apart.
Q. The shot itself?
A. Yeah.
Q. Go ahead.
A. Okay. So then he -- the shot was
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done, and Dori comes around and picks up the
shooter, and they go on back down to Mud
Island. Jim's got the plane ready, we take
off, and are flying right down the
Mississippi right back down to Marcello's
place, and opened the door and throw the gun
and two or three other things out of there.
Q. Out of the plane?
A. Uh-huh, into the river.
Q. Okay.
A. Because he was flying real low, and
we went on down there, and we all left there,
and went on back to Tampa.
Now, Raul, he was supposed to drop
a bag of stuff that he had managed to put
together, just childish things really -- but
people believed, apparently -- into a bag,
and he was supposed to drop that upstairs
someplace -- I've never been in that
building -- but he didn't. He dropped it
outside the door but then went and got in his
car, which was a white Ford, you know, and
then drove away from there.
Now, he drove to New Orleans.
There -- picked Ray up in Atlanta, and then
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from there they flew on to Canada.
Q. Okay. Now, let me ask you
something. Did you ever actually see James
Earl Ray?
A. No.
Q. Okay. You've been told about him?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Sometime later, you had a
chance -- you had an assignment in South
America or somewhere in Central America; am I
correct, sir?
A. Right.
Q. And you had a chance to -- in your
assignment to run and meet with the warden of
the prison where Ray had been before he
escaped; is that correct?
A. Correct.
Q. Okay. Tell us about your
conversations and your association with the
warden as to what you found out from that?
A. Well, the warden's name -- the
best -- I know his last name, but I think his
first name was Harold -- Harold Swenson. And
he was running the Missouri State Pen, and he
had spent some time in the -- over at
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Leavenworth working in the federal pen over
there. And they had got him from there, and
sent him down -- I believe it was to Mexico
where they were having some kind of prison
riot and all that.
He went down there, worked on that,
and then that was settled, apparently, and
then he went back and was hired on as warden
at the Missouri State Pen.
Now, Swenson indicated that he knew
of a person, the ideal for a -- oh, he used a
corny word -- patsy or something like that.
And I don't know if that came directly from
Swenson's knowledge or from other guards who
worked there at Leavenworth because Ray
wasn't there. And the idea was that
Swenson -- which has always amazed me
anyway -- but that he would work it out to
where they'd get Ray out of the pen on a --
on a Sunday morning, drive him out someplace,
and he'd just disappear.
I never -- the FBI -- no one ever
even indicated, you know, what the -- who the
driver was other than to say he was a -- and
I know nothing about all of that little
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work.
Q. Okay.
A. All I know is that Raul picked him
up, picked James Earl Ray up, somewhere there
at Jefferson City. They had set it up and
had gone on to Chicago, hung around there for
a while and then went on to Canada.
Now, this was all, of course, four
or five -- well, probably more months than
that before the actual thing. But by then
Ray was pretty well doing whatever Mellon
told him.
They drove around, did all kinds of
stuff. It didn't cost that much money. And
then after setting him up to go buy some -- a
rifle and then another rifle, and no -- to be
very frank, you know, James Earl isn't going
to win or wouldn't have won any grants to
college. He really wanted to be involved in
something.
He never -- as far as I know,
because I never saw him, the only -- Harmon
never saw him. Dori never saw him. The only
person that dealt with him was Mellon, and
that was the way we set it up. And then,
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eventually, the way I understood it was, that
the UAW people were going to get him out of
Canada and fly him to Lisbon, Portugal, and
there they were going to kill him. They were
going to take care of it there, and that
would be the end of the whole thing.
Now, something went wrong in Lisbon,
apparently, because Ray came, and, you know,
turns up in London or someplace, and then
he's arrested, and they drag him back and go
through all of this, and that's why you got
to believe when Ray -- who is dead, you
know -- said I don't know anything about
this, he's -- he's telling the truth.
Q. Okay.
A. He didn't.
Q. Let me ask you something, too. The
guns that they -- were brought in the night
of the assassination, what did they have
those in?
A. Could you repeat -- I didn't --
Q. I think you had mentioned to me --
can you hear me okay?
A. Yeah.
Q. You mentioned to me before that --
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about this car that had something about
some -- what did it have on the side of it?
Aztec Aerial Mapping?
A. Yeah, Aerial Mapping.
Q. Okay. Have you told me before that
the guns were hidden in map cases?
A. Right.
Q. You actually saw that?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. The four hundred thousand
dollars, do you know where it came from?
A. Yes. It came from the United Auto
Workers.
Q. All right. Okay. Now, is this about
everything that you know about the case?
Have you heard anything else about whatever
happened to these people that you mentioned
earlier?
A. Well, I think we all know that it
took two tries, but they finally -- Ruther
finally was killed in a private jet crash.
They had tried to kill him and his
brother a year before when they had flown to
Washington, and all they did manage there was
that the pilot hit the landing, turning right
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at the end of the runway. So in about
another year, we try it again, and this time
it worked.
I have heard -- I don't know for
sure, but it could easily be checked -- the
National Transportation Board people say that
the altimeter for Ruther totally rules out --
that was the same as backwards -- in other
words, the pilot really didn't know how low
he was.
Mazey, I think, went ahead and
stayed in the Union for a while, then died.
He was in World War II, I know that.
And Harmon, he began flying for
Marcello or either Trafficante -- I don't
know which one -- flying stuff -- drugs and
stuff through the Carribean. Haven't heard
from him in years.
I know that Dori died in Nicaragua
two years ago during that volcano they had
there after that earthquake and the hurricane
situation.
Q. Did you ever hear the name of Frank
Liberto mentioned by Carlos Marcello?
A. No.
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Q. Did you ever hear the name of Loyd
Jowers mentioned at any time?
A. No.
Q. Okay. This Warden Swenson -- you --
the two of you became pretty close on your
assignment; is that correct?
A. Well, we were close enough to
understand what we were doing. I -- I felt,
you know, because right off the bat that
Ruther had Swenson pretty well where he
wanted him.
In fact, I think one of the -- of
course, this has been a successful thing all
the way through, obviously -- but one of the
strangest stories was that -- reported in
the -- hell, I forget what the -- St. Louis,
maybe Post -- that Swenson after he retired
during a New Years party, I believe, or a
Christmas party had shot himself. And the
woman that had reported this lived right next
door to it all, and I never heard anything
else about that. Again, you know, I wasn't
going to check it for sure, but I -- I can't
verify it, but that -- anyway, he's gone.
Mazey, I think, just died
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naturally. Humphrey, of course, we know, and
L.B.J.
Q. This Warden Swenson, he had had a
position in the L.B.J. or Kennedy
Administration; am I correct?
A. What he had was, he was in the -- I
think they used to call it a blind squad for
the federal prison system.
Q. In fact, he was the one that
directed, I believe, you to pilot Gary Powers
to Russia; am I correct?
A. Right.
MR. GARRISON: Page 38 of his
deposition.
(Continuing to read from the
deposition.)
Q. The airport that Marcello -- the
small airstrip that Marcello said you could
use --
A. Uh-huh.
Q. -- where did you say that was
located?
A. Well, it's across the river, across
the Mississippi from New Orleans. He had a
huge place over there, and most of it's
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swamps.
Q. Yes.
A. But he did have this airstrip -- in
fact, he had two. But this one was the kind
that you could count on getting down real
quick. This is what Jim told me -- get down,
get pulled up real quick and get out of
there, you know, because the weather had been
so bad all through that particular time, all
the way from Memphis -- all the way to Tampa
for that matter. And it was raining, and I
don't think he particularly wanted to land.
There was a dirt strip there that
ran kind of clockwise -- excuse me --
clockwise away from the one we used. Got
there -- when we got back there that night,
they had turned on some lights around the
field, and you could see the reflection of
the shells, and were there for Jim to get the
plane down. We weren't there fifteen
minutes.
Q. Right. And you flew from that
airstrip of Marcello's? You took off from
there?
A. Yeah.
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MR. GARRISON: Page 57,
beginning with Line 22.
(Continuing to read from the
deposition.)
Q. What had he -- what was his job?
What had -- what was he supposed to have
done?
A. His job was to place and put in
locations -- I don't know if it could ever
be, you know, declared evidence, but put
things around that would indicate that James
Earl Ray was -- had been there -- had been in
that area and was responsible for whatever
took place.
Q. He was to plant -- plant evidence
against James?
A. Yeah.
Q. And where was James during this time?
A. He had left around -- he was supposed
to, so I presume he did, because he made it
to Atlanta, but he left around 3:00.
Q. And what was -- what kind of car was
Ruelsa driving?
A. He had a white -- a little white
Ford.
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Q. What kind of Ford was it, do you
know?
A. Oh, one of those with the -- a
Mustang.
Q. So he had a Mustang?
A. They had two of them.
Q. All right.
A. James Earl.
Q. Okay. All right. Okay. If we
can -- and he was in the rooming house.
He -- at some point he had been in the
rooming house?
A. Ruelsa?
Q. Yeah.
A. Yeah.
Q. Was he supposed to rent a room?
A. Yeah, uh-huh. And he was supposed to
leave that stuff in that room.
Q. What was James' role there? What was
James supposed to have done?
A. All he was done is -- he went and
purchased the -- something -- binoculars, I
believe, or something to that effect that had
his fingerprints and stuff on them, and he
came back and gave them to Ruelsa. This is
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the way I understand it because I obviously
wasn't right there. And then he told James
to go on to Atlanta and to stay at the place
that he had set up for Ray in Atlanta.
Q. Right. Okay.
A. And that's the last from -- what I
understand from Ruelsa, when I talked to him
later, Ray did just exactly what he was told.
Q. So he didn't -- he got out of the
area, and he did what he was supposed to do?
A. Yeah. He wasn't -- he wasn't
anywhere around there, I mean, as far as I
know.
Q. That's what you were told?
A. That's right.
Q. Yeah. That is what you understand.
Now, Warden Swenson --
A. Uh-huh. What about him?
Q. You're saying you knew Warden Swenson
down in Central America. What was Warden
Swenson doing down in Central America?
A. Well, I presume from what he had
indicated that he was on a -- on a vacation,
and he was going to look at some of the
prison operations and what have you in the
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Panama Canal Zone for the feds -- for the
federal people. I saw him at the Myan Hotel.
Q. Right. And did -- did he tell you
that he had -- where did he tell you he had
met James and decided upon James as a -- to
be the patsy?
A. He said that -- I said, well, what --
is this going to be just in and out type
thing, and then he said, no, I think Ruther
wants it blamed on certain elements or people
to flare things up. And I said, well, you
know, it doesn't make any difference to me
really one way or the other. And I said, how
long have you known Mr. Ruther. And he said,
for quite a long time. He said, in fact, I
know him a lot better than I wish I did.
That was one of his quotes, so I -- then
Raul -- Ruelsa told me that Swenson had set
this deal up for Ray to presumably cleverly
escape in a red truck, on a Sunday morning,
jump off of it, and Ruelsa was going to pick
him up, which I know that did happen.
Q. How do you know that happened?
A. Because he called -- Ruelsa called me
from Chicago and told me that things had gone
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exactly as planned and that he was taking --
what did he call -- he never called him James
Earl. It's Jimmy, I think, or Jim -- I'm
taking him, and we're going to drive around
the country a while. And when things get
ready, I'll get back in touch. And -- but
that was the last I heard from that group
until they did get back and started trying to
set up some kind of base of operations, I
guess you'd call it, in Alabama or Georgia or
some place down there.
Q. Did Raul tell you what he -- Ruelsa
tell you what he -- he and James did during
the time after James escaped from prison?
A. He asked me if I wanted to know, and
I said no.
Q. Did he ever discuss with you how
James got his identities?
A. No.
Q. Okay.
A. Are you referring to the -- the
passports and that?
Q. No. The identity that he used when
he traveled around the country.
A. Oh, you mean as Willard and all
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that?
Q. No. He only used one identity, not
Willard. He only used Willard at the very
end when he rented a room, but he had another
identity that he used when he traveled around
the country, always.
A. Well, I guess Ruelsa set him up with
it or somebody in New Orleans. I wasn't
familiar with it.
Q. Right. What was supposed to have
happened to James?
A. You mean after?
Q. Yeah. After everything.
A. Okay. He was supposed to go -- after
everybody had hit the fever pitch to Lisbon,
Portugal, where the UAW had a very, very
strong international union, and he was given
and told a room to go to in a hotel there.
And the way I understand it, when the people
went in there to get him, he wasn't there,
and I don't know how he picked up on it or
what, but the next thing, he's in England
someplace -- London.
MR. GARRISON: Page 69,
beginning on Line 18.
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(Continuing to read from the
deposition.)
Q. Do you believe that you were entirely
on your own in this operation?
A. With Ruther.
Q. With who?
A. Walter Ruther.
Q. With Walter Ruther. With the Union
League?
A. Now, I might have misspoken just a
minute when you asked me that question. Of
course, the way I understood it from Emil was
that Johnson had just lost his cool, so to
speak, as they do today, about King all of a
sudden in some New York or Chicago church
coming out just raising the devil about the
Vietnam War, and Johnson told Humphrey -- the
way I was told, because I wasn't there --
Q. Yes, of course.
A. -- go tell Ruther to tell that SOB to
shut his mouth. Now, the way Emil told me,
Ruther took that -- and don't forget, Ruther
had been a long time -- the UAW had really
pushed the civil rights.
Q. Yes.
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A. And so he was told this by Humphrey.
Q. Yes.
A. That apparently convinced Ruther
that -- that they had to do something pretty
quick. They had something set up called five
regionals.
In this particular scheme of things,
there were going to be five cities around the
country where there would be this union
organizing, vote organizing kind of
situation, and Memphis had been selected to
be the center of these things.
There was going to be one in New
York, obviously, Detroit, Chicago, L.A. and
Memphis, and that was what Ruther was
basically trying to protect, I believe, was
the fact that -- you know, his slogan was --
I don't know if you recall this or not or
read it, but was -- and I think it was a bad
choice of words -- was community-ized and
unionized.
MR. GARRISON: That's all.
THE COURT: Do you want to read
from the deposition?
MR. PEPPER: Yes, sir.
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Plaintiff's don't want to tax or burden this
jury any more than absolutely necessary, but
just very briefly -- this is counsel's
deposition so I'm having to just quickly go
through it to find the one paragraph. Page
56.
Your Honor, plaintiffs concluded
that this deposition -- this statement is
a -- is disinformation, not to be believed,
for a variety of detail and accuracy.
Without burdening the jury, the one in
particular that concerned plaintiffs is on
Page 56.
Plaintiffs' counsel asked the
deponent --
Question: "Was there anyone else in
the brush area with you?"
Answer: " No."
Question: "And do you mind to tell
us what you were wearing."
Answer: "I had on blue jeans."
Question: "Yes."
Answer: "A blue shirt, a blue jean
jacket and some -- I never say this right --
tong or thong sandals."
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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Question: "Thong sandals?"
Answer: "Yes. I had been wearing
them in Tampa, plus they have pretty slick
bottoms."
Could Your Honor instruct please
that any mobile phones in this courtroom be
turned off.
"Yes, I had been wearing them in
Tampa, plus they have pretty slick bottoms so
you don't have to worry about them."
Question: "Was the area heavily
overgrown -- that brush area there?"
Answer: "Not particularly. It just
looked thumpy. I mean, it looked like a lot
of areas like that around Memphis. Right."
Question: "Do you know how
roughly -- how long it took you to get from
the gated area where you came in down to the
corner of the wall?"
Answer: "Two or three minutes."
Question: "Was there any impediment
that you faced as you walked to that corner
of the wall?"
Answer: "No, other than, you know,
some bushes and stuff. But no physical -- no
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
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wire or any fence or anything like that."
Question: "You didn't encounter a
fence?"
Answer: "No."
Question: "That separated those two
pieces of property?"
Answer: "No."
(End of deposition testimony.)
MR. PEPPER: Your Honor, we're
putting up on the screen Plaintiffs' Exhibit
8 which is a photograph taken after the brush
area was cleared but at the same time in
1968, within a day or so, and it depicts,
quite clearly, a fence that runs east and
west separating the two pieces of property.
That's the subject of testimony here.
And in the right-hand corner, the
end of the fence as it goes straight down to
the edge of the wall. So, in fact, there was
quite a serious impediment, a fence
separating those two pieces of property which
this deponent claimed was not there. Nothing
further.
THE COURT: Mr. Garrison,
anything you want to read?
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MR. GARRISON: Your Honor, I
have a deposition of Mr. Ray which is rather
lengthy.
THE COURT: All right. Let's
take a break and we'll get in a portion of
it.
(Brief break taken.)
THE COURT: All right,
Mr. Garrison.
MR. GARRISON: Your Honor, we
have Mr. James Earl Ray's testimony -- it's
going to be rather lengthy. It's going to
take two or three hours for that at least,
and I have testimony of a witness that's 40
pages, so it will be 30 or 40 minutes before
I can conclude with one of these.
THE COURT: Is this your way of
telling us you're ready to knock off and come
back Monday?
MR. GARRISON: Sorry. I didn't
say that, Your Honor. But it's going to take
quite a while to present Mr. Ray's testimony.
THE COURT: You're entitled to
put on your defense. Go ahead.
MR. GARRISON: Start with this
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one?
THE COURT: However you want to
shape your proof, sir.
MR. GARRISON: Your Honor,
Mr. Ray's testimony is rather lengthy and I
would rather it be heard all in one day
without it being broken up.
THE COURT: All right. We'll
look forward to starting next week with
that. And that will be the extent of your
proof?
MR. GARRISON: There may be one
other witness depending on whether or not I
can get service on the witness.
THE COURT: All right. All
right. What are we going to do now?
MR. GARRISON: I'm sorry.
THE COURT: What are we doing
now?
MR. GARRISON: I have one other
witness that's a 40-page deposition. If you
want me to read that I'll be glad to.
THE COURT: Whichever -- as they
say, whatever.
MR. GARRISON: I'm sorry, I
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didn't understand.
THE COURT: Whichever way you
want to proceed.
MR. GARRISON: I can present it
now. It will be rather lengthy. But if you
want me to go ahead, I'll be glad to.
THE COURT: You mean the Ray
deposition?
MR. GARRISON: No, sir, it's
another witness besides that. Almost 40
pages of it.
THE COURT: All right. Go ahead
and do that.
MR. GARRISON: All right. This
is testimony of Ms. Lavada Addison. And I
was present for Mr. Jowers and Dr. Pepper was
present for the plaintiff. These are the
questions that were asked of this witness,
Lavada Addison.
THE COURT: Please spell that
name.
MR. GARRISON: A D D I S O N,
L A V A D A. On Page 5 beginning with
Dr. Pepper's questions.
(Reading from the deposition.)
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A. Mr. Pepper, the one thing I want to
clarify, when I gave the deposition to
Mr. Ashford --
Q. The statement?
A. A statement, rather. It wasn't a
deposition. He asked if I knew Mr. Liberto's
relatives, and I had met one of his nephews,
but at that time I did not recall his name,
but his name is Billy, and that I also told
him that Billy had something to do with
electrical, and I told him it was the
Coliseum, but it was the Convention Center
where he was working. I don't know if that
matters, but I want to clarify that.
Q. That's fine. Yes. I had discussion
with Mr. Ashford at one point about it, and
he did basically summarize what you know,
what you have said, with respect to
Mr. Liberto, and I gather in many ways it was
a limited -- in terms of the matters we're
concerned about, you really had very limited
contact with him or very limited
conversation.
A. Right.
Q. I'd just like to move forward on
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that. Mr. Garrison may have some other
questions. He can take them up later.
Could you tell us where you worked
in 1967 and 1968?
A. Where I was in that period?
Q. Where you worked during that period,
1967 and 1968.
A. In Millington.
Q. What was the name of the
establishment?
A. No, you are speaking of the early
1970's when I had the pizza parlor?
Lavada's.
Q. Could we just move back. Before you
had the pizza parlor, you worked during the
time in Millington?
A. Millington Telephone Company.
Q. Right. How long were you there?
A. Oh, off and on probably thirty-five
years or so.
Q. When did you go into the pizza parlor
or the restaurant business?
A. In 19 -- well, in 1975 I owned a
florist on the same corner where I had the
pizza parlor. Then I left my husband. I
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don't know if that makes any difference.
But, anyway, in 1976 is when I divorced him,
and then the latter part of 1976 is when I
opened the pizza parlor.
Q. All right. What was the address of
that pizza parlor?
A. 3411 Macon.
Q. 3411 Macon?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. What sort of food did you
serve there?
A. I had a hot breakfast, sausage,
biscuits, homemade gravy and so forth, then
we had a hot lunch, hot plate lunch. Mostly
in the evenings it was pizza.
Q. What were the hours of business?
A. Six in the a.m. until whenever.
Q. Very long day?
A. Right.
Q. Did you serve lunch as well?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you have a dinner menu, did
you serve dinner?
A. No, we just had a hot plate lunch.
Q. Just a hot plate lunch?
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A. Uh-huh. The kitchen was small. We
didn't -- we just had a hot lunch, and that
was it.
Q. Now, when did you first meet
Mr. Frank Liberto?
A. Probably in -- well, after I opened
the pizza parlor. He didn't come by when I
had the flower shop there. He sold me
produce. Then he came by for breakfast.
Then I had seen him down at the Scott Street
Market. He was what we call the tomato man
there. He sold a lot of tomatoes.
Q. Do you know the name of his company
on Scott Street during that time?
A. No. I don't remember. I just know
where it was located, but I don't remember.
Q. Would the name L & L mean anything to
you, Liberto & Latch Brothers?
A. No. You'd see the Liberto names down
there, but that didn't mean anything to me.
Q. So you met him in a business way, you
bought produce from him?
A. Right.
Q. Did he deliver produce to your
restaurant?
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A. Yes. Apparently he went to work
early in the morning, and he dropped my
tomatoes and different things off, and he
would eat breakfast while he was there. Then
after awhile he would eat and sit around and
talk for awhile like a lot of people did.
Q. All right. So he would come by
early. What hour of the morning would he
come by?
A. I'm just speculating. I'm going to
say somewhere around seven, somewhere around
there.
Q. Did he live nearby?
A. I don't know where he lived.
Q. When he came by early in the morning
and dropped off the produce, he had
breakfast?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Did you cook breakfast for him?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he have a regular type of
breakfast that he had?
A. No. He didn't have a regular
breakfast. Mr. Frank was a big man. He was
like on a bland diet most of the time. He
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would have like scrambled eggs and dry toast,
coffee, occasionally orange juice, and then
I'd fix oatmeal for him.
Q. Now, when you first met him, let's
put that in a time frame. Which year would
that have actually been?
A. I'm saying probably early 1977.
Q. Early 1977?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay.
A. Because he started coming by about
the time I opened the restaurant there, and
that was in 1977, the early part.
Q. Could you estimate his age at that
time?
A. No, I couldn't. I don't know.
Q. That's fair enough. It is very
difficult in some people.
A. He didn't have a lot of wrinkles. He
didn't have as many as I've got right now.
Let's put it like that.
Q. He'd come in and have breakfast, and
then he would go off to his place of
business. Would you see him every day?
A. Not every day. Most every day,
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though. And sometimes he would come back for
lunch. You just would look up, and there he
was. He didn't have a certain time that he
came in.
Q. He'd drop in for lunch. Did he ever
drop in in the afternoon on his way home or
after the business was closed?
A. Yes.
Q. What time would that be as a rule?
A. I don't remember. But I just
remember that he was smoking a cigar when he
came in and he would have like his dress
clothes on. When I say "dress clothes," he'd
have a sport shirt and pants. A lot of times
when he would come in, he would have his
overalls on, bib overalls. When he had on a
sport shirt, I considered that his dress
clothes.
Q. When he came in late in the afternoon
when he was on his way home, would he eat
then as well?
A. No.
Q. What would he do then? Did he
drink --
A. He would drink beer.
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Q. He would drink beer?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. And would he drink much beer or --
A. I don't recall. It has been so long,
seventeen, eighteen years ago.
Q. How long would he likely stay?
A. I don't remember. Just different
times.
Q. All right. Where would you -- would
you actually be serving him? Would you be
behind the counter serving him? How would
you interact with him?
A. Like in the early morning, if he had
produce on his truck, well, like the pizza
parlor was on the corner, and the door was
here in the corner of the building, and then
there was big windows over here and big
windows over here, and Mr. Frank would park
his truck right by these windows. And there
was a table next to the windows where he
would watch his produce. He would sit there
early in the morning.
Q. And would you serve him?
A. Yes. But it was like a family type
thing. After I served him, you just would
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sit down and talk. It was like a round
table. Everyone would just gather around at
times.
Q. You gradually became involved in
conversation with him when he was around?
A. Right.
Q. You came to know him, actually?
A. Right.
Q. As a regular customer?
A. Yes.
Q. As you have many others, I'm sure.
Did you have other staff working in the
restaurant at that time?
A. Yes.
Q. Who were the other staff and what did
they do?
A. I had, well, the cook, and she is
dead now, by the way, Emma. I can't remember
her name. Then there was Lewis Monticelli,
he worked, Nathan, my son, worked. We had a
couple of waitresses, Thelma Smith, a
red-head, and there was another one, Annette
something. I can't remember her name.
Q. Now, I understand at one time, one
point in the course of your interaction with
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Mr. Liberto when he was in your restaurant,
the killing of Martin Luther King came up.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did it come up more than once in your
presence or was it only one time?
A. Only one time.
Q. Only one time. And do you recall
when that was?
A. No, sir, I don't.
Q. The year?
A. No.
Q. What prompted the discussion?
A. I had a TV up in the front part of
the pizza parlor, and we were sitting at a
table, and something came on TV about Martin
Luther King, and I don't recall what it was.
But he said in a low voice to me, he said, I
had Martin Luther King killed. I said, don't
be telling me anything like that, I don't
want to hear it and I don't believe it
anyway. And I got up and walked away.
That's the only time he ever mentioned it and
I ever mentioned it to him either.
(End of deposition testimony
that was read into the record.)
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MR. GARRISON: That's all I
have, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you have anything
to add to that?
MR. PEPPER: None. Nothing,
Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Next
order of business.
MR. GARRISON: The only other
thing I have is the testimony of Mr. Ray, and
I prefer to start it all in one day so the
jury wouldn't forget what they heard. It's
rather lengthy testimony.
THE COURT: All right. Monday
morning at -- what do we have? We'll just
start Monday at 10 then. Ladies and
Gentlemen, we'll resume Monday at 10
o'clock.
(Court adjourned unil Monday,
December 6, 1999, at 10 o'clock a.m.)
DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD
(901) 529-1999