MLK Consipiracy Trial Transcript

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SHELBY COUNTY,

TENNESSEE FOR THE THIRTIETH JUDICIAL

DISTRICT AT MEMPHIS

_______________________________________________

CORETTA SCOTT KING, et al,

Plaintiffs,

Vs. Case No. 97242

LOYD JOWERS, et al,

Defendants.

_______________________________________________

PROCEEDINGS

November 16th, 1999

VOLUME II

_______________________________________________

Before the Honorable James E. Swearengen,

Division 4, judge presiding.

_______________________________________________

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI,

RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

COURT REPORTERS

Suite 2200, One Commerce Square

Memphis, Tennessee 38103

(901) 529-1999

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

- APPEARANCES -

For the Plaintiff: DR. WILLIAM PEPPER

Attorney at Law

New York City, New York

For the Defendant:

MR. LEWIS GARRISON

Attorney at Law

Memphis, Tennessee

Court Reported by:

MR. BRIAN F. DOMINSKI

Certificate of Merit

Registered Professional

Reporter

Daniel, Dillinger,

Dominski, Richberger &

Weatherford

22nd Floor

One Commerce Square

Memphis, Tennessee 38103

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

- INDEX -

WITNESS: PAGE/LINE NUMBER

CORETTA KING

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:........................ 53 22

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:...................... 70 15

COBEY SMITH

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:........................ 75 10

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:...................... 96 16

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:........................ 101 4

CHARLES CABBAGE

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:........................ 102 10

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 121 7

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 127 18

JOHN McFERREN

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 132 5

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 155 10

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 159 9

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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NATHAN WHITLOCK

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 160 9

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:..................... 184 4

THOMAS SMITH

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 185 14

CHARLES HURLEY

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:....................... 192 15

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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PROCEEDINGS

(November 16th, 1999, 10:15 a.m.)

MR. PERA: Your Honor, good

morning. I have a couple preliminary matters

related to the matter you have on trial.

May I address the Court this

morning?

THE COURT: Let me get my orders

first.

MR. PERA: Okay. I thought

that was done, Your Honor. That's why I

approached.

THE COURT: Any additional

orders?

Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Pera.

MR. PERA: As you know, I'm

Lucian Pera. I represent the Commercial

Appeal. First, your Honor, I have an order

on yesterday's proceedings as to our motion

for access -- I have served this on counsel

for the parties -- that both grants -- both

denies my motion for access, grants our

status as an intervenor for our limited

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purpose and grants the Rule 9 motion that you

orally granted yesterday.

THE COURT: All right.

MR. PERA: Does that meet with

your approval, your Honor?

There are two other matters, your

Honor, I want to present. One is a motion we

filed this morning.

As I understand it, although, of

course, I wasn't here and my client wasn't in

the courtroom, voir dire has been completed.

We have moved -- filed a motion with

the Court, I'm not sure if the Court has

received it yet, for access -- immediate

access as soon as practicable to the

transcript of voir dire proceedings. We have

filed a motion and would ask the Court to

grant us immediate access to the transcript

of the voir dire proceedings held in this

case.

THE COURT: Denied.

MR. PERA: Denied?

THE COURT: Uh-huh.

MR. PERA: May I, Your Honor --

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I'll obviously give a moment to counsel. I'm

anticipating one of two possible results.

I've actually prepared an order. Since I

know my client may be interested in an

appeal, I will share this with Mr. Pepper and

Mr. Garrison.

There is one other matter, Your

Honor. That is my partner Ms. Leizure is in

a better position to address it than I. We

know the Court has granted access to the

trial to the broadcast media, but under Rule

30 we would also, as the Court knows, do use

still photographers and would request and

have filed a motion yesterday afternoon by

access by one of our still photographers to

the courtroom.

If the Court needs to hear that

addressed from a legal point of view under

Rule 30, my partner, Ms. Leizure, can address

that.

THE COURT: As for still

photography, I'll have to refer to the rule,

which does allow it, but it is limited.

MS. LEIZURE: Your Honor, I

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believe the provisions are that you can limit

it to two still photographers.

THE COURT: Who are you?

MS. LEIZURE: I'm sorry, Your

Honor. I'm Kathy Leizure. I'm Mr. Pera's

partner. I represent the Commercial Appeal.

THE COURT: Kathy who?

MS. LEIZURE: I'm Kathy

Leizure. I believe the provision is, your

Honor, you can limit it to two still

photographers who are using no more than two

cameras each.

THE COURT: I intend to abide by

the rule.

MS. LEIZURE: Okay, Your Honor.

THE COURT: It says if there are

more than two, if we're going to have still

photography in the courtroom, you'll have to

work it out among yourselves. If they can't

work it out among themselves, then I'm going

to disallow all of it.

MS. LEIZURE: I understand, Your

Honor. There is a provision in here for

pooling arrangements, which I would be happy

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to try to work out if I know, you know, what

other media have been granted access pursuant

to this rule for still photography purposes.

THE COURT: I intend to abide by

the rules. It is for that same reason that I

disallowed the presence of media during the

jury selection.

All right. Assuming that there are

no others who want to have still

photographers in the room, I'll allow yours,

but if it comes to a point where there are

more than the rule allows, if you can work it

out among yourselves, I'll do that. If not,

as I said, I'm going to disallow all of them,

because I'm not going to become involved in a

dispute over who can and who cannot.

MS. LEISURE: I understand, Your

Honor. I understand. So I will advise my

client that they can bring the still

photographer in within the provisions, the

criteria and guidelines of the rules.

THE COURT: The other thing is

that I have instructed all of them that they

are not to photograph my jury.

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MS. LEIZURE: That's right.

That's certainly a provision that is in the

rule. That's understood.

THE COURT: Yes.

MR. PEPPER: May I be heard,

Your Honor?

MR. PERA: I've provided this

order --

THE COURT: Just a moment. Go

ahead, Mr. Pepper.

MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Your

Honor. Your Honor, the family has its own

still photographer who would like to be

present in the courtroom and will abide by

all of the rules. It is Mr. Benedict

Fernandez, who for nearly forty years has

followed the history of Dr. King's work and

these proceedings.

THE COURT: All right. Those

two, then.

MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Your

Honor.

MR. PERA: Mr. Pepper, is this

order okay.

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MR. PEPPER: Yes.

MR. PERA: Your Honor, if I

could pass the order for immediate access to

is the transcript. Mr. Garrison and

Mr. Pepper have approved that order, although

I haven't actually signed that original.

Thank you, your Honor. I appreciate

you hearing us.

THE COURT: Yes. Mr. Garrison,

are you ready?

MR. GARRISON: Yes, Your Honor.

THE COURT: Mr. Pepper?

MR. PEPPER: Yes.

THE COURT: Bring the jury out,

Mr. Sheriff.

(Jury in.)

THE COURT: Good morning, ladies

and gentlemen. Glad to see that everybody

made it this morning. Yesterday I

inadvertently omitted one of the Court

personnel. I should have introduced him. I

have to constantly remind him that I'm

elected by the residents of Shelby County and

that he is not my boss. It is my court

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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clerk, Mr. Brian Bailey over here. I think I

introduced everybody else.

Before we begin the trial, I'm going

to give you some preliminary facts that you

can refer to during the course of this

trial. Before the trial begins, I'm going to

give you some instructions to help you

understand how the case will proceed, what

your duties many be, and how you should

conduct yourselves during the trial.

When I have completed these

instructions, the attorneys will make their

opening statements. These statements will be

brief outlines of what the attorneys expect

to be evidence.

After the opening statements, you

will hear the evidence. The evidence

generally consists of the numbered exhibits

and testimony of witnesses. The plaintiffs

will present evidence first. The defendant

will then be given the opportunity to present

evidence.

Normally the plaintiff presents all

of the plaintiff's evidence before the other

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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parties present any evidence. Exceptions are

sometimes made out of this usually to

accommodate a witness.

The witnesses will testify in

response to questions from the attorneys.

Witnesses are first asked questions by the

party who calls the witness to testify, and

then other parties are permitted to

cross-examine the witness.

Although evidence is preserved my

asking questions, the questions themselves

are not evidence. Any insinuation contained

in a question is not evidence. You should

consider a question only as it gives meaning

to the witness' answer.

Evidence may be presented by

deposition. A deposition is testimony taken

under oath before the trial and preserved in

writing or sometimes it will be videotaped.

During the trial objections may be

made to the evidence or trial procedures. I

may sustain objections to questions asked

without permitting the witness to answer or I

may instruct you to disregard an answer that

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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has been given.

In deciding this case you may not

draw an inference from an unanswered

question, and you may not consider testimony

that you are instructed to disregard.

Any arguments about objection or

motions are usually required to be made by

the attorneys out of the hearing of the

jury. Information may be excluded because it

is not legally admissible. Excluded

information cannot be considered in reaching

your decision.

A ruling that is made on an

objection or motion will be based solely upon

the law. You must not infer from a ruling

that I hold any view or opinion for or

against any parties to this lawsuit.

When all of the evidence has been

presented to you, the attorneys will make

their closing arguments. The attorneys will

point out to you what they contend the

evidence has shown, what inferences you

should draw from the evidence and what

conclusions you should reach as your

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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verdict.

The plaintiff will make the first

argument and will be followed by the

defendant. Plaintiff will then respond to

the defendant's arguments. Unless you are

otherwise instructed, statements made by the

attorneys are not evidence. Those statements

are made only to help you understand the

evidence and apply the law to the evidence.

You should ignore any statement that is not

supported by the evidence.

After the arguments are made, I will

instruct you on the rulings of law that apply

to the case. It is your function as jurors

to determine what facts -- what the facts are

and apply the rules of law that I have given

you to the facts that you have found.

You will determine the facts from

all of the evidence. You are the sole and

exclusive judges of the facts. On the other

hand, you are required to accept the rules of

law that I give you, whether you agree with

them or not.

As the sole judge of the facts, you

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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must determine which of the witness'

testimony you accept, what weight you attach

to it and what inferences you will draw from

it. The law does not, however, require you

to accept all of the evidence in deciding

what evidence you will accept.

You must make your own evaluation of

the testimony given by each of the witnesses

and determine the weight you will give to

that testimony. You must decide which

witnesses you believe and how important you

think their testimony is. You are not

required to accept or reject everything a

witness says. You are free to believe all,

none or part of any person's testimony.

In deciding which testimony you

believe, you should rely on your own common

sense and every-day experiences. There is no

fixed set of rules to use in deciding whether

you believe a witness, but it may help you to

think of the following questions: Was the

witness able to see, hear or be aware of the

things about which the witness testifies?

How well was the witness able to recall and

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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describe those things? How long was the

witness watching or listening? Was the

witness distracted in any way? Did the

witness have a good memory?

How did the witness look and act

while testifying? Was the witness making an

honest effort to tell the truth or did the

witness evade questions? Did the witness

have an interest in the outcome of the case?

Did the witness have any motive,

bias or prejudice that would influence the

witness' testimony? How reasonable was the

witness' testimony when you consider all of

the evidence in the case?

There are certain rules that would

apply concerning your conduct during the

trial and during recesses that you should

keep in mind. First, do not conduct your own

investigation into the case, although you may

be tempted do so.

For example, do not visit the scene

of an incident, read any books or articles

concerning any issue in the case or consult

any other source of information. If you were

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to do that, you would be getting information

that is not evidence. You must decide the

case only on the evidence and law presented

to you during the trial.

Any juror who receives any

information about the case other than that

presented at the trial must notify the Court

immediately. Do not discuss the case either

among yourselves or with anyone else during

the trial.

You must keep an open mind until you

have heard all the evidence, the attorneys'

closing arguments and my final instructions

concerning the law. Any discussion before

the conclusion of the case would be premature

and improper.

Do not permit any other person to

discuss the case in your presence. If anyone

does attempt to do so, report that fact to

the Court immediately without discussing the

incident with any of the other jurors. Do

not speak to any of the attorneys, parties or

witnesses in the case even for the limited

purpose of saying good morning. They are

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also instructed not to talk to you. In no

other way can all of the parties feel assured

of your absolute impartiality.

All right. There are a couple of

additional comments I would like to make. I

know that when you are over in the big room,

the jury commissioner probably tells you

don't ever leave anything lying around. I

just want you to know that we have not had

any unhappy experiences, that your personal

affects are considered to be safe in the jury

room.

So if you have sweaters or coats or

lunches or whatever else, then you can feel

pretty safe leaving them back there while you

are here or while you are gone to lunch.

Also, if we need to take a comfort

break, let us know and we'll be glad to

accommodate you. We want to make this a

pleasant experience for everyone.

We would ask you to be on time

whenever we are supposed to congregate. We'd

hate to have to be waiting on someone who is

disrespectful of the others and for some

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

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reason couldn't make it on time.

Finally, I know that sometimes,

usually after lunch, but any time of day you

can become weary and just can't keep your

eyes open. So I am going to designate each

of you and authorize you to nudge your

neighbor if you catch them dozing on us.

All right. As I promised, the

attorneys will give their opening statements,

that is, they will tell you what they expect

the proof to be in this case. After they

have done that, we will begin to hear the

proof.

As I told you, this is a case on

conspiracy. Conspiracy I guess in general

terms would mean carrying out a design or

plan where two or more have agreed to commit

an act to do injury or damage. And the

planning, of course, is not enough. They

have to, in addition to the planning, do an

act pursuant to that plan in order to be a

co-conspirator.

All right. The plaintiff will

begin. Then after the defendant has given

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their opening statement, we will start to

hear the proof in the case.

Mr. Pepper.

MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Your

Honor.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen

of the jury. On the 3rd of April, 1968,

loving husband, father of four young children

kissed his family goodbye and left for

Memphis, Tennessee. He would never return.

They would never see him alive again.

On the 4th of April, 1968,

approximately one minute past six in the

evening as he stood on a balcony overlooking

a parking area of the Lorraine Motel, he was

felled by a single bullet, never regained

consciousness and died shortly thereafter.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the

beginning of this story. The plaintiff in

this case, the victim, was a husband and a

father, but he also was a prophetic figure in

American history. He had been a civil rights

leader as a young man after school and in his

early pastor's years, but he moved beyond

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that calling, beyond that calling on behalf

of the poor in the southern part of this

country, in this area of this country, to

become an international figure concerned with

the plight of poor people, economic injustice

and with the issues of peace and war.

So as he grew in his leadership and

his calling, he was awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize. With that award he became truly an

international figure, not a regional pastor

fighting for justice on behalf of his

people. He then turned his attention to the

plight of poor people and the effect of war.

He came out strongly during the last

year of his life to oppose the war in Vietnam

because he saw it destroying an ancient

culture and civilization that had so much in

common with the plight of black people and

the poor everywhere in the world. So he

opposed that war.

He also turned his attention to the

plight of poor people, the growing numbers of

poor in the United States, and had put

together a poor people's campaign that was to

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descend on Washington D.C. in the spring of

1968, the very spring in which he was

assassinated. That March an encampment did

come off but without its leader. As such, it

is history now that it did not have the

impact that it might have had on the Congress

of the United States. The victim was, of

course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..

The defendant in this case, Mr. Loyd

Jowers, who owned Jim's Grill, which was at

the ground floor of a rooming house on South

Main Street in Memphis at the time. It no

longer exists, but the building is still

there. Your Honor has quite correctly

advised you not to go near the scene of this

crime because it has changed so much over the

years. It would only be very confusing for

you. That is the reason for that

instruction.

At that time and now that building

backed onto an area, like a vacant lot area

or a backyard. That backyard was covered

with brush and bushes, and beyond it was the

Lorraine Motel and the balcony on which

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Martin Luther King stood when he was

assassinated. The defendant managed and

owned that grill, and the plaintiffs will

attempt to prove that the wrongful acts and

conduct of this defendant led to the death of

Martin Luther King from behind his very

premises, from the bushes, the brush in that

area.

Now, by way of disclosure to you,

counsel for both parties have agreed not to

conduct any interviews with the media, not to

talk to the press at all, during the course

of this trial. The Court has so instructed

you with respect to that.

We think that is a most important

instruction, and, in addition, plaintiffs

would hope that you would think carefully

about the issues of this case and the facts

that are presented and the evidence that

comes before you and not considering what is

on television or radio or in the newspapers

regarding this case.

We would ask you please consider

staying away from any coverage of that sort

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and make your decision solely on what you

hear in this courtroom. It is most

important.

Also by way of disclosure I have the

obligation to tell you that I was a friend

and a colleague of the victim in this case

during only the last year of his life. Years

later I began to look into the facts of this

case and ultimately became convinced that the

man accused of the crime was not guilty and

undertook to represent him and was his lawyer

for the last ten years of his life.

He died in prison, never having a

trial on the evidence in the case. And the

plaintiff family decided that this man also

was innocent of the crime and decided to come

out and support a trial for him a few years

before he died.

Now, the Court has properly

instructed you with respect to the nature of

the evidence. There will be mostly live

witnesses, but there will also be some

deposition evidence that you will hear, some

affidavits, some public statements, and the

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Court will advise you as to the range of

voracity you should put on any evidence that

is admitted in this Court. But it will not

all be live testimony, although indeed most

of it will.

With respect to the plaintiff's

proof, it is -- the case will be divided into

a variety of sections. It is important to us

that you consider those sections in the order

as it appears. There will be a general

introductory background area of the case that

will familiarize yourself with what led up to

this wrongful death so that will be hopefully

as clear to you as can be.

There will then be evidence laid

before you that will indicate that in fact

the fatal bullet was fired from the brush

area behind the rooming house, from a row of

bushes that were very tall and thick where a

sniper lay in wait and fired the shot. So

that section will deal with the bushes.

There will be a section of proof

that will deal with the rifle that is in

evidence that is alleged to have caused the

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death of Dr. King. And the proof that the

plaintiffs will put forward will demonstrate

to you that in fact the rifle in evidence is

not the murder weapon and that the murder

weapon was disposed of in another way.

Plaintiffs will advance proof that

there were a number of other people

involved. As Your Honor has correctly told

you, of course a conspiracy involves more

than one. Whilst this case is focusing in a

civil court on Mr. Jowers as the defendant,

there were other people involved. And some

of those individuals will be developed in

evidence.

In particular one individual will be

developed in evidence who was critical to the

coordination of a lot of these activities and

who is beyond the reach of this Court,

although will be invited, has been invited,

and will be invited to attend, but was a part

of this conspiracy, this collaboration with

Mr. Jowers.

Now, defendants have in their

answer, their amended answer, indicated that

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if liability results, and counsel has

mentioned that yesterday, if liability

results, attaches to his client, that it

should also attach to other agencies and

individuals.

Because that door is open,

plaintiffs will advance evidence of the

extent and the scope of this conspiracy so

that you understand the umbrella under which

the defendant was operating, so it is clear

to you the kind of total picture in which he

found himself as he carried out his wrongful

acts which led to this death.

One indication of this conspiracy,

why we are here thirty-one years later in

this courtroom in Memphis, Tennessee, is the

suppression of the truth, the cover-up that

has lasted for so long and the effects of

that cover-up in terms of people learning the

truth and courts, such as this Court, being

able to entertain proceedings designed to

unearth that truth.

This cover-up itself and that

section of the case would show you

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indications of the wrong and will relate

directly to the wrong itself that we are

proving here and alleging here.

Now, because these witnesses will

come from various parts of the country and

various parts of the world, I must say, we've

had to adjust to various schedules of

people. So to some extent the evidence you

hear up there may be disjointed. But what I

ask you to consider is that each of the

witnesses who testify with respect to facts

will be putting forward to you a particular

piece of this puzzle. And they are being

called only for -- he or she will be called

only for that particular piece. So you must

discern what that is in each instance.

Yes, there will be an introductory

statement so that you get to know the witness

and who the witness is, get a feeling for

whether he or she is credible. But beyond

that there will be a piece of information.

It would be very useful in our view

for you, if you could, to take notes in the

course of these proceedings. I know the

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State I understand does not provide you with

note paper or pads in this jurisdiction. But

if you could provide yourselves with them

just to make notes of particular facts that

you think are relevant that a witness has

testified to or an exhibit that you might

want to look at further or later on during

deliberations, that would be very helpful to

you when you begin to refresh your own

recollections, because there will be a lot of

information coming out.

There will be a great deal of

information coming out from a number of

witnesses. You may very well expect to

forget some of it unless you have noted it

down so you understand what they said. I

urge you to consider using that, to use some

mechanical way of recalling what has

happened. I think that's basically it.

I think plaintiffs believe that as a

result of the evidence you will hear in this

courtroom, that finally the truth will emerge

in respect of the assassination of Martin

Luther King, Jr. He often said that

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truth-crushed earth will rise again. Well, I

think plaintiffs sincerely hope that the

truth will be resurrected in this courtroom.

And that as a result of the truth being

resurrected in this courtroom, the events,

those horrible events of April 4th, 1968,

will be unearthed and seen and understood.

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare

yourselves for the resurrection of truth with

respect to that horrible day, April 4, 1968.

And I suggest to you that some of the

evidence you hear may go to the essence of

this Republic and may in fact shake some of

the foundations of this Republic. So

important is this case, so important is the

evidence, please consider it carefully and

well.

We seek a verdict of liability

against the defendant because he played a

critical role in these events. But it goes

well beyond him. And we're prepared to

acknowledge and to establish that.

Thank you.

THE COURT: Mr. Garrison.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

MR. GARRISON: If Your Honor

please and Dr. Pepper and ladies and

gentlemen, as you know, I'm Lewis Garrison.

I represent Mr. Jowers, who is the defendant

in this case.

I'd like to say this: I started

forty years ago in this practice of law in

August, and on April the 6th, 1968, I was

about three hundred feet from this very spot

in my desk when Dr. King was assassinated.

Now, Dr. Pepper and I agree on

probably eighty percent of the things that he

is advocating and stating to you. There are

some areas that we do not agree upon. I'll

touch on those now.

Ladies and gentlemen, April 4th,

1968, this city was racially divided.

November 16, 1999, it is still racially

divided. I'm sorry to tell you, it is. It

is an error we need to work on, and I hope

this trial will bring out some things that

perhaps will have some bearing on that.

Mr. Jowers has been around the City

of Memphis a long time. He is a former

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

police officer. When this occurred in 1968,

he was operating a small restaurant called

Jim's Grill.

Now, you'll find that any part that

he -- he has conferred with Mr. Dexter King

and Ambassador Young and told them some

things that he knew and heard, but I think

you will find that he was a very small part,

if any -- if any -- in the assassination of

Dr. King. He was simply operating a little

restaurant down on South Main Street.

Anything that Mr. Jowers may have had to do

with this certainly was unknown to him.

He was never told that the target of

an assassination was Dr. King. Certainly his

feelings are that he was at sympathy with

Dr. King and certainly for the things that

Dr. King was seeking.

Certainly Ms. King and her family

have been made to suffer more than any family

should. There is no question about that.

They've had to go through more than a family

should have to go through. We're certainly

in sympathy with them and have always been,

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

always have been behind Dr. King and the

things that he was seeking.

When I was growing up, not too far

from here, we had separate rest rooms,

separate water fountains, those type things,

separate schools. It doesn't seem like it

was very long ago. But after Dr. King came

along, those things came to some extent, but

we still take too much of our rights for

granted. It has not always been the way it

is now.

In this trial you will hear from

different persons that will bring forth

things that you probably never heard before.

For instance, there will be a police officer

that will testify here about the United

States government sending in agents just

before Dr. King's assassination. You'll hear

a lady here testify about a police officer

who was her husband who was very prejudiced

against people whose skin was not white.

You'll hear, ladies and gentlemen,

from a gentleman who will also tell you that

he had a chance to be with Mr. James Earl Ray

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

for some months before the assassination, and

he'll provide information to you as to what

Mr. Ray disclosed to him as to how he escaped

from the Missouri prison, who helped him, and

the purpose of it.

I think, ladies and gentlemen,

you'll find in this case that Mr. Jowers was

a very, very small cog in a big wheel, if he

was a party at all. He never knowingly did

anything that would have caused the death of

Dr. King or brought any hardship on Ms. King

or her family.

Now, this has been a long process.

I've been involved it seems like forever. It

has been many, many years. Dr. Pepper has

been involved in this three times as long as

I have. But this is the final chapter.

Whatever historians may write, your verdict

will be the final chapter in this case.

So in this case I think when you

hear all the testimony here and all the proof

that Dr. Pepper will offer and I'll offer,

I'm going to be able to stand here and ask

you not only if you find that Mr. Jowers had

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

anything to do with it, but there are others

who are much more responsible than he was who

knew what they were doing and who brought

about the commission of this hate crime.

That's what it was. And that others

are responsible and that they should be held

liable instead of Mr. Jowers. It will be an

interesting trial. I think that you will

certainly find it interesting, and I hope

that you do.

If you will listen attentively,

because this is a very important case in the

history of this country.

Thank you.

THE COURT: Mr. Pepper, call

your first witness, please.

MR. PEPPER: Plaintiffs call

Mrs. Coretta Scott King to the stand.

CORETTA SCOTT KING

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Good morning, Mrs. King.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

A. Good morning.

Q. Thank you for being here. I realize

how stressful it is at the time, particularly

because of the gauntlet of the media out

there. We're grateful for your presence.

Could you just tell us by way of

background what was the purpose of Dr. King's

visit to Memphis, his involvement in Memphis

and his coming here in 1968.

A. Martin came to Memphis to support the

sanitation workers who were engaged in a

strike for better wages and working

conditions. He felt it was important to come

to support them because they were working

poor people.

Q. And how did the sanitation workers'

strike and his support for that fit into the

Poor People's March in Washington which had

been planned for later on, the spring?

A. He felt that it was important that he

give his support to them because they were a

part of what he was really struggling to get

the nation to understand, that people work

full-time jobs but in a sense for part-time

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

pay. Even people who were poor who worked

could not make a decent living. So they

would then be invited to join the

mobilization for the campaign which was to be

held in Washington.

Q. Right. And was this support -- his

support for the sanitation workers in Memphis

and the plans for the Poor People's March in

Washington to be covered by the umbrella of

non-violence at all times?

A. Absolutely. He felt that -- as you

know, his whole life was dedicated to

non-violent struggle. Any time there was

violence of any kind, it was very disturbing

to him, and he disavowed it completely and

whenever he had an opportunity to.

He dedicated his life to helping

people to understand the philosophy of

non-violence, which he lived it as a way of

life. And so when he came to Memphis --

I don't know, Counsel, should I

mention that he -- I don't want to get ahead

of myself, but when he came to Memphis the

first time and there was a march that he led

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

which his organization had very little to do

with planning, that broke out in violence.

It was very, very upsetting to him

because most of the marches, I would say all

of them, that he had led had always been

mobilized with the support of the National

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

staff. Therefore, they were aware of any

problems, any controversies that might exist,

conflicts between groups and among groups.

But he came that day from a trip,

got off the plane and went straight to the

head of the march. Of course, the march did

break out in violence. It was most

disturbing to him.

So when he -- when this happened, he

felt that it was very important for him to

return to Memphis to lead a peaceful,

non-violent march before he could go forth to

Washington. He had to demonstrate that a

non-violent march, a peaceful march, could

take place in Memphis because of the

criticisms that were being leveled at that

time.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

Q. So he returned to Memphis that last

time because of the violence that broke out

on the march of March 28th, and he was

determined, from what you are saying, to

restore the position of non-violence to the

movement?

A. Yes, that's correct.

Q. Did he attribute -- did he have any

idea why that march on March 28th turned

violent? Did he have any notion of what

caused that?

A. Well, I think he became aware that

there was a local -- well, he thought at the

time what was a local group of young people

who really precipitated the violence. The

feeling was that there were some forces

behind them, that they were not just persons

who decided that they would throw rocks and

break windows.

Q. Now, what was behind or underlay his

decision to come out against the war in

Vietnam and to take on such a public

political posture, if you will, which was

quite a different change for him?

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

A. I must say that my husband had wanted

to speak out against the war in Vietnam for

many years before he actually did do so. He

always -- he understood the conflict that

existed in Vietnam from its inception. And

he realized that it was an unjust war in the

first place. Then it was being fought

against, you know, people of color who were

poor. And wars, of course, for him didn't

solve any social problems but created more

problems than they solved.

He felt that this particular war was

not -- we could not win. Of course, history

proved him right within a very short period

of time after he spoke out. As a matter of

fact, one year after he spoke out against the

war, he was vindicated in that the nation had

reversed itself and its policy toward that

war.

That was April 4th, 1968, when he

actually spoke out against the war in his

first public statement. But he said he had

to do it because his conscience -- he could

no longer live with his conscience without

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

taking a position. He felt that doing so,

perhaps he could help to mobilize other

public opinion in support of his position,

which was, again, against the war.

Q. Do you recall the reaction of other

civil rights leaders at that time when he

came out against the war?

A. Yes, I do. Civil rights leaders,

other opinion makers, all criticized him,

both black and white. It was certainly --

certainly he expected it, but he probably

didn't expect some of the people who

criticized him to do so publicly.

His way in the non-violent way was

to privately disagree and to go and talk to

persons which are having a disagreement, but

to be attacked publicly was very difficult

for him. He also knew that if he spoke out,

it would probably affect the support, the

financial support, for his organization, the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

And, of course, it did very

profoundly. He knew that before he took that

risk and that position. So it wasn't

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

surprising, but, nevertheless, it was

painful.

Q. Was there much discussion at the time

about him running for public office because

he was being pushed forward as a third-party

candidate with Dr. Benjamin Spock as an

alternative to Lyndon Johnson's being

returned to office at that time? What do you

recall about him moving in that direction of

more serious political activity?

A. Well, I was aware of the fact that

there was talk about his running for public

office. It was interesting because from what

I knew of him, I never thought that he would

run for public office. Just knowing the kind

of person he was, and because, you know,

politics is very important and necessary, but

he would be freer to make statements

according to his conscience if he didn't run

for public office, and because he was

Christian minister and because he took his

commitment so seriously, I felt that it would

have been difficult for him.

But at the same time I remember him

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

saying that because of the criticisms that he

had gotten as he had spoken out against the

war, the media had stopped carrying any of

his statements and they didn't understand --

no one was getting his message, because the

message wasn't being carried forth.

There were a number of critical

articles and some cover stories that were

very critical of him at that time. Time

magazine, for instance, did one in 1967 that

was extremely critical. He had been the Time

man of the year in 1964 after the Peace

Prize, and 1957 was the first time, so it

was, again, very painful for him not to be

able to get his message out.

So he said if I did run for office,

it would be one way of getting my message out

because I would have to be given equal time.

The interesting thing about my

husband, he always considered, you know,

every aspect of an issue, both the pros and

the cons. And then he would make his mind up

as to what he would do.

Q. Were there any comments that he made

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

the night before his departure to Memphis,

that last trip, any indications that he had

of potential danger or the seriousness of the

task that he faced in Memphis?

A. I don't remember specific comments in

that regard. But he had -- after he returned

from Memphis after the violence broke out,

which was like on a Friday evening, he went

back on a Tuesday -- he went back on --

Q. He arrived on a Wednesday, the 3rd.

A. -- on Wednesday morning. But in

between that time I was aware of how heavily

it weighed on him, the problem of -- this

whole problem of the sanitation workers'

conflict and what he could do to help by

getting his staff united. Because some of

the staff didn't feel he should go to Memphis

in the first place. He was very strongly in

favor of that.

So he came home late -- I guess it

was Tuesday evening he came in. There was

not time to talk. He got up very early

Wednesday morning to go to Memphis. He

always called me, you know, almost every

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

night when he was on trips, so he didn't say

whole lot about it, but I could tell that he

had a lot of anxiety and it was very heavily

weighing on his mind.

Q. Did he go through these times, and

particularly this last year, manifesting an

awareness that his life was in danger, that

he had taken a path of action now that might

have brought his life into danger?

A. Yes. I think he was aware of that

certainly. I might say he was aware from the

early days after Montgomery, Montgomery

forward, but I think as he got closer toward

this period of his life, he was even more

acutely aware.

Given the positions that he had

taken, he realized that, you know, he could

be killed at any time, but for him, his

commitment to what he believed and to a

higher authority was such that he didn't mind

giving his life for a cause that he believed

in.

He used to say that the end of life

is not to be happy but to do God's will, come

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

what may. So for him being happy was when he

could come out against the war against

Vietnam. He said to a colleague, and I heard

this on the telephone, I was the happiest man

in the world when I could come out personally

against this evil and immoral war, because I

came to a point where I felt that silence was

betrayal.

So that was -- I think that was his

position.

Q. Mrs. King, on March 10th, 1969, one

James Earl Ray entered a guilty plea and was

sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for

the assassination of your husband. Mr. Ray

stayed in prison until he died. But he tried

continually to get a trial.

At one point the family decided to

support an effort for a trial for Mr. Ray.

Why did the family take that position that

late in the day at that point in time?

A. Well, as a matter of fact, it was

because he of new information that we had

received and largely because of the efforts

that you had put forth to investigate a

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

number of these leads that had come out and

found that they were reliable enough.

When we looked at it and

investigated it, we felt then that we had to

take a position. For years we hoped that

somebody else would find out, find the

answers. We wanted to know the truth. But

the truth was elusive.

We wanted to go on with our lives.

We felt the only way we could do it was to

really take the position that we did take,

because the evidence pointed away from Mr.

Ray, not that he might have not had some

involvement but he was not the person we felt

that really actually killed him.

THE COURT: Just a moment. I

see this man aiming a camera at my jury. I

don't know that he has been told not to.

DEPUTY JAMES: I've instructed

him not to take it of the jury.

THE COURT: All right. Go

ahead.

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) What was the general

reaction to the family as a result of that

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

position? Were there animosity? Were there

attacks, lawsuits? What happened to the

family, yourself and the children and the

organization as a result of that position?

A. Well, there were a number of media

articles that were negative toward the

family. As a result of that -- there were

several really and over a period of months,

and as a result of it, we feel that there was

some -- it had affected some of the support

that we might have been able to receive for

the King Center.

Q. Financial support?

A. Financial support, yes.

Q. Contributions?

A. Yes.

Q. Is that similar to what happened to

SCLC back in 1967?

A. That's right.

Q. Mrs. King, why is the family bringing

this action now thirty -- almost thirty-one

years later against the defendant,

Mr. Jowers?

A. Well, it has only been recently that

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

we realized the extent of Mr. Jowers'

involvement. So we felt that it was

important to bring it now. We're all getting

older, I'll say, and, of course, we wanted to

be able to get the truth, as much of it as we

can, out before it gets later.

I don't know how much longer any of

us will be around. That's not given. But

the fact is that my family, my children and

I -- I've always felt that somehow the truth

would be known, and I hoped that I would live

to see it.

And it is important I think for the

sake of healing for so many people, my

family, for other people, for the nation. I

think Martin Luther King, Jr., served this

nation. He was a servant. He gave his -- he

willingly gave his life if it was necessary.

It is important to know, actually not because

we feel a sense of revenge -- we never have.

We have no feeling of bitterness or hatred

toward anybody. But just the fact that if we

know the truth, we can be free, and we can go

on with our lives.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

Q. Mrs. King, is the family seeking a

large monetary award from Mr. Jowers as a

result of this action?

A. No, it is not about money. That's

not the issue. I think what we're concerned

about is the fact that certainly there is

some liability by Mr. Jowers, but we're

concerned about the truth, having the truth

coming out, and in a court of law so that it

can be documented for all. And we were

hoping that this would be one way of getting

to the truth.

MR. PEPPER: Mrs. King, thank

you very much.

MR. GARRISON: If we could

possibly take a short break before I ask my

questions.

THE COURT: Very well. We will

take a fifteen-minute recess.

(Jury out.)

(Short recess.)

THE COURT: Are you ready for

the jury?

MR. GARRISON: Yes, if Your

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

Honor please.

THE COURT: Bring the jury out.

(Jury in.)

THE COURT: All right, ladies

and gentlemen. I would like to read to you

before we begin here the Court rules on

taking notes. You are permitted to take

notes during the trial. You may take notes

only of verbal testimony from witnesses,

including witnesses presented by deposition

or videotape.

You may not take notes during the

opening statements or closing arguments or

take notes of objections made to the

evidence. You may not take notes during

breaks or recesses. Notes may be made only

in open court while witnesses are

testifying. Your notes should not contain

personal reactions or comments but, rather,

should be limited to a brief factual summary

of testimony you think is important.

Please do not let your note-taking

distract you and cause you to miss what the

witness said or how the witness said it.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

pay. Even people who were poor who worked

could not make a decent living. So they

would then be invited to join the

mobilization for the campaign which was to be

held in Washington.

Q. Right. And was this support -- his

support for the sanitation workers in Memphis

and the plans for the Poor People's March in

Washington to be covered by the umbrella of

non-violence at all times?

A. Absolutely. He felt that -- as you

know, his whole life was dedicated to

non-violent struggle. Any time there was

violence of any kind, it was very disturbing

to him, and he disavowed it completely and

whenever he had an opportunity to.

He dedicated his life to helping

people to understand the philosophy of

non-violence, which he lived it as a way of

life. And so when he came to Memphis --

I don't know, Counsel, should I

mention that he -- I don't want to get ahead

of myself, but when he came to Memphis the

first time and there was a march that he led

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

which his organization had very little to do

with planning, that broke out in violence.

It was very, very upsetting to him

because most of the marches, I would say all

of them, that he had led had always been

mobilized with the support of the National

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

staff. Therefore, they were aware of any

problems, any controversies that might exist,

conflicts between groups and among groups.

But he came that day from a trip,

got off the plane and went straight to the

head of the march. Of course, the march did

break out in violence. It was most

disturbing to him.

So when he -- when this happened, he

felt that it was very important for him to

return to Memphis to lead a peaceful,

non-violent march before he could go forth to

Washington. He had to demonstrate that a

non-violent march, a peaceful march, could

take place in Memphis because of the

criticisms that were being leveled at that

time.

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

Q. So he returned to Memphis that last

time because of the violence that broke out

on the march of March 28th, and he was

determined, from what you are saying, to

restore the position of non-violence to the

movement?

A. Yes, that's correct.

Q. Did he attribute -- did he have any

idea why that march on March 28th turned

violent? Did he have any notion of what

caused that?

A. Well, I think he became aware that

there was a local -- well, he thought at the

time what was a local group of young people

who really precipitated the violence. The

feeling was that there were some forces

behind them, that they were not just persons

who decided that they would throw rocks and

break windows.

Q. Now, what was behind or underlay his

decision to come out against the war in

Vietnam and to take on such a public

political posture, if you will, which was

quite a different change for him?

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

A. I must say that my husband had wanted

to speak out against the war in Vietnam for

many years before he actually did do so. He

always -- he understood the conflict that

existed in Vietnam from its inception. And

he realized that it was an unjust war in the

first place. Then it was being fought

against, you know, people of color who were

poor. And wars, of course, for him didn't

solve any social problems but created more

problems than they solved.

He felt that this particular war was

not -- we could not win. Of course, history

proved him right within a very short period

of time after he spoke out. As a matter of

fact, one year after he spoke out against the

war, he was vindicated in that the nation had

reversed itself and its policy toward that

war.

That was April 4th, 1968, when he

actually spoke out against the war in his

first public statement. But he said he had

to do it because his conscience -- he could

no longer live with his conscience without

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

taking a position. He felt that doing so,

perhaps he could help to mobilize other

public opinion in support of his position,

which was, again, against the war.

Q. Do you recall the reaction of other

civil rights leaders at that time when he

came out against the war?

A. Yes, I do. Civil rights leaders,

other opinion makers, all criticized him,

both black and white. It was certainly --

certainly he expected it, but he probably

didn't expect some of the people who

criticized him to do so publicly.

His way in the non-violent way was

to privately disagree and to go and talk to

persons which are having a disagreement, but

to be attacked publicly was very difficult

for him. He also knew that if he spoke out,

it would probably affect the support, the

financial support, for his organization, the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

And, of course, it did very

profoundly. He knew that before he took that

risk and that position. So it wasn't

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

surprising, but, nevertheless, it was

painful.

Q. Was there much discussion at the time

about him running for public office because

he was being pushed forward as a third-party

candidate with Dr. Benjamin Spock as an

alternative to Lyndon Johnson's being

returned to office at that time? What do you

recall about him moving in that direction of

more serious political activity?

A. Well, I was aware of the fact that

there was talk about his running for public

office. It was interesting because from what

I knew of him, I never thought that he would

run for public office. Just knowing the kind

of person he was, and because, you know,

politics is very important and necessary, but

he would be freer to make statements

according to his conscience if he didn't run

for public office, and because he was

Christian minister and because he took his

commitment so seriously, I felt that it would

have been difficult for him.

But at the same time I remember him

DANIEL, DILLINGER, DOMINSKI, RICHBERGER, WEATHERFORD

(901) 529-1999

saying that because of the criticisms that he

had gotten as he had spoken out against the

war, the media had stopped carrying any of

his statements and they didn't understand --

no one was getting his message, because the

message wasn't being carried forth.

There were a number of critical

articles and some cover stories that were

very critical of him at that time. Time

magazine, for instance, did one in 1967 that

was extremely critical. He had been the Time

man of the year in 1964 after the Peace

Prize, and 1957 was the first time, so it

was, again, very painful for him not to be

able to get his message out.

So he said if I did run for office,

it would be one way of getting my message out

because I would have to be given equal time.

The interesting thing about my

husband, he always considered, you know,

every aspect of an issue, both the pros and

the cons. And then he would make his mind up

as to what he would do.

Q. Were there any comments that he made

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the night before his departure to Memphis,

that last trip, any indications that he had

of potential danger or the seriousness of the

task that he faced in Memphis?

A. I don't remember specific comments in

that regard. But he had -- after he returned

from Memphis after the violence broke out,

which was like on a Friday evening, he went

back on a Tuesday -- he went back on --

Q. He arrived on a Wednesday, the 3rd.

A. -- on Wednesday morning. But in

between that time I was aware of how heavily

it weighed on him, the problem of -- this

whole problem of the sanitation workers'

conflict and what he could do to help by

getting his staff united. Because some of

the staff didn't feel he should go to Memphis

in the first place. He was very strongly in

favor of that.

So he came home late -- I guess it

was Tuesday evening he came in. There was

not time to talk. He got up very early

Wednesday morning to go to Memphis. He

always called me, you know, almost every

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night when he was on trips, so he didn't say

whole lot about it, but I could tell that he

had a lot of anxiety and it was very heavily

weighing on his mind.

Q. Did he go through these times, and

particularly this last year, manifesting an

awareness that his life was in danger, that

he had taken a path of action now that might

have brought his life into danger?

A. Yes. I think he was aware of that

certainly. I might say he was aware from the

early days after Montgomery, Montgomery

forward, but I think as he got closer toward

this period of his life, he was even more

acutely aware.

Given the positions that he had

taken, he realized that, you know, he could

be killed at any time, but for him, his

commitment to what he believed and to a

higher authority was such that he didn't mind

giving his life for a cause that he believed

in.

He used to say that the end of life

is not to be happy but to do God's will, come

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what may. So for him being happy was when he

could come out against the war against

Vietnam. He said to a colleague, and I heard

this on the telephone, I was the happiest man

in the world when I could come out personally

against this evil and immoral war, because I

came to a point where I felt that silence was

betrayal.

So that was -- I think that was his

position.

Q. Mrs. King, on March 10th, 1969, one

James Earl Ray entered a guilty plea and was

sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for

the assassination of your husband. Mr. Ray

stayed in prison until he died. But he tried

continually to get a trial.

At one point the family decided to

support an effort for a trial for Mr. Ray.

Why did the family take that position that

late in the day at that point in time?

A. Well, as a matter of fact, it was

because he of new information that we had

received and largely because of the efforts

that you had put forth to investigate a

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number of these leads that had come out and

found that they were reliable enough.

When we looked at it and

investigated it, we felt then that we had to

take a position. For years we hoped that

somebody else would find out, find the

answers. We wanted to know the truth. But

the truth was elusive.

We wanted to go on with our lives.

We felt the only way we could do it was to

really take the position that we did take,

because the evidence pointed away from Mr.

Ray, not that he might have not had some

involvement but he was not the person we felt

that really actually killed him.

THE COURT: Just a moment. I

see this man aiming a camera at my jury. I

don't know that he has been told not to.

DEPUTY JAMES: I've instructed

him not to take it of the jury.

THE COURT: All right. Go

ahead.

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) What was the general

reaction to the family as a result of that

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position? Were there animosity? Were there

attacks, lawsuits? What happened to the

family, yourself and the children and the

organization as a result of that position?

A. Well, there were a number of media

articles that were negative toward the

family. As a result of that -- there were

several really and over a period of months,

and as a result of it, we feel that there was

some -- it had affected some of the support

that we might have been able to receive for

the King Center.

Q. Financial support?

A. Financial support, yes.

Q. Contributions?

A. Yes.

Q. Is that similar to what happened to

SCLC back in 1967?

A. That's right.

Q. Mrs. King, why is the family bringing

this action now thirty -- almost thirty-one

years later against the defendant,

Mr. Jowers?

A. Well, it has only been recently that

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we realized the extent of Mr. Jowers'

involvement. So we felt that it was

important to bring it now. We're all getting

older, I'll say, and, of course, we wanted to

be able to get the truth, as much of it as we

can, out before it gets later.

I don't know how much longer any of

us will be around. That's not given. But

the fact is that my family, my children and

I -- I've always felt that somehow the truth

would be known, and I hoped that I would live

to see it.

And it is important I think for the

sake of healing for so many people, my

family, for other people, for the nation. I

think Martin Luther King, Jr., served this

nation. He was a servant. He gave his -- he

willingly gave his life if it was necessary.

It is important to know, actually not because

we feel a sense of revenge -- we never have.

We have no feeling of bitterness or hatred

toward anybody. But just the fact that if we

know the truth, we can be free, and we can go

on with our lives.

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Q. Mrs. King, is the family seeking a

large monetary award from Mr. Jowers as a

result of this action?

A. No, it is not about money. That's

not the issue. I think what we're concerned

about is the fact that certainly there is

some liability by Mr. Jowers, but we're

concerned about the truth, having the truth

coming out, and in a court of law so that it

can be documented for all. And we were

hoping that this would be one way of getting

to the truth.

MR. PEPPER: Mrs. King, thank

you very much.

MR. GARRISON: If we could

possibly take a short break before I ask my

questions.

THE COURT: Very well. We will

take a fifteen-minute recess.

(Jury out.)

(Short recess.)

THE COURT: Are you ready for

the jury?

MR. GARRISON: Yes, if Your

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Honor please.

THE COURT: Bring the jury out.

(Jury in.)

THE COURT: All right, ladies

and gentlemen. I would like to read to you

before we begin here the Court rules on

taking notes. You are permitted to take

notes during the trial. You may take notes

only of verbal testimony from witnesses,

including witnesses presented by deposition

or videotape.

You may not take notes during the

opening statements or closing arguments or

take notes of objections made to the

evidence. You may not take notes during

breaks or recesses. Notes may be made only

in open court while witnesses are

testifying. Your notes should not contain

personal reactions or comments but, rather,

should be limited to a brief factual summary

of testimony you think is important.

Please do not let your note-taking

distract you and cause you to miss what the

witness said or how the witness said it.

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Remember that some testimony may not appear

to be important to you at the time. The same

testimony, however, may become important

later in the trial.

Your notes are not evidence. You

should not view your notes as authoritative

records or consider them as a transcript of

the testimony. Your notes may be incomplete

or may have certain errors and are not an

exact account of what was said by a witness.

All right. You may proceed,

Mr. Pepper.

Oh, would you like to cross-examine,

Mr. Garrison?

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Good morning, Mrs. King.

A. Goods morning.

Q. Ms. King, you and I met before and

we've talked a few times. I've talked to

your sons several times.

Let me say this to you: I know it

isn't easy for you to be the mother of four

children, but they are all fine, honorable

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sons and daughters, very fine, honorable

people and I know you are pleased with them.

I know Dr. King would be.

Let me ask you, Ms. King, you've

never been afforded the opportunity to come

into a court of law such as this and be able

to be a witness as a part of it, have you?

When Mr. Ray had a hearing, you were not a

party to that hearing, were you?

A. No.

Q. You never had an opportunity to come

into a court of law before this to have a

jury decide the issues in the case. Am I

correct, please, ma'am?

A. That's correct.

Q. Let me ask you, did Dr. King before

his assassination, sometime before he came to

Memphis, did he receive a lot of threats that

you are aware of that may be hearsay? Was he

aware of a lot of threats?

A. Well, the morning that he was to come

back to Memphis that second time, which was

the final time, his plane was delayed because

of threats that had come to him. I

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understand that -- well, of course, over the

years there had been threats on his life many

times.

Q. Do you recall, Ms. King, when Dr.

King would appear at a place such as Memphis

here who would plan his security? Do you

know who was in charge of that or how they

arranged for security for him? Did he have

someone in his group that was responsible for

it or did they rely on the local police

department? Do you know how that was done?

A. I really don't know how that was

handled except usually when he went into

cities, the people who -- when he went to

towns, the people locally, the committee

locally that invited him, would handle the

security.

Q. Let me ask you, Ms. King, when Dr.

King returned from Memphis after the march,

do you recall -- was there any particular

group or any particular person that insisted

he come back here a second time? Did he ever

mention to you anything about any particular

person or any group that insisted on him

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coming back a second time?

A. I don't know about his coming back

specifically, but I know about his coming

initially. I think what he had said publicly

before he left was that he was planning to

come back. So I think there was that

understanding that he would be coming back.

How it came about I'm not sure.

Q. You mentioned earlier I believe that

he seemed to be agonizing over the fact that

he would return to Memphis. Was that because

of the threat or because of the conditions

here?

A. No, not because of the threats but

just because it was so important that he lead

a non-violent demonstration. Of course,

there was an injunction. He had to get past

the injunction as well. He took those -- his

responsibility very, very seriously, because

he knew that the nation and indeed the world

was watching. In his own conscience he

wanted to be clear that he was doing the

right thing.

Q. Now, Ms. King, you are aware of the

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fact that Mr. Jowers had met and conferred

with Mr. Dexter King, your son, on one

occasion, then again with Mr. Dexter King and

Ambassador Young on another occasion. You

have heard about that, I'm sure?

A. Yes, yes.

Q. Are you aware of the fact that

Mr. Jowers stated to them each time he met

with them that he was not aware of any of the

acts he did that would lead up to the

assassination of Dr. King, that whatever

acts -- there was no mention of that to him,

that he had no idea that whatever acts he may

have been called upon he had no idea would

lead to the assassination Dr. King? Are you

aware of that?

A. I'm not aware of the conversation as

much as I wasn't involved with it. So I

couldn't speak to the detail of that.

Q. I see.

MR. GARRISON: I believe that's

all. Thank you, Ms. King.

THE COURT: Any redirect?

MR. PEPPER: Nothing further,

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Your Honor.

THE COURT: You may stand down,

Ms. King.

(Witness excused.)

MR. PEPPER: Plaintiffs call Dr.

Cobey Smith.

COBEY SMITH

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Good afternoon, Dr. Smith.

A. Good afternoon.

Q. Thank you for coming here. Would you

state your full name and address for the

record, please.

A. Cobey Vernon Smith, 2240 Brown

Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.

Q. And what is your occupation?

A. I'm an educator consultant.

Q. Were you a member of a group called

the Invaders back in 1968?

A. Yes.

Q. You were an active member of that

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group at the time of the assassination of

Martin Luther King?

A. Yes.

Q. At the time of the sanitation

workers' strike?

A. Yes.

Q. And when were the Invaders formed?

A. In 1967.

Q. Who formed that group?

A. I formed that group along with

Charles Cabbage and John Smith.

Q. What was the purpose of the

Invaders? What was their organizational

purpose?

A. The purpose was to provide an

organizational format for young people, for

people in the City of Memphis. We really

formed as a result of the Meredith march in

Mississippi, which is when I first met Dr.

King. Many of us who had gone down became

active in organizing and became proponents of

the black power movement. We saw ourselves

as agents for liberation of our people

throughout the country.

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I don't know whether people can

really remember this, but in 1966 and 1967 it

was extremely unsafe to walk the streets in

cities like Memphis and southern cities

across the country, cities all over. So we

saw ourselves as an organizing tool to make

people aware of the fact that we were a free

people with all the rights and privileges of

Americans, to operate and seek prosperity,

equality and all the other things that were

rightfully ours by law.

Q. So the Invaders were a local

community-organizing group?

A. That's right.

Q. How were the Invaders funded? How

were they financed?

A. Out of our own pocket. We received

no real funding. We received one grant for

the black organizing project, which is a

grant I wrote in 1967. We received some jobs

from the War on Poverty Commission.

Cab and I were hired as

thirty-dollar-a-week organizers in 1967, a

job from which we were fired because we had

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affiliation with SNCC and other

organizations.

Q. Would you tell the jury what SNCC

stands for?

A. The Student Non-violent Coordinating

Committee.

Q. What was the Student Non-violent

Coordinating Committee?

A. It was a national organization which

spent -- which really developed out of the

civil rights movement which at its inception

provided the foot soldiers for the civil

rights movement, the young men and women who

went out and desegregated lunch counters,

students from all over the country, many from

Memphis, incidentally, who became the cannon

fodder for the movement, as a matter of

fact.

We would go out and do the

organizing work, go into the rural areas, go

into the cities, the colleges, the prisons,

everywhere there was a need really to let

people know the kinds of things that Dr. King

and others had talked about were realities

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for us.

Q. Did you see yourself in a sense as

foot soldiers, community-based foot soldiers,

in that movement?

A. Well, you know, now that I'm a

gray-haired old man, I don't want to be vain

enough to say that. We really thought that

we were a chosen few on a mission. We really

saw ourselves as helping fulfill the American

dream.

We were idealists for the most

part. We were people born of desire to

change the concept in America from its

desegregated biased roots and its hatred for

African-Americans to people who understood

that we should enjoy the right to vote, the

right to speak freely, the right to come and

go as we please, to live where we wanted to,

to seek an education, all those little things

that people now seem to say we take for

granted.

Q. With this background and this history

and this organizational activity, was there a

time when you associated -- became associated

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with Dr. King's activities in Memphis?

A. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Q. When was that?

A. When the sanitation workers started

their -- we did the basic street organizing,

you might say, for the events that led up to

the sanitation workers' strike. We went out

and got the -- we told grown men that they

had a right to petition government, to

question police, to do all kinds of things.

Then when the organization, the

AFSCME, which is the American Federation of

State, County, Municipal Employees, started

to organize its membership, many of its

leaders came to us and they accepted our

efforts to go out in the communities and gain

support for the kind of people who needed

this help.

When you say this to somebody, it

probably sounds -- I don't know how to really

describe it because this was a very dangerous

thing to do. You didn't have a right to go

and talk to the city government about

organizing its employees. That was against

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the law. You did not have a right to

question a policeman if they stopped you and

talked to you or if they asked you a

question. And people were afraid.

We didn't have many lawyers, judges,

anything else, who would actually stand up to

the kind of abuse that we were subjected to

here in Memphis.

So when the sanitation workers got

together and decided they would organize,

they offered a list of things that they

wanted, to be recognized as a union, to

receive the same pay as white employees,

other kinds of things, that seem so mundane

to us now. That platform that they used, we

had been using it for a few years since a man

who is now a judge ran for public works

commissioner.

So we were involved in this process

actively trying to get it together. And that

year when we became -- when the union kind of

put itself together, the real hell broke

loose in Memphis. The mayor decided that it

would never be recognized. A group of

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ministers got together and decided that they

would work in support of the union.

We worked hard to get them to come

in. And because we were having such great

difficulty with the white community resisting

this whole effort, with many people in the

black community being threatened and who were

afraid, the leadership of the strike itself

decided to invite Dr. King here.

Dr. King was not only the greatest

leader that we've ever had, he was a person

who by his bearing and presence brought a

kind of calm to the entire community, to

those who were opposed to us. We understood

because of our youth and our exuberance that

sometimes we were not perceived as being

ready to lead.

There were people who were afraid of

us because we would stop and ask questions.

Well -- or because we would even resist the

kinds of pushing around that we received.

Several days after the start of the strike

itself, the sanitation workers had a march

down Main Street, and the police took their

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cars and pushed them into the sidewalk.

Q. Do you know -- excuse me for

interrupting. Do you know the date of that

particular march?

A. No, I don't remember the exact date.

But it was --

Q. Was it in February of 1967 or March

of 1967?

A. It would have been in February.

Q. Early on in the strike?

A. Yes. Very early in the strike. A

number of sanitation workers were injured.

Before that happened, two men were killed,

were crushed, in a garbage truck, one that

automatically closed down and collected the

garbage. That set off a fierce to

resistance, a fierce resistance.

When they had to march down Main

Street and the police attacked them, dogs,

clubs, guns, beat the hell out of a lot of

them, we really decided to ask for a more

militant stance from the union itself.

This probably sounds pretty mundane,

but prior to that time the religious leaders

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did not want to approach this as if it were a

regular strike. Many of us had grown up in

the -- with roots to the labor movement, just

as we had to the civil rights movement.

We believed, for example, that

ASCFME should operate its strike just like

the AFL-CIO or the Teamsters or anybody else

and that we should stop the flow of trucks

that were being driven by strike breakers,

that we should end this garbage collection

that was designed to break the strike. Well,

we found ourselves in a greatly divided

strike effort.

Many of the ministers and some of

the black leaders in town were much more

interested in compromising and going along

with the edicts of the city administration.

We did not want to see that occur.

We wanted a full and legitimate

recognition of the union. We wanted to make

sure that the rights of these employees were

protected. Most of these men were from rural

West Tennessee, had been driven off the farm,

had come in from places like Fayette County

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where they had been driven off the land in

what we call the Tent City.

Q. The founder of Tent City will be

testifying in these proceedings. So we can

move from that. But let me move you onto the

association with Dr. King. What was the

relationship that emerged between the

Invaders and SCLC, Dr. King's organization

here in Memphis, related to the sanitation

workers' strike?

A. Originally when Dr. King's people got

here there was a kind of an uneasiness

between the two organizations. In fact,

there were -- there was a brief struggle,

skirmish, that kind of occurred, some bad

feelings, some other things. It took Dr.

King's arrival here to ease those problems

out, to kind of smooth that over. We

insisted on following the same principles

that we had learned from Dr. King during the

Meredith march in Mississippi and other

places.

Q. Did the Invaders with its

relationship with SCLC play a role in the

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first march that Dr. King led here on the

28th of March, 1967, on behalf of the

sanitation workers' strike?

A. We did not play an active role in

that march because the night before, Reverend

Jim Lawson and reverend H. Ralph Jackson came

to the steering committee and presented a

letter with bullets in it and said that they

had been sent by the Invaders and that we had

threatened them. Consequently I ordered the

members of our organization off the streets,

not to participate.

Q. So the clergy-led steering committee

received from somewhere --

A. From somewhere.

Q. -- a letter with some bullets in it?

A. Yes.

Q. And that was represented as having

been sent by the Invaders?

A. That's right.

Q. It was taken as a threat by the more

traditional civil rights groups here?

A. Yes. They were very annoyed with

us. They didn't like our style. They didn't

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like the blue jeans, the long hair. I used

to have hair.

Q. Dr. Smith, style aside, did the

Invaders send that threat to --

A. No, no.

Q. -- to the organization?

A. Quite frankly, the protocol for

groups like ours, if we intended on sending a

message, we sent a message. We were not

interested in showing --

Q. Let me move you on. You know the

march on the 28th of March became violent?

A. Yes.

Q. That was perhaps the only violent

march or march that turned violent that Dr.

King ever led.

A. Yes.

Q. And you know that the Invaders have

been blamed for causing that disruption.

A. Yes.

Q. And you know that Dr. King returned

to Memphis to lead another march on his fatal

trip here as a result of that violent march?

A. Yes.

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Q. Now, let me ask you, did the Invaders

disrupt that march?

A. No.

Q. How was that march disrupted? Who

disrupted that march, to the best of your

knowledge?

A. We received --

Q. Strike that. Let me rephrase that.

Did you conduct as an organization an

investigation?

A. Yes. I personally conducted an

investigation. I ordered a complete

investigation to see if any of our people

were involved. As I said, I put an order out

that our people would not attend the march

because we had already, once that letter had

been sent with the bullets in it, we knew

that we would receive the blame.

Our people started to report the

influx of other individuals who were coming

in with Illinois license plates who were seen

about town, who were seen on Beale Street by

our affiliates on Beale Street, and who were

members of several organizations, some the

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Black Egyptians out of East St. Louis, some

reported to have been Blackstone Rangers out

of Chicago.

Q. So these were strangers that came to

Memphis just prior to this march. Is that

what you are saying?

A. That's right.

Q. Why would they have come to Memphis?

A. We have no idea, because usually when

organizations came to town, they would

Cohen and some other people did in fact

contact our people in an appropriate

fashion. The ones we were concerned about

were unidentified.

This is very unusual, because the

nature of the movement was such that people

relied on each other for housing, for

accommodations, for transportation, for

information, for all kinds of things. The

nature of the movement was a very communal

kind of thing. Everybody helped everybody if

we could.

Q. What did you learn about the

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disruption of that march and what do you know

about -- from personal knowledge do you know

about how that march was disrupted?

A. That march was disrupted, in my

opinion, by police and by agents from parts

unknown who came here specifically to

embarrass Dr. King and to disrupt the march.

The FBI reports, classified reports that have

since been released, indicate to me that

through the informants that they -- they

always black out the name of the

informants -- always indicate that there were

plans to disrupt our activities, to single

out the individuals in my organization and

several other organizations as the kind of

fall guys.

We were supposed to be the ones who

would be blamed. Some indication was that

the march was supposed to be stopped at Main

Street and turned south on Main instead of

being allowed to turn north where we were

supposed to have had a warehouse with weapons

in it and we were going to start a race war.

Q. This was the kind of rumor that you

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heard?

A. Yes, yes.

Q. As a result of the violent disruption

of the march, Dr. King decided to come back

to Memphis?

A. Yes.

Q. And the Invaders established yet a

closer working relationship with him?

A. Yes.

Q. This time?

A. Yes.

Q. Were you going to work closely in the

preparation of the next march?

A. Yes, yes. There were some essential

problems with that first march. There were

no marshals. There were no people on the

march route who would establish what the

perimeters of the march would be. In a

disciplined march, you always have to have

someone organize the flanks to keep the

people separated from the pedestrians, so to

speak, who would stand there, even though we

encouraged people to join the march, the idea

is you have to have very disciplined people

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who will not break windows, who will not run,

who will not panic, who will not be afraid,

in case we met force.

The marshals were instructed to

protect people, to show them how not to panic

and cause themselves to be hurt. That didn't

exist in the first march. In the second

march, Dr. King made an agreement for the

Invaders to participate in the march, to be

marshals for the march, to protect

individuals and to make certain that we were

not blamed for things that ultimately

happened in the first march.

Q. Just reverting quickly to the

break-up of the first march, do you know

which hotel Dr. King was taken to when that

march turned violent?

A. Yes. He was taken to the Rivermont.

It was a Holiday Inn flagship, which is now

an apartment building. But when our people

went up there, he had no guards on his room,

they went straight to the room and were able

to see Dr. King without anybody protecting

him. We thought that was horrendous. We

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thought that that was -- we really were very

afraid for Dr. King at that time.

Q. In the planning in which you were

engaged in the second march, the march that

Dr. King never made, the march which in fact

became a memorial march for his death, did

you take up rooms under the -- with the

financial support of his organization?

A. Yes. Yes.

Q. Did you take up those rooms at the

Lorraine Motel?

A. Yes.

Q. The very place where Dr. King was

assassinated?

A. Yes. As a part of the organization.

Q. Do you recall how many rooms the

Invaders had there?

A. They had two rooms.

Q. And how many Invaders were in those

rooms at that time?

A. The total numbers probably ran to

about twenty, from ten to twenty Invaders.

Some would leave and come back. Other people

would come. But around ten to twenty.

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Q. And this was a part of your working

arrangement with Dr. King so you would be on

site to plan with him. Is that right?

A. That's right. And to assist in

SCLC's efforts in whatever fashion was

required.

Q. Were the Invaders at some point

summarily asked to leave the Lorraine Motel?

A. My field representatives called and

reported they had been asked to leave the

hotel, that they had been put out.

Q. When did that take place?

A. Just a little while before the

assassination.

Q. On the day of April 4th?

A. On the day of April 4th.

Q. Close to the time of the

assassination?

A. Yes. Within a few hours.

Q. Excuse me.

A. Within a few hours.

Q. Did the Invaders in fact leave the

motel at that time?

A. Yes. It was a very difficult

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situation. Some Invaders were still there,

but once put out of the room, the main body

of our group had to do what they were asked

to do. At the time that I received the

report from the people in the field, they

were also concerned about a number of other

things.

There was no police presence. It

was a very confused situation. We did not

know who was in charge. Some of -- I could

not get a clear answer about who gave the

order to put the Invaders out of the hotel.

Q. We may come to that with other

witnesses. But were you surprised that you

were asked to leave the hotel?

A. Yes. Yes.

Q. This was not in accordance with your

arrangements with Dr. King?

A. No, it was not. Dr. King had agreed

to involve the Invaders. He had chastised

his people for making it difficult for the

Invaders to operate along with them. We had

a very good relationship.

Dr. King probably is the reason --

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James Lawson and Dr. King are the reasons

that I have spent almost thirty-five years of

my life in the movement.

MR. PEPPER: No further

questions. Your witness.

THE COURT: Do you expect your

cross-examination to be lengthy?

MR. GARRISON: I don't think it

will be terribly long. I'll go on if you

want me to.

THE COURT: I'll take about five

seconds. Then you can continue with your

examination.

(Brief recess.)

THE COURT: Mr. Garrison.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:

Q. Dr. Smith, if I may ask you a few

questions, I would appreciate it. Let me ask

you, during the time that you were working

with Dr. King's group, were you made aware of

any threats against Dr. King by any source?

A. No.

Q. And when Dr. King came in the first

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time when there was a march and there was a

riot and he had gone back to Atlanta, are you

aware of the fact that he planned to come

back or said I'll be back? How was that

left?

A. I was aware that Dr. King was going

to be back. We were extremely interested in

making sure that the march worked, that the

sanitation workers' strike was successful.

Q. Among the group that you were with,

Dr. Smith, the Invaders, was there a

gentleman whose name was Merrell McCullough?

A. Yes.

Q. What part did he play in this?

A. Merrell McCullough was our director

of transportation. He had the only car and

the only gas. So we made him the minister of

transportation. That should have made us

leery right there. We're talking about some

poor youngsters in a very poor town. I guess

you can say that Memphis is still a poor

town.

We didn't have anything. We didn't

have any money. We got around the best we

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could, which was usually to bum a ride. In

fact, the police would sometimes have to give

us a ride. The ones that were watching us

would sometimes give us a ride.

McCullough was a very accessible

person. He would come to my home every day,

as he would go around all the Invaders. When

I met him, he was introduced to me by what we

call the Riverside Invaders, who brought him

into the organization.

Q. Did you later learn that he at that

time was working undercover for the Memphis

Police Department?

A. Yes. I was invited down to the

police department after Dr. King was

assassinated, and I was introduced to him by

inspector types of the Memphis Police

Department as Officer Merrell McCullough.

Q. And would it surprise you to learn

that he was brought into Mr. Jowers'

restaurant by another officer and introduced

as Officer Merrell McCullough?

A. I did not know about that until much

later on, but I was extremely surprised. I

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think one of the reasons I was surprised is

because we felt that there were people who

would infiltrate our group, but we did not

have any idea that the infiltration was of a

nature broader than the local police

department.

We knew that many members of the --

many men who are now members of the police

department, in fact, the former police

director who has just recently resigned, was

also an undercover agent in our

organization.

Q. Dr. Smith, the day that the

assassination occurred, you were along with

some other members of your group in a room or

two rooms at the Lorraine Motel. Am I

correct, sir?

A. The members of my organization were

there.

Q. What floor were you on?

A. On the second floor.

Q. All right. Was there a time that day

that you had occasion to look across the

street to see what was down on the street

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below the motel and across over there on the

other side? Did you have any occasion to do

that that day that you recall?

A. I did not. On that day I had to

leave to maintain what we call our

information center. What I had to do was to

receive the information from around the city

from our various locations where we thought

the strategic information that told us what

was happening with the strike itself, with

the plans for events and activities, in

preparation for the strategy team's meeting

and that sort of thing.

Q. All the time that you were at the

hotel and the going and coming, do you ever

remember seeing anyone in that brush area

there across from the hotel? Do you ever

recall any activity, seeing anyone in that

area?

A. No, I did not see anyone in that

area.

MR. GARRISON: Dr. Smith, I had

hair once like you. Thank you.

THE COURT: Any redirect?

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101

MR. PEPPER: Very briefly, Your

Honor.

THE COURT: Go ahead.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Dr. Smith, do you know where Merrell

McCullough is employed today?

A. I understand he is employed at the

Central Intelligence Agency out of Langley,

Maryland.

Q. Langley, Virginia?

A. Virginia.

MR. PEPPER: No further

questions.

THE COURT: All right. You may

stand down, Dr. Smith.

(Witness excused.)

THE COURT: All right, ladies

and gentlemen, we're going to take our lunch

break at this time. We'll resume at two

o'clock.

(Lunch recess.)

THE COURT: All right. Bring

the jury out, please.

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(Jury in.)

THE COURT: All right,

Mr. Pepper. Call your next witness.

MR. PEPPER: Thank you, Your

Honor.

Plaintiffs call in Charles Cabbage.

CHARLES CABBAGE

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Cabbage.

A. How are you doing, sir.

Q. For the record, would you state your

full name and address, please.

A. Charles Laverne Cabbage, 1942 Florida

Street, Number 6, Memphis, Tennessee.

Q. Thank you very much for coming down

here this afternoon.

A. You are perfectly welcome.

Q. We've heard testimony earlier about

the Invaders and the background and the

purpose of the organization and all of that

detail.

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What I want to do is I want to move

on with you. Would you tell us what your

position was in the Invaders around the time

of 1968?

A. Around 1968 -- first of all, let me

try to clear something up here as far as the

name "Invaders" goes. My title was execute

secretary of the Black Organizing Project,

which was a project that we had put together

and made up one of the groups we organized.

The press actually just gave us the name

"Invaders" and it kind of stuck. You know,

it kind of stuck. A lot of people can kind

of relate to that.

Generally we were referred to as the

Invaders about, but actually my title was

executive secretary, Black Organizing

Project.

Q. What was your role in the Black

Organizing Project and that group in

particular?

A. Well, basically training street

organizers, going on to campuses, trying to

set up various and different groups,

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educating, trying to empower black people

basically, trying to make an impression on

the structure, the power structure, as it was

at the time, generally raising the

consciousness of black people at that time

period. We were basically facing difficult

times.

Q. Consciousness-raising activities?

A. Absolutely.

Q. Now, when the march Dr. King led on

the 28th of March broke up into a riot, did

you and any of the members of the

organization meet with Dr. King shortly after

that?

A. We did. We met afterward. We had

made an effort to meet with him before then,

before the march. There were many

indications that there was going to be a

serious problem, but we were unable to reach

him at the time.

After the riot occurred, we made an

effort to meet with him then. We knew he was

staying at the Rivermont. That was public

knowledge at the time. So a group of us we

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105

met out at John's apartment out in south

Memphis and we decided that we best go over

there and try to get a chance to talk to him

and let him know what the situation was, what

he had walked into.

Q. Some of you went along to the

Rivermont to meet with Dr. King. Would

that -- when would that have been? Would

have been the day after the riot?

A. You are going to have to help me here

with these dates and times here. We're

talking about a long time ago. As near as I

can recollect, I think it was probably been

the next day.

Q. The riot took place on the 28th of

March. You would have met with him on the

29ing of March?

A. Probably. Probably.

Q. When you went to the Rivermont to

meet with Dr. King after this disruption, did

you notice any security at the Rivermont for

him that the point?

A. No. It was nonexistent. It is kind

of strange you should ask that question,

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because when we decided to go, that's the

first thing we thought about, how were we

going to get past the security, because we

knew that there would be some.

So one of the fellows that was with

us at the time, he said, well, we'll try and

see if we can't get through the back door.

We walked through the back door. Lo and

behold, the back door came straight open, I

mean, no problem at all. We walked right

into the door, upstairs to his room, knocked

on the door, never saw a soul, no one.

Q. You went directly up to his room?

A. Directly.

Q. You knocked on the door?

A. Yes.

Q. Was there any security inside the

room?

A. No security.

Q. Who answered the door?

A. I think Reverend Abernathy answered

the door. No, wait a minute. Let me get

this straight. Was it Bernard Shaw that was

with him at the time. You have to help me

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here. I think Bernard answered the door

because I think Dr. King was in the bathroom

putting on his tie. I think Reverend

Abernathy was standing in the background.

I introduced myself, told Mr. Shaw

my name is Charles Cabbage, I'd like to talk

to Dr. King, I represent the Invader

organization. Reverend Abernathy immediately

said, stop, no, the doctor does not want to

talk to you all now.

At this particular time I heard Dr.

King call out from the bathroom, he said, no,

let him in because I want to talk to him. So

we went in the room and sat down and we had a

nice long talk.

Q. Basically what was the nature of that

conversation?

A. We had brought along some literature,

discussing, you know -- explaining our

position on certain issues, describing our

organization, its structure, some of our

goals and objectives.

We were really trying to demonstrate

to him that the rumors that had been spread

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about us were untrue and unfounded, that we

were really not out to create any kind of

disruptive behavior in the City of Memphis,

that we were really about basically, like I

said, consciousness-raising, introducing the

concept of the empowerment of black people at

the time generally referred to as black

power. That was almost a criminal offense at

that particular time.

We felt there was some work that

needed to be done. In the process of

presenting our literature to him, we also

presented parts of a program that we had put

together that we wanted to try to establish

into the community called the Community

Unification Program. We were seeking funding

at that particulars time.

But the conversation never really

got into the literature itself. They looked

it over and went immediately to the march and

what happened.

Q. How did Dr. King react to this

conversation that you had with him?

A. Dr. King was hot hostile. He was

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positive all the way. His first reaction

was, and it kind of shocked me in a way,

because I was expecting him to be hostile and

I was expecting him to be a bit defensive,

you know, because the information that he had

received was that we were opposed to

everything he stood for, and the first

question he asked me was, you know, Brother

Cabbage, why did you all do this to me? I

explained to him, I said, Doc, we did not do

this to you.

Our intention from the very

beginning has been, first of all, we did not

want you to come here because we had been

organizing around -- we had been organizing

around not a non-violent theme at that

particular time. For him to walk into

Memphis trying to lead a non-violent

demonstration on the occasion we're talking

about was just walking into the jaws of a

tiger. It was in our best interest as well

as his for him not to be here. We wanted him

not here.

So we weren't able to accomplish

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that, because we really just didn't have the

voice that we wanted in the meetings and

strategy sessions that were being held at the

time that was controlling the sanitation

strike and those events.

Q. There came a time as a result of this

meeting and other discussions that your

organization came to agree to work with

Dr. King in terms of the following march, the

next march that was planned?

A. All this was discussed -- all this

came about that day in that meeting, because,

know, after I had told -- I don't want to

make it sound like I'm giving Dr. King

advice, but I tried to inform him as best as

I could of what the situation was, the

volatility of the situation and some of the

things that he could do to be able to come

into Memphis and be able to have a

non-violent demonstration.

I let him know that we had been

organizing around counter-themes for at least

a year, that a lot of people were aware of

it, and in order for him to be able to pull a

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successful non-violent march off here in

Memphis, that he needs to pull up all the

way, go back to Atlanta, reorganize, send in

some workers to begin to teach non-violent

doctrines and discipline, because in order to

be able to do and accomplish what they were

setting out -- what they were attempting to

do would take some serious training.

Q. When you met with him and were

agreeing to work together, you took up

residence in the Lorraine Motel as a means of

a place for working with him for manning the

second march. Is that right?

A. His suggestion was one of the things

we need to do then was probably try to work

together. He said, what I will do is we will

go back and I'll send some people in and

we're going to put you and maybe some of your

people on the staff. We agreed immediately,

you know.

From that point on we decided when

they came back, they were contacted. When

they came back, I don't remember the exact

time line on this, but we took up in the

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Lorraine Motel, we took the two rooms on the

top floor, the right-hand side of the

building.

Q. Do you know how many people were in

those two rooms?

A. We just had the two rooms. At that

time we were young. They just stayed full

all the time.

Q. Those rooms were on the balcony

level, the upper level?

A. Balcony level, yes.

Q. The same level on which he was

assassinated?

A. Yes.

Q. Did there come a time when you were

asked to leave those rooms?

A. Yes.

Q. When was that?

A. This was after the third meeting that

we had had. Let me try and explain this.

After the organizers for SCLC had come to

Memphis, had come back to Memphis after Dr.

King had left, Reverend Orange, Carl Reader

(Phonetic) and some of the others at that

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time, we began to go out into the community

and have workshops.

So we began to get to be quite

friendly. We got along well. So when Dr.

King came back, we began to meet downstairs

in the dining room. We had two meetings

downstairs in the dining room. We had one in

his room. And in the meeting we were

discussing how we would be able to pull the

march off.

And one of the things that we had

decided that would be necessary would be that

the Invaders would be involved in actually

marshalling the demonstration. I had

problems with that initially because I didn't

think I could sell that to the group. So

when I took this back to our board up on the

second floor where we were staying, we had

heated arguments about it, but eventually got

this over to the entire group and we agreed

to marshal the parade. This is after the

second meeting we probably -- finally came to

a decision and we were on board to act as

marshals.

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Q. You were on board after the second

meeting?

A. After the second meeting we were on

board.

Q. After the third meeting somehow you

were told to leave the hotel?

A. Now, John had to remind me of this.

After the second meeting after we had come to

the conclusion that we were all going to work

together on this, that we had as much at

stake in it as they did, so, therefore, it

would be the right thing for us to do, we had

sort of an impromptu meeting in Dr. King's

room where we had some final points to work

out. That meeting lasted maybe about five to

ten minutes. We go back to the hotel, to our

rooms, and we discussed it a little bit, and

we sat around, and here comes a knock on the

door.

Q. There was a knock on the door?

A. Yeah.

Q. This was on the 4th of April?

A. Yes.

Q. On the day of the assassination?

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A. Yes, sir.

Q. What time was this knock on the door?

A. It took us about twenty minutes to

clear the room.

Q. So it took you twenty minutes to

clear the room?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. What is the significance of that?

What time does that make it?

A. We weren't really keeping no watch or

time on this. We weren't really watching the

clock per se. But from some of the things

that I read from some of the investigations

that had been carried out since then, I think

we left out about ten until six or eleven

until six or something like this.

Q. You were told to leave?

A. Yeah.

Q. Sometime within a half hour,

thirty-five minutes, of the killing you left?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. You left at ten minutes to six, which

is about eleven minutes before the killing?

A. See, this is did --

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Q. Somewhere in there?

A. I always felt that as we were pulling

out -- it took us a little while to get

organized to get out of the room. There were

quite a few of us there. We got out as

quickly as we could. We weren't ready to

go. We were there all day for meetings and

everything.

There was only one car there, that

was mine. We threw things in the car, got in

the car. As soon as we got in the car and

drove up Mulberry, this is when I heard the

shot.

Q. Very shortly after you --

A. Before I could make it to Main

Street.

Q. Why were you asked to leave the motel

within minutes of the killing?

A. There is a lot of conjecture on

that. I do not know. I mean, it is

illogical. It doesn't make any sense.

Check-out time is the next day.

Q. Was your room paid for through that

evening?

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A. Yes. I mean, SCLC was taking care of

the entire bill.

Q. So they had paid for it through the

evening?

A. I don't know what their records

indicate, but I would assume if they had

already rented the room, you know, then --

they don't rent them by the half day. It was

just a totally illogical move. It didn't

make any sense.

Q. Who gave the orders for you to leave

the motel?

A. Izzy answered the door. I wouldn't

have been the one to answer the door. Izzy

answer the door. Izzy, from my best

recollection, says that one of the maids had

come by to clean the room and asked us to

leave, they said that you all would have to

leave.

Next came Reverend Orange and came

in and explained to us that, hey, man, you

all will have to leave. Nobody asked why

because -- you know, we had feelings that

there was something very, very wrong because

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it was sort of a surreal kind of a day. But

we had no inkling that he would have been

assassinated that afternoon.

Q. He was assassinated within a very few

minutes of your being told to leave. Did

anyone ask the maid who gave the instructions

for you to leave?

A. Not to my recollection. Not to my

recollection. Nobody asked her that. I

asked Orange why we got to leave.

Q. And what did he say?

A. My best recollection -- I don't know

how to put this. Jessie said you got to go.

Q. Jessie?

A. Yeah.

Q. Jessie Jackson said you had to go?

A. Yes.

Q. Was Jessie Jackson a person who

worked closely with your organization?

A. No, no.

Q. Who were the SCLC people who worked

closely with you?

A. Carl Reader and Orange.

Q. Why would Reverend Jackson be the one

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to give you instructions for you to leave?

A. I never questioned that. I assumed

by him handling the money it was a clear-cut

decision for him saying -- the way it came

down, we were not paying for the room, Jessie

was not authorizing payment for the room

anymore, so you all have to leave.

Q. They already had paid for the room

apparently?

A. This I realize now, but at that

particular time we never knew how serious

these minutes and seconds were, you know, to

a significant historical event. I mean, in

hindsight we can see these things, but as

they occurred, you know, who would take time

to remember anything like that and write it

down or jot it down.

Q. So, Charles, I put it to you your

testimony this afternoon is that you were

asked to leave late in the day close to the

time of the killing, you did leave --

A. Yeah.

Q. -- and then you heard the shot within

a short time after you left?

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A. As soon as I pulled off the lot and

made a right turn, got beside the fire

station, the shot rang out. We all ducked

down in the car. Normally we would make a

right turn to go down to Beale Street and

turn left to get on the interstate. This

time when we heard the shot we immediately

began --

See, we had a different route from

leaving the hotel. At night we would take a

different route because of the police

surveillance around the hotel at night. So

we took a left turn, took Calhoun, went

toward the river, took a back street to

Florida street, got to Crump, went back over

to Castle, I think it was, and went over the

railroad tracks and back alleys and made it

all the way to south Memphis.

Q. Did you notice any security, any

police presence or security, in the motel

late that afternoon before you left and after

you left?

A. Not at any time.

Q. I'm sorry?

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A. Not at any time.

Q. You didn't notice any security?

A. There was none. There was never any

security, never.

MR. PEPPER: No further

questions, Your Honor.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:

Q. Mr. Cabbage, I have two or three

questions I would to ask you if you don't

mind.

Before this date of April the 4th

when you were asked to leave the room, did

you ever learn of any threats against Dr.

King? Was it common that you heard any

threats against him?

A. Yeah.

Q. Was it a pretty much common

day-to-day thing?

A. No, this was a direct knock on my

front door to my house, which made it even

more expedient for us to try and get to him

and let him know. There was a gentleman that

knocked on my mother's front door. We were

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sitting in the house.

He came inside and introduced

himself. He was from South Africa. He came

in and sat down, sirens wailing, fires going

off all over the city, curfew on.

This man came into our house, sat

down and talked to me and told me, said,

Charles, I'm going to tell you something,

they are going to kill Dr. King in Memphis.

I done about passed out.

Q. Is that the day before the

assassination?

A. I can't recall that date. I really

can't.

Q. Was it the general feeling of the

Invaders that it was unsafe for Dr. King to

come here to Memphis?

A. Absolutely.

Q. You didn't want him to come here?

A. No, we did not.

Q. Is that because it was not safe to

come?

A. It was unsafe, and we knew that

because of the position that we had taken

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politically that if anything went wrong, that

we would be the one to blame for it.

Q. They would blame it on your group?

A. Absolutely.

Q. Did you recall a gentleman in your

group named Merrell McCullough?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. What part did he play with your

group?

A. Merrell first came into the

organization because of the activities that

we were conducting out at Memphis State. We

were organizing the Black Students

Association out there. Merrell I think was

attending classes out there. I think John B.

Reddin told him.

He was interested and wanted to

learn more about the condition of black

people in this condition, so John brought him

to the apartment where we were generally

holding these meetings, which were generally

open to anybody who wanted to attend, they

could come. And Merrell came.

Q. The day that you were organizing in

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the room before the assassination,

Mr. Cabbage, was Merrell McCullough there,

was he one of the ones?

A. No, he was not there. He was with

Reverend Orange.

Q. Do you know where Merrell McCullough

was when you left the room that day?

A. He and Reverend Orange gone out

shopping or something like this. We knew

that he was the police, but what can you do

about this. You know you are going to be

infiltrated. We made him minister of

transportation. He had a car. We gave him

something to do.

Then when we made the alliance with

SCLC and began to work with SCLC, he came

along with the group. So now he is moving

driving people around, some of the SCLC staff

people around. It is just of the one of the

quirks the way things happened. He ended up

driving the SCLC staff around. We did not

know he was as highly connected as he was.

Q. Let me ask you this: You said you

were ordered to leave sometime late that

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afternoon before six o'clock?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you see Reverend Jackson at the

motel before you left?

A. Yes, he was at the meeting.

Q. Late that afternoon?

A. We met during the day. If you want

to go into the event, we can talk about the

meeting, but he was there at the hotel that

day. As a matter of fact, he was the last

person we saw as we left the meeting. He was

standing down by the pool.

Q. He was down on the parking level,

lower level?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. And did you see Dr. King talking to

reverend Jessie Jackson?

A. Not at that time, no.

Q. Mr. Cabbage, let me ask you this:

You were in the room facing the street over

across from the rooming house across there,

weren't you?

A. We were right by where the pool used

to be.

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Q. Did you ever look over there and see

in the brushy area where it was raised up off

the street with a concrete barrier, I think

it is, and a lot of trees, did you ever see

anyone in there moving around in the bushes

that you could tell?

A. No. I never really paid any

attention to it. We were constantly moving

around, our people, because we provided our

own security, and no reports ever came to me

that we ever saw anything or anybody at that

particular time.

Q. When you heard the shot the day that

it occurred, did you go back to the scene or

did you go ahead and leave?

A. We immediately went to Riverside

Community. We got stopped once by a police

officer, a young guy. I don't know who he

was. He was nervous. He talked to us and he

let us go. That took about five minutes.

We went directly to my mother's

house. She come running. As I pulled up in

front of the house, she is rushing down to

the house crying, screaming to the top of her

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voice, they just shot Dr. King, they just

shot Dr. King.

I immediately began to think, oh, my

God, how far is this going to go, because we

were aware that the assassination plot was on

because of the fellow that had come to my

house. So what I did was I got out of the

car and turned the car over to some of the

other people in our organization, sent it

back down to the hotel to see in the event

anybody else would be targeted, if we could

be of any assistance security-wise. We

weren't trained professionals or anything

like that. Anybody in a situation like that

would try to help.

MR. GARRISON: That's all I

have. Thank you, sir.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Mr. Cabbage, do you know who the man

was who came into your home and told you that

Dr. King was going to be assassinated?

A. He introduced himself as John Laue.

Q. I'm sorry?

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A. He introduced himself as John Laue.

Q. John Laue?

A. Yes.

Q. How do you spell his last name?

A. I didn't ask for a spelling, but

there was another John Laue present at the

hotel who spelled his name L O U E, I think,

but, you know, this man was an entirely

different -- a totally different description.

Q. Was there man black or white?

A. He was Middle Eastern, long brown

hair. I'd remember him again if I saw him.

I never saw him again.

Q. Did you know him previously?

A. No. Never seen him before in my

life.

Q. Never seen him before in your life?

A. No.

Q. Could his name have been spelled

L A U E?

A. Something like that. I may have the

spelling wrong. I didn't ask him how to

spell his name is what I'm trying to say. I

do remember him saying that his name was John

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Laue. I do remember that.

Q. Did you ask him how he knew there was

going to be an assassination?

A. He just said he knew.

Q. He just said he knew?

A. Yeah.

Q. You didn't ask him how he knew?

A. No.

Q. Do you know where he was employed?

A. He said he was a photographer a

freelance photographer, a journalist.

Q. Freelance photographer?

A. Freelance photographer journalist

from South Africa.

Q. Was his first name John or Joseph?

A. I'm saying that he said he introduced

himself as John Laue.

Q. Charles, was it routine practice for

some of the Invaders to carry weapons?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And why would they carry weapons?

A. Basically for protection.

Q. Protection against whom?

A. Well, it was a hostile environment we

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were working in. We had numerous

confrontations with the police. There were

armed bands of white citizens who rode around

in the community with high-powered rifles in

their car. Some of us had been shot at

before. It was basically for self-defense.

Q. When you saw Reverend Jackson

standing down at the swimming pool, was he

doing anything?

A. Well, he said -- he had his arms

folded and checking the time seeing how long

it would take us to get out of the hotel.

Q. He was looking at his watch?

A. He was checking it.

Q. Lastly, did you have the occasion as

a result of your suspicion of a white person

who wanted to associate with the Invaders to

go through some personal documents of that

person?

A. That was an incident that occurred.

This was a year prior to. A gentleman with

military intelligence -- we used to hang out

at a place called the Log Cabin. This is

where we used to meet on South Parkway. This

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guy come stumbling in drunk, strange in the

first place, because he had to be nuts being

there in south Memphis at this particular

time anyway.

He comes into our meeting room. He

was immediately stopped, frisked and robbed.

In the process of being robbed, somebody took

his wallet. In going through the wallet, we

found a military intelligence ID and three

dollars.

Q. And three dollars?

A. Three dollars.

Q. You found an identification card with

military intelligence officer?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. This was about a year before the

killing?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. This would be then in 1967?

A. 1967, yes. Yes, sir.

MR. PEPPER: No further

questions.

THE COURT: All right. You may

stand down, sir. Thank you.

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(Witness excused.)

JOHN McFERREN

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

THE COURT: Sit back and relax.

THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.

THE COURT: Thank you.

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) Good afternoon Mr.

McFerren.

A. Glad to be here.

Q. Thank you for coming. Would you

state your full name and address for the

record, please.

A. My full name is John McFerren,

spelled J O H N, capital M C F ER R E N,

McFerren.

Q. And your address, Mr. McFerren?

A. 7615 Highway 195, Somerville, spelled

S O M E R V I L L E, zip code is 38068.

Q. Thank you. John, would you just tell

the Court, please, and the jury a bit of your

background, how you come to be where you are

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today.

A. First of all, I'd like to say my

granddaddy was brought here five years before

the Civil War in chains. He was a slave.

And lesser than a mile and a half from the

store, the record will show in 1867 he gave

seven dollars and a half for four hundred

acres of land. We have some of that in the

family yet.

Q. John, did there come a time in 1959

or 1960 that you became involved in civil

rights activity, voter registration activity,

in Fayette County and the area of Somerville?

A. Well, I'd like to please the Court to

go back a little bit further than that how I

got deeply involved. I met Gerald Estes in

Camp Ellis, Illinois, and later I met him

again in 1957. In 1957 he was a young

practicing attorney. He came to Somerville

to defend Burton Dotson.

Q. John, what opposition did you meet

when you started, though, moving -- I'm

moving forward -- when you started the voter

registration project in Fayette County?

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A. According to the way I got the

records together, before 1960 there was no

negroes registered to vote in that county.

In 1957 me and Mr. Estes and the others got

together. He was the legal counsel. We

formed a league called the Fayette County

Civic & Welfare League to set out to get

negroes registered to vote.

At that time the negroes didn't have

no chance, and the law, they would pick them

up, sentence them, and put them out on the

road, and a negro didn't have no chance. The

only way we could figure out to change that

landscape was through the ballot box.

Q. What did you do?

A. We formed this group. It was the

first -- around about April or May in 1959 to

get the negroes registered to vote. We got a

small majority of negroes registered, and we

had a local sheriff election. The local man

that we was supporting was named L. T.

Redbanks. He run for sheriff against the

local sheriff. The Democrat party refused to

let us vote.

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That's how it got started. That's

how it got started. When they refused to let

us vote, on August the 12th, 1959, Gerald

Estes filed a suit against the Democratic

party asking for us to have the right to cast

our ballot.

Q. What happened as a result of that

action?

A. Well, that was in 1959. In 1960, the

early part of 1960, we was still pushing to

get negroes registered to vote, and the local

editor of the Fayette Falcon was named

Coaster. The wavy understand it, the

Commercial Appeal man name here was named

Coaster. They was kinfolks.

When we got it going, he put an ad

in the Fayette Falcon and the Commercial

Appeal that they was going to make a thousand

negroes move off the land in 1960, that

winter.

During that time in 1960, if you

registered, you had to move. The leaders of

the movement, the citizen council and the

Klu Klux Klan, they had a list that later

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that we got ahold to it through by borrowing

it from the Klu Klux Klan's secretary. Ebony

magazine published the list. We got ahold of

it, forwarded it -- we got a photostatic copy

of it, and the made carried it back and put

it in the safe and they never knew how we got

the list.

The list in this Ebony magazine had

all -- had A's behind it, that you couldn't

buy nothing nowhere. I was the leader of the

group, and they run me out of every wholesale

house in Memphis.

Q. Now, this was an embargo list, this

was a list of people who no wholesale house

should sell any products of any sort. Is

that what you are saying?

A. Wouldn't sell them for money at no

price.

Q. Moving on now, John, what kind of

business were you in, what kind of business

did you take over?

A. Well, my brother, he had the store.

And he had an education and always followed

saw mills and such. He said, I'm going to

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move, I'm just going to leave. He thought he

was the one that was behind the movement all

the time, and I was the one who was

spearheading the movement with the people.

He moved to Memphis and left them

out there. When he moved to Memphis, then

Gulf Oil Company, they jumped in the

squeeze. In 1960 no oil company would sell

no black farmers no gasoline, no oil and no

seed in 1960.

It was a liberal at Eades named Ben

Roafer. He told all the farmers to come down

there to him and he'd sell them what they

want. He had more business than he could

look at.

During that time I made friends with

the underworld. What I mean by the

underworld, they run me out of every

wholesale house in Memphis but Malone &

Hyde. The bread companies wouldn't sell

nothing to me. There was a young bread man

who said, tell you what you do, you meet me

out there on Summer Avenue and I'll sell you

off the bread off the truck.

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I would come to Memphis and meet him

on Summer Avenue in Memphis in a 1955 Ford

car. That's what I had. I would come to

Memphis and meet him on Summer Avenue and get

bread. They Klan would get after me every

night or two.

I had -- which I'm a top mechanic

myself on the old models. To make a car run

fast and turn curves faster, if you noticed,

a 1955 Ford has got a solid frame in the

front. We took the torch and cut two inches

out of the frame in the front. That brought

the front wheels in and let the back wheels

be wider, and we had chains on -- see, a 1955

Ford has got straight springs behind it.

That let the car wheels up when it would go

around a sharp curve, it would slide around.

At that time, which I could see a

nail in the highway now, at that time my

vision was better and I could drive just like

I was standing still, and when they'd get

after me, I'd cut over in them back roads,

and them new cars couldn't turn good like

me. At that time wasn't no two-way radios in

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cars. During that time we had Tent City

going.

Q. John, let me stop you there. Would

you just tell the Court and the jury what

Tent City was?

A. Tent City, we went to Washington, and

me and my attorney, Carrie Porter Boyd and

one other guy. At that time this was under

the Eisenhower Administration, and they filed

an injunction against the landowners from

stop making the tenant farmers move. And

this was under the Eisenhower

Administration.

That was in 1961. President Kennedy

got elected in 1961 in November, and he took

office in 1962.

Q. Well, John, let's back up a minute.

It is a historical fact that John Kennedy was

elected in 1960, took office January 20th of

1961. So it is a year back.

A. A year back. I'm just --

Q. That's okay. Continue.

A. And during that time that I was

leading my folks and all this was -- we'd

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have meetings to discuss it, and I decided

the only way to be successful in political

ranks would be independent from the citizen's

council and the Klu Klux Klan.

What I mean by being independent,

stay out of the Klan's pocketbook. When you

borrow money from the Klan, he squeeze up on

you in a minute.

Q. John, what kind of business do you

run today?

A. I run a grocery store and oil

company.

Q. How long have you run that business?

A. I've been running that business since

1960.

Q. That's when you took it over from

your brother?

A. That's when I took it over from my

brother. But now let me run back back just a

second. Shaw, a fellow named Shaw, bought it

from my brother first. He stayed in it about

a month and a half. Because of me going into

the business after then -- there was an

eighty-three year old man named John Lewis.

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He said, John, he says, they will starve us

to death, we need somebody in that business

who knows how to do and feed us.

At that time a test was going. If

you get Jet magazine, you can see some of the

people were so poor, they were starving. Of

course, you take most of the people at that

time, they had never been nowhere or no-how

to maneuver out of oppression.

The Jet magazine published some

pictures how poor the folks were at that

time.

Q. In Fayette County?

A. In Fayette County.

Q. Let's move on. You have run this

business all these years?

A. That's correct.

Q. How many days a week is your business

open?

A. The onliest time -- at that time the

business was -- we were running seven days a

week. I had a family. But after I lost --

the Klan tore my family up. I only shuts it

up when I go to pick up merchandise.

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Q. Now, where do you buy your

merchandise?

A. All over Memphis.

Q. Where have you always bought your

merchandise?

A. Well, I bought all over Memphis. I'd

buy from Frank Liberto's Produce, I'd buy

from the meat houses, Morrell Meat Company,

Fineberg Meat Company. I know every one in

Memphis.

Q. You sell produce and meats as well?

A. That's correct.

Q. And you sell fuel oil and gasoline?

A. That's correct.

Q. In 1968 where did you buy your

produce?

A. From on market street.

Q. Was there a market there?

A. There was a market there when I first

started coming there.

Q. What did you buy at this market?

A. I'd buy -- on that street, the street

runs north and south, and on that street, the

banana house, the tomato house, and Frank

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Liberto sold most of the produce and

sometimes bananas.

Q. So you bought produce from a

warehouse run by --

A. Frank Liberto.

Q. -- a man framed Frank Liberto. In

1996?

A. That's correct. I did before then.

See, I knew him way before then. Around

about 1960, 1960 or 1961, I got to know him

real well.

Q. How many years had you been buying

produce from Mr. Liberto?

A. Since 1906 or 1961.

Q. Since 1960 or 1961 he ran that

warehouse?

A. He was there then, but I didn't know

his name. When I first started going there,

I didn't know his name like I did later.

Q. What day of the week -- do you recall

what day of the week did you go to pick up

your produce in the year 1968?

A. It was on a Thursday, around

five-fifteen.

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Q. So you would -- why would you go

there around five-fifteen every Thursday?

A. Well, you've got to understand how I

made the runs. I first started with Malone &

Hyde on south -- Malone & Hyde was on South

Parkway.

Q. Right.

A. I'd make that run, the dry grocery

run. Then I would come on up and I'd have it

to put my meat on ice and produce on ice.

I'd make them's two places my last pick-ups.

Q. So Liberto's warehouse was your last

pickup?

A. Was the last pickup.

Q. You would get there around

five-fifteen?

A. I got there that day at five-fifteen

exactly.

Q. We're coming to that day. April 4th

was a Thursday, the day Martin Luther King

was assassinated was a Thursday.

A. That's correct.

Q. Did you go to Frank Liberto's place

that day?

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A. I went there that day.

Q. You arrived there at what time?

A. Around five-fifteen. Now --

Q. Would you describe what the layout of

the place was and what you did when you

arrived at that warehouse?

A. That warehouse faced east and west,

but you enter in the gate on the south side,

and when I drove around to the north side and

come up about fifteen feet of the door, I

stopped my truck. At that time I had a

three-quarter ton pickup truck with a canvass

on it, a cloth canvass over it.

Q. Okay.

A. When I drove up to the -- when I

stopped the pickup truck out in front of the

door, this door is on the north side, and

there is a big door that could you rollback

and back a truck up in.

Coming in from the north side on the

right side there is a little small office,

and when I got within ten to fifteen feet of

this office, why, Latch was standing up.

Q. Who was Mr. Latch?

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A. Mr. Latch had a scar around his neck

like this.

Q. What was his relationship to

Mr. Liberto?

A. He was a handyman. I never did know,

because I was always scared of Mr. Latch.

You see, if you looked at him, he had a scar

from right here to right there, and he would

always be mean, but Mr. Liberto was always

friendly. I wouldn't fool with Mr. Latch. I

would stay away from him if I could.

Q. So you walked in that afternoon, into

the entrance and the office. You said you

were how far from the office?

A. Ten to fifteen feet.

Q. Ten to fifteen feet from the office?

A. That's correct.

Q. Then what happened next?

A. The phone rang. When the phone rang,

Latch picked it up. When Latch picked it up,

Latch said, that's him again. He give it to

Mr. Liberto. Mr. Liberto said, shoot the --

Q. You can just say what he said.

A. Shoot the son-of-a-bitch on the

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balcony. Well, at that time they didn't have

noticed me. I was just standing up a little

closer to them just looking.

I was a cash-paying customer. He

would always tell me, you go get what you

want and come by the office and pay for it.

If the warehouse hadn't been changed, the

doors, you have a line formed going in there.

Q. Let's go back over what you saw. You

heard Mr. Liberto talking on the telephone?

A. Telephone.

Q. Around what time of the day was this?

A. I'd say that was around five -- ten

minutes after, five-fifteen, around five

twenty-five, not quite five-thirty.

Q. Five twenty-five to five-thirty you

heard him talking on the telephone?

A. Telephone.

Q. He received a phone call. What did

you hear him say once again?

A. Shoot the son-of-a-bitch on the

balcony.

Q. Shoot the son-of-a-bitch on the

balcony. Then what happened after that?

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A. Then he looked around and seen me.

Then they said, go on and get your

merchandise.

The locker is made with two doors,

you open one door, then you walks in and open

another door. I went on in and got my

merchandise, come on back out. Then when I

was coming back out, the phone rang again.

Latch picked it up and give it to

Mr. Liberto. And Mr. Liberto told him to go

to his brother in New Orleans and get his

$5,000.

Mr. Liberto wrote me a ticket. I

never would buy nothing from nowhere without

a bill. He give me a bill. I took the bill,

put my merchandise in the truck, then I went

on the back side of the company out on that

street and I come around to hit Summer Avenue

and hit old 64 home.

When I got home, my wife called and

says, do you know Dr. King done got killed?

I says, I know it. It all come back to me in

my mind what I had heard. That's what I told

her, I know it.

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Q. John, did you tell this story at that

time to anyone?

A. I didn't tell it to no one until it

got to worrying me, I wondered what they know

I heard. You know, when you gets kind of

itchy -- that was on a Thursday. So on a

Friday or Saturday, no later than Saturday

morning, Mr. Baxton Bryant, who was a Baptist

white minister that I know in Nashville, I

called him and told him what I had heard.

So that Sunday evening he said,

John, I'm in church now. Says, I'll be there

about four o'clock tomorrow evening. When he

came down about four o'clock that Sunday

evening, we talked it over, and in meantime

he had contacted Mr. Lucius Burch's

son-in-law to meet me and him with the FBI

down here in Memphis.

Q. And did you have a meeting with the

FBI and any local law enforcement people in

Memphis on that Sunday?

A. Well, that night, that Sunday night,

we met with the FBI. Now, I didn't know

whether or not that they was local police or

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somebody else. But the only somebody I know

was the FBI -- one was a tall and one was a

lower.

Q. Did you tell them this story, these

details?

A. I gave them the same details. They

questioned me two or three hours over the

same thing, the same thing. They questioned

me two or three hours over the same thing.

Q. Did you give these details to them on

any other occasion?

A. That Monday, two little young FBI

come out to the store and stayed there half a

day questioning me the same thing. So that

Tuesday Robert Powell from New Orleans come

there, which he used to run a store out there

on 64 highway, and I wasn't at the store when

he came, he -- the lady where I hide was

named Ms. Ida Mae. The record will show that

in my deposition with the FBI. She told them

that I was at the house. So Robert -- I

stayed about an hour and a quarter from the

store.

Robert Powell drove on out there to

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the house, and when he come out this to the

house -- I knowed him -- I never did have no

dealings with him, but I knowed him, and he

come out there to see me, and he talked with

me, and at that time he had a big Gulf

station in New Orleans tied up with the

Mafias, I know it.

I wouldn't say much to him, but the

onliest questions he asked me was how to get

to my house from the back roads. It jumped

curious in my mind that all this done

happened and he wanted to know how to come to

my house through the back roads.

Q. John, you told this story. What

happened as a result of your giving this

information to the officials?

A. Well, in the meantime, Hal Flannery,

which I've got his phone in my pocket right

now, he was in the Justice Department. Of

course, he had been working with us on the

landowners' case.

I called him that Tuesday and told

him about Robert Powell had been there and I

was scared of him. See, when you buy from

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groups, you begin to know who is who.

Q. Who has happened as a result of the

information that you gave the officials? Has

anything happened in succeeding years?

A. First of all, Dean Milk Company run

my mama down, caught her on the road, run

over the truck. After then they hired Marion

Yancy and Rue Grady hired the Andersons to

beat me up, beat me to death. And they give

a 1961 Pontiac and three hundred fifty

dollars to beat me to death.

They got out at the courthouse and

run me in Ms. Fair Theater's yard. That's

the person who owns the theaters in

Somerville now. They still own it. When we

was fighting in the yard, she come out there

with her gun, said, if you all don't quit

beating him, I'm going to kill you.

Q. John, were you put in the hospital as

a result of that?

A. Well, I come to my family doctor --

and I'd rather not discuss his name, because

something else I'm going to bring out, I

don't want any reprisals against him -- I

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come to my family doctor, and by my

grandparents on my daddy's side come up in

slavery, I learned a lot about nerve

doctors.

When you take mullet and boil it

down, which mullet has got a little stickers

on, it looks like a catfish, you can boil it

down and take Vaseline and make a salve and

take iodine salt and lay in it and draw a

sweat out. That's what I did. I come to the

doctor. They examined me and said I didn't

have no -- I didn't break no bones.

Q. John, I want to move along because of

the time constraints we have.

A. I understand.

Q. Were you ever asked to go to

Washington and testify before the House

Select Committee on Assassinations and tell

what you have told us here today?

A. Let me bring one other point up.

Q. John, no, stay, please, with me and

answer this question.

A. All right. Gene Johnson came down

investigating for the Select Committee. Me

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and him went over all the records. I

discussed what I know, what I knew with him.

And when the time come for me to if

to Washington to testify before the Select

Committee, he come out there with the papers

for me to sign, and when he come out there

with the papers for me to sign, I noticed

that he had gotten a little hostile towards

me.

Somebody had got, in my opinion, to

him and changed his attitude. That's my

thinking. I signed the papers and got

everything ready. I says, John -- he says,

John, he says, I'll call you before you come

up and testify before the Select Committee.

And the Select Committee was going on.

Two to three days before I was

supposed to go, he called me up and said,

John, we don't need you.

Q. So the answer to the question is that

at the end of the day, you were not called to

testify before the Congressional committee?

A. I was not called.

Q. That's what you heard.

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MR. PEPPER: No further

questions.

THE COURT: Let's take about

fifteen minutes.

(Jury out.)

(Short recess.)

(Jury in.)

THE COURT: All right.

Mr. Garrison.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:

Q. Mr. McFerren, you and I have talked

before about all of the things that you

know.

You knew Mr. Liberto quite a long

time, did you, Frank Liberto, over a period

of years?

A. I know him from 1960 up until 1996, I

was in his business once or twice a week.

Q. Okay. After the assassination of Dr.

King, did you ever see him anymore after

that?

A. I never did see him personally after

that.

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Q. Okay. And during the time that you

were around Mr. Liberto, Mr. McFerren, did

you ever hear him mention the name of Loyd

Jowers, ever hear him ever mention that name

to you?

A. Not to me.

Q. All right. Let me ask you this,

sir: After you saw Mr. Liberto when you

would go for your produce to buy it -- am I

correct, sir?

A. That's correct. Ninety percent of

the time he would be there, but sometimes

Latch would be there.

Q. All right, sir. You've lived in

Somerville many, many years, in the town of

Somerville, am I correct, sir?

A. I've been there all my life. The

only time I've been away is when I was in the

Army.

Q. Do you know Mr. Liberto visited

Somerville -- are you aware that he visited

Somerville on occasion?

A. He would -- I wouldn't say every

Saturday morning, but he would visit John

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Wilder's office, which is on the east side of

the courthouse. Now, let me explain this to

you so you'll understand. When the

assassination committee of Dr. King was going

on in Washington, getting ready to go on, he

went to visiting John Wilder's office

regular.

Now, the way I got ahold of it, I

had some of our underground watching. Two to

three weeks before James Earl Ray broke pen

out of Brushy Mountain, I called Washington

and told the Select Committee that they was

going to kill James Earl Ray or something was

going to happen to him.

I talked to Mr. Gene Johnson, which

I've got his phone numbers, I've got

Mr. Flanders' phone numbers in my pocket now,

I've got Mr. Dole's phone numbers in my

pocket now. I was in correspondence with all

of them.

The Justice Department, what I said

before, the Justice Department covered it

up. When I said they covered up the

barnyard, I mean they covered it up. Now, if

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you look at the records, the assistant to the

United States Attorney General at that time

was -- it was under the Nixon

administration. He had a heavy voice. I

talked to him one time. I says, I know Dr.

King's killings, who is in it, they trying to

set me up to get me killed. Mitchell, that

was his name. If you ever talked to him on

the phone, he has got a gross voice like a

bullfrog.

Q. All right. Let me ask you this,

Mr. McFerren: Since all this started and you

started the civil rights movement, have you

ever been shot?

A. I've been shot, I've been beat up

twice. The citizen council and the Klu Klux

Klan hired a man named Benefield, gave him

eighteen hundred dollars to kill me. He got

chicken and didn't kill me.

He sent word to me by Reverend Frank

Jones. He came to my brother's house. He

didn't even know which one of the houses I

stayed in. Myself, Reverend Frank Jones and

Mr. Benefield come down here on Vance. Our

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lawyer's office was at 860 Vance Avenue.

That's Gerald Estes office on Vance.

He filed -- he made an affidavit

with the law and sent it to the Justice

Department that he was hired to kill me. It

hit on a dead ear. Nothing come about it.

MR. GARRISON: I appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Is it true that almost thirty-one

years ago you told the same story that you

have told to this jury and this Court this

afternoon?

A. That's correct.

Q. And is that story true to the best of

your recollection and knowledge today as it

was then?

A. That's correct.

Q. And have you ever had an opportunity

to tell this story before in a court of law?

A. This is the first time.

MR. PEPPER: John, thank you

very much. No further questions.

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THE COURT: All right. You may

stand down, sir. You can remain in the court

room or you are free to leave.

THE WITNESS: Thank you.

(Witness excused.)

JAMES NATHAN WHITLOCK

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Would you state for the record,

please, your name and address.

A. My name is James Nathan Whitlock. I

don't want to give you my address to where

everybody can hear.

Q. That's all right. We will pass on

that.

A. Okay.

Q. Have you been a long-term resident of

Memphis?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And, Mr. Whitlock, what do you do for

a living?

A. I'm a taxi driver, professional

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musician.

Q. And how long have you been a

professional musician?

A. For twenty-five years. Twenty-five

years.

Q. What instrument do you play?

A. I'm a guitar player

singer/song-writer.

Q. Have you played in areas other than

Memphis and Tennessee?

A. Yes, sir. I've played in Las Vegas,

Canada, California, the Bahamas, from one

point all the way -- just everywhere.

Q. So you've traveled a good deal?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Have you in the course of the time

you've been in Memphis, though, have you

received any commendations or any awards as a

result of civic activity?

A. Yes, sir, I have.

Q. Would you tell the Court and the jury

what those have been?

A. I received Tennessee's outstanding

achievement award from Governor McWhorter. I

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received the concern an Aide De Camp Award

from the other governor, the heavy-set guy.

I can't remember what his name is. I

received a commendation from the city from

Mayor Herenton, stuff from the senator,

letters from -- accommodating (sic) letters

from Vice-president Gore, another letter from

Jim Sasser, U.S. senator.

Q. Did any of these have to do with

saving an individual's life, one or other

persons' lives?

A. Yes, sir, they sure did.

Q. What were those occasions, those

incidents?

A. The first one was pertaining to a

passenger when I was driving a taxicab who

caught a cab up to the Sterick Building

downtown here and decided he was going to

jump off the roof and commit suicide.

A police officer -- I had radioed

for the police to come. It was on top of the

parking garage. The police officer came, and

there was a tussle involved, and they both

fell off the building and I climbed down the

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end of the building and pulled them both in.

That is the first time something like that --

I received some accommodation.

Then one of my neighbors was in a

fight and got his throat cut down the street

from where I lived, and I kept him from

bleeding to death. I captured his assailant,

too. So that was some more involved with

that.

Q. You've been in the right place at the

right time, or depending on how you look at

it, maybe the wrong place at the wrong time.

Did you in the course of your time here in

Memphis in your younger years back in the

1960's come to know a man named Frank

Liberto?

A. Not in the 1960's, no, sir.

Q. When did you come to know

Mr. Liberto?

A. In the late 1970's, approximately

1978, 1979 and 1980.

Q. So you knew him at the end of the

1970's, that's when you came to know him?

A. That's right, yes, sir.

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Q. Would you describe to the Court and

the jury how you come to know him, what the

circumstances of your relationship were?

A. Mr. Frank and myself were friends.

He would come to my mother's restaurant on a

daily basis early in the morning and late in

the evening he'd come back. I spent most of

my time with him in the evening time.

Occasionally he would come there at

lunchtime.

We had a restaurant, an Italian

restaurant, a pizza restaurant, and he would

come and eat breakfast with my mother and

spend the rest the day with me occasionally.

Q. Was the restaurant located somewhere

between his work and his home?

A. Yes, sir, it was. It was located

approximately -- Mr. Frank's -- the Scott

Street Market was about a mile from my

restaurant. The way I understand it, he

lived off of Graham somewhere, and we were

kind of in between.

Q. He had a produce house at the

warehouse at the Scott Street Market?

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A. That's what I understand, yes, sir,

tomato house.

Q. Right. When he -- when you came to

know him, he would stop at the cafe, at your

mother's restaurant, and what would you talk

about? What was there between the two of you

that developed, this relationship?

A. Well, at the time I'd been performing

in Las Vegas, and Mr. Frank, he would come in

and drink beer a lot. I knew how to play a

song, an Italian song, on the guitar called

Malaguena. I used to play him this song. He

used to like what I would play him and he

would tip me money.

Then it got to where Mr. Frank

was -- I had a little small three-piece

combo, and he would book -- he would give me

jobs, such as that, performing. He liked for

me to play music. He would talk about the

old times and where he came from.

He would talk about my relationship

with my mother. I reminded himself of --

myself of him when he was young, how I

treated my mother and how we lived.

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Q. When he talked to you about the old

times or his earlier years, did he tell you

where he lived or -- what experiences did he

describe?

A. He called it the old country. I

remember playing him that song, he used to

lay his head back and would say, yeah, it is

just like I was in the old country, that's

the way they would play it, I like that

song.

That's the only mention of his

origin he ever -- where he came from he ever

made to me directly that wasn't pertaining to

the United States.

Q. Pertaining to the United States, did

he ever discuss any experiences or life when

in the City of New Orleans?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What did he tell you about his life

there?

A. Well, I asked him some stuff that led

up to him telling me that he had come from

New Orleans, but I had heard that he was in

the Mafia. And I asked him if he was in the

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Mafia. And he didn't say yes or no. He

answered me by saying, I pushed a vegetable

cart in the French Quarter with Carlo

Marcello when I was a boy.

I didn't know what that meant. I

let that go. It went over my head. Years

later I saw the movie the assassination of

RFK or JFK with Oliver Stone, and Mr. Frank,

he talked Italian, and he said, I push a

vegetable cart with Carlo Marcello when I was

a boy. Carlo Marcello, I didn't know what

that meant. Then I saw that movie, and it

said Carlos Marcello, the kingpin of the

Mafia from New Orleans. I said, that's

Carlo, that's not Carlos, that's Carlo.

That's what threw the two together.

Q. So he confided or told you about his

earlier life experience with Carlos Marcello,

the New Orleans Mafia boss?

A. That's correct.

Q. But did you when you first met him

and you heard he was associated with the

Mafia, did you know what the Mafia was at

that point?

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A. No, sir. I asked Mr. Frank what it

was.

Q. What did he say?

A. I asked him, I said, what is the

Mafia? Is it a bunch of bad guys that sit

around and table and scheme up something mean

to do? He said, no, it is a bunch of

businessmen that take care of business.

Q. Now, did there come a time,

Mr. Whitlock, when you heard about a

conversation that Mr. Liberto had with your

mother?

A. Yes, sir. Pertaining to Martin

Luther King?

Q. Yes, sir. Pertaining to Martin

Luther King.

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And did that conversation on the day

of the assassination of Martin Luther King

that he had with your mother, did that upset

you in some way?

A. Yes, it did, in a way it did.

Because that he would talk to my mother

directly about gangsterism, that is what I

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was predominantly upset about. It wasn't the

subject matter of what it was about, it was

the fact that he would think that he could,

you know, go to that level to talk to her

about that. That's what upset me more than

anything.

Q. When you heard about this, what did

you do?

A. I went directly to Mr. Frank about it

when he showed up at the pizza parlor and

just asked him, I said, hey, Mr. Frank, did

you kill Martin Luther King?

Q. Because what had you heard that he

had said to your mother?

A. He told mama that he had killed

Martin Luther King -- had Martin Luther King

killed. I didn't like him talking that to my

mother. I thought he was out of line for

coming forward with that, talking to her. He

could talk to me about it. But he stepped

over the line. So that's when I approached

him.

Q. You became offended and you actually

just went up to him and confronted him?

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A. That's right.

Q. How old were you at that point,

Mr. Whitlock?

A. Eighteen.

Q. As an eighteen-year-old young man,

you went up to this fairly formidable

individual, wasn't he?

A. Define "formidable."

Q. He was good sized, he had an aura of

power about him?

A. He was a big man, yes, sir.

Q. You confronted him by asking him the

question, did he kill Martin Luther King?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. What did he say to you?

A. He glared at me, he says, you've been

talking to your mother, hadn't you? I said,

yeah. He said, you wired? I didn't even

know what he meant by that. I went, no, I'm

not wired.

Q. He asked if you were wired, and you

didn't know what he meant by that?

A. I thought he was talking about -- I

thought he meant am I taking amphetamine

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pills and wired up. I said, no, I'm not

crazy. He sat there for a second.

He says --

THE WITNESS: Your Honor, I

don't want to offend anybody, and I don't

know how many people are watching this

television, but I'm going to have to use

some --

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) Just speak clearly

and plainly, just what he said.

A. I'm going to use that N word nobody

wants to hear. I don't want to offend

anybody by saying this.

Q. Mr. Whitlock, just say what you know.

A. He told me, he said, I didn't kill

the nigger, but I had it done. I said, what

about that other son-of-a-bitch up there

taking credit for it? He says, ahh, he

wasn't nothing but a troublemaker from

Missouri, he was a front man.

I didn't know what that meant.

Because "front man" to me means something

different than what he was thinking about. I

said, a what? He said, a setup man. I said,

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well, why did you kill the preacher for? He

says, ahh, it was about the draft.

He says, boy, you don't even need to

be hearing about this. He said, don't you

say nothing. He stood up and he acted like

he was going to slap me up upside the head.

So I stood up there. Me and him are looking

at each other. He has got this glare look on

his eye. I could tell he was thinking about

hitting me.

It run through my head, you old

son-of-a-bitch, you hit me, I'm going to

knock a knot upside your head, I don't care

who you are. He is standing there glaring at

me.

He says, you fixing to go to Canada,

aren't you? I said, yeah. Then about that

time the phone rang. I just walked over

there and answered the phone and was busy

with the pizza stuff, I looked up, and he is

gone. He left his beer sitting there on the

table. It was about half full.

Q. Did you ever have any other

discussion with him about this matter?

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A. No, sir.

Q. And do you recall what year this was?

A. 1979.

Q. 1979?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. You went off to Canada, then?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Played your gig?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. Did you ever see or talk to

Mr. Liberto again?

A. My time frame -- he called me, okay,

on the phone, right after that, and he says,

Nate, I've got a job for you. I went, oh,

man, he is going to want me to -- well, let

me back up just a little bit here.

Mr. Frank -- there was something

that happened over at the pizza parlor prior

to this conversation I had with him about him

having Martin Luther King whacked. Something

took place right prior to that at the pizza

parlor that left him open to talk to me in

these kinds of ways.

It was a pretty nasty situation, but

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I had to do what I had to do over there. I

don't tell everybody what I did. About a

week or two prior to this conversation I had

with Mr. Frank, some guy came in, he looked

kind of like John Wayne. He was a big guy, a

redneck guy, walked in my mother's restaurant

drinking a beer.

Mama runs over there to the door and

she says, you can't bring a beer in here but

I'll sell you one. He just -- once again,

I'm going to have to use some nasty language

to make it how it was. He says, I just might

buy this mother-fucking place, and he

back-handed my mama.

When he did, I walked around from

the counter with a nightstick and knocked

fire from his tail end and knocked him

through the front door, hit him across here

and busted his eye open real bad, busted his

head open, knocked him out on the front

doorstep out there and whacked him again with

that stick.

There was a man that was working out

there named Louis Bonsella. He come running

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out there and said, don't hit him no more,

Nate, you are going to kill him. I said, I'm

trying to kill this MF. Some other guy come

running out the door and says, oh, wait a

minute, come on, Red, talking about the guy I

hit with the stick, come on, Red, they are

going to kill us. So I hit him in the GP.

So the last I saw these two

knuckle-heads, they were dragging each other

down the sidewalk. Meanwhile, Mr. Frank had

got me up in a truck a couple days later, he

got me up in there. Mama called the cops.

They come over there. She filed a report on

the guy causing such a disturbance.

The lieutenant shows up over there.

He gets me out on there on the sidewalk and

says, Nate, you are going to have to watch

yourself because there is going to start a

war over here. I whacked this guy good with

that stick.

Mr. Frank got me in the truck. He

started asking me about this fight. He says,

were you going to kill him, Nate? I said,

yeah, I was, but Louis stopped me. He said,

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who? He said, the guy over there working at

the place. He said, oh, that old dago

son-of-a-bitch.

Then he says, well, it is a good

thing you didn't kill him, you would have

been in a whole lot of trouble if you would

have. You got out of it, but I would have

helped your mama. He said, could you do it

again? I said, I guess so, if somebody come

up in the pizza parlor acting the fool and

hit mama, I said, yeah, I'll tear them up.

He says, no, would you do it just in

general? I said, to who? He said, mostly

dope niggers over there on around Hollywood,

going up around the Hollywood over Plough

Boulevard. He motioned over there towards

Hollywood.

I said, I don't know. He said,

could you do it for some money? I said how

much money? He said, five or ten, it

depends. I said, who is it? He says, these

dope boys get these white girls over there,

the families still care something about them,

either the police can't or won't do anything

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about it and he said that's it, that's who we

want to get right there.

I said, who exactly is it? He said,

there is always some nigger around here needs

to be killed. I don't know. I'll let you

know.

Well, when he called my back after

we had this conversation about Martin Luther

King, he told me about that, he said, oh,

I've got a job for you, Nate. Oh, God, he is

going to want me to kill some dope idiot over

here somewhere.

He says, get your nigger. I had a

guy, a black man, that played drums for me,

and another man. He says meet Billy down at

the Cook Convention Center. He was talking

about a music job.

Q. It wasn't a contract to kill

somebody?

A. Yeah. He wanted me to play for

Sheriff Bill Morris' Christmas party. I was

to go down there to the Cook Convention

Center, play this Christmas party and I get

paid a check. Then he shows back up over

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there at the pizza parlor. That's what the

conversation was about.

Q. Did there come a time years later

when you wrote a letter to a government

official in which you discussed or in which

you stated what you have told this Court and

jury today?

A. I didn't go into detail, but I had

written the governor of Tennessee with a copy

written to John Wilder, the lieutenant

governor, and to the -- I sent one to the

person at the Board of Responsibility and to

another Memphis attorney, yes, sir, I did.

Q. And were there any repercussions on

you as a result of that letter and what you

said about this case?

A. Yes, sir, it was.

Q. What happened you to?

A. Well, I started having this guy

follow me around in a car that was undercover

car that had a bunch of antennas on it. I

was working my taxicab. He was constantly

following me for about two days.

Then I got down here at Poplar and

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Cleveland and I called my mother-in-law,

ex-mother-in-law up on the phone in Shelby

Forrest, and I had a bunch of cops roll down

on me, a bunch of police. I said, heck,

there is a robbery somewhere, I better get

out of here. I hung up the phone and took

off.

I didn't know they was there for

me. I get around the corner and I'm pulled

over. I had three squad cars with loads of

police with guns to my head. They hit me in

the groin twice, smashed my face up against

the back of the car, stretched me out.

One of them cops -- I used to

wrestle a couple years ago at the Coliseum,

and one of the cops recognized me from when I

wrestling. He said, wait a minute, this is

Nate. They was working on the hood smashing

my face down in that thing, you know. I was

just taking it. They didn't put anything on

me that I hadn't hardly had before.

So I'm just taking it however I can

take it. But the one cop stopped it. The

guy had a gun to my head while the other one

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was working on me. He said, wait a minute,

Nate, what is this about? I said, I don't

know, man, I guess it is my ex-wife or

something. I didn't know what it was about.

Q. You didn't put it together at that

point?

A. Not at that moment, no, I didn't.

The top cop that knew me, he put me in his

squad car and looks back at me, he said,

Nate, have you been making phone calls to

Nashville? I said, ug-huh, not me.

They jerked me out of the car

again. They said, how much change you got on

you? I had like eighty cents in change.

They are all looking like he ain't got enough

money to make a long-distance phone call. I

said, what are you talking about? He says --

the cop asked me, he says, do you -- have you

been making bomb threats? I said, I can't

even set my VCR much less make a bomb. I

don't know what you are talking about. This

is the cop I know.

He says, have you been trying to

embezzle money out of anybody, some

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government guy? I said, no, ma'am, what the

heck is this? Then all of a sudden this guy

that has been following me, he pulls up there

real quick in this unmarked car, because they

are on the radio saying -- I said, if this is

all what is going on, you've got the wrong

guy, you need to go back over there wherever

he is on the phone and see if you can find

him, because you've got the wrong person

here.

Well, when that took place, the cop

that put all the regular Memphis police on

me, the undercover guy, he come wheeling up

and blocks his face so he can't see me and

walks by the car and said, here is the number

he is calling. I'm listening out the window

to them. I call him a lying SOB when he

walks by the door because that's what he was

was. I ain't called anybody in Nashville.

Q. Well, the upshot of it all was that

this was serious harassment that happened you

to?

A. That's an understatement. Then they

got me downtown, read me my Miranda rights.

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I said, am I under arrest? He said, boy, you

in a lot of trouble. He said, you can't get

no lawyer, you can't get no bond. He said,

why does the Secret Service have a hold on a

cab driver?

This is that cop up there named

Johnstone, eleventh floor, bomb unit. I

says, I can't tell you. He said, well, you

going to have to tell me. I said, I'll talk

to the AG about it because he told me not to

say a word to nobody about this.

He said, you ain't talking to nobody

until you tell me why the Secret Service has

ahold on this cab driver right here. I said,

okay if you really want to know it, I'll give

it you. There are entities within the

government -- he is taking a statement. They

give my give me my Miranda rights. I'm not

sure if I'm under arrest or not. Then I give

the statement. You can't make a statement

unless I done read you your rights, he said.

I said, fine. Okay. I guess I was

arrested.

I give the statement. I said, the

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reason why they doing this to me is there are

entities within the United States government

that don't want me to say what I know about

the assassination of Martin Luther King. He

almost fainted. He walked out of the room.

I saw him through the window. He

was on the FAX machine and he was working the

FAX machine. I read the heading of the paper

he had. It had something on there that said

Washington. He walks back in there with the

FAX. Him and Larkin, the other major up

there, they read it, and they said, get the

hell out of here.

I was arrested with guns to my head,

hit in the groin, read my Miranda, then

un-arrested and kicked loose all at the same

time.

Q. My goodness. Nate, thanks very much

for coming down here this afternoon.

MR. PEPPER: No further

questions.

THE WITNESS: Dr. Pepper, you

don't have to thank me for telling the truth.

MR. PEPPER: No further

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questions.

THE COURT: Mr. Garrison might

have some questions for you, sir.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

BY MR. GARRISON:

Q. Mr. Whitlock, I've known you and your

family for quite a few years, haven't I?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Let me ask you this: How long have

you known Mr. Loyd Jowers seated over here?

A. Since 1985, Mr. Garrison.

Q. You worked when he was in the cab

business, did you?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. You've been around him quite a bit?

A. Not in the last ten years I haven't,

no, sir.

Q. You'd been around him quite a bit

before then?

A. A long time ago, yes, sir.

Q. Has he ever made any mention to you

about the assassination of Dr. King?

A. No, sir.

Q. He never said any word about that?

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A. I never drew the two together until I

saw Mr. Jowers and yourself and Mr. Akins on

one of them television programs. I called

mama up on the phone. I said, does that

sound familiar?

MR. GARRISON: That's all I

have.

THE COURT: All right. You may

step down.

(Witness excused.)

THOMAS H. SMITH

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Captain Smith, good afternoon.

A. Hi.

Q. Thank you for coming here this

afternoon.

A. You are welcome.

Q. Would you state for the record,

please, your name and address?

A. Thomas H. Smith, 2997 Knight Road,

Memphis, Tennessee.

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Q. Captain Smith, were you employed by

the Memphis Police Department?

A. No longer. I've been retired for

eleven years now.

Q. How long did you work for the Memphis

Police Department?

A. Thirty-three years.

Q. What was the rank that you achieved?

A. Well, at one time I was captain in

charge of homicide.

Q. Were you assigned to homicide at the

time of the assassination of Martin Luther

King?

A. Yes, sir, I was. I was assigned to

homicide in 1960.

Q. So in 1968 you were a homicide

detective involved in that investigation?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. In the course of that investigation

did you first of all arrive on the scene

around the time of the killing?

A. Yes, sir. My partner and I, Roy

Davis, were the first ones on the scene at

the time of the killing.

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Q. At some point in time did you go over

and into the rooming house on the opposite

side of Mulberry?

A. Yes, sir, I did, during the time of

my investigation after I did what I had to do

at the scene. I was going around looking for

witnesses and went over to the rooming house.

Q. Did you go up to the second floor of

that rooming house and into a room occupied

by a man called Charles Stephens?

A. Yes, sir, I did.

Q. And his common-law wife Grace

Stephens?

A. Grace, yes.

Q. How long after the killing did you go

into that room and see Mr. Stephens?

A. Well, it couldn't have been all that

long, because we tried to expedite matters.

It was still daylight. I talked to

Mr. Stephens. I could not talk to Grace.

Q. You could not talk to Mr. Stephens?

A. No.

Q. Why couldn't you speak with

Mr. Stephens?

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A. She is drunk, passed out on the bed.

Q. He was drunk and passed out?

A. Yes, sir.

THE COURT: He said "she" was.

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) I'm sorry, Mrs.

Stephens was drunk and passed out. What

about Mr. Stephens?

A. He had been drinking heavily.

Q. Did you talk to him?

A. He was leaning up against the door

and talked with me briefly, yes, sir.

Q. And what kind of condition was he in?

A. He was also intoxicated but not as

bad as Grace.

Q. Were you aware of the fact that

Mr. Stephens gave a statement that was used

in the extradition proceedings from London

against James Earl Ray?

A. I wasn't for a long time. I know he

was.

Q. And that as a result of Mr. Stephens'

identification of a profile in the distance

that he saw, Mr. Ray was extradited from

London and brought back to the United States.

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A. Yes, sir.

Q. In your opinion at the time when you

interviewed him, within minutes of the

killing, after the killing, would he have

been capable of making that kind of

identification?

A. No, sir. No way.

Q. Because of his intoxication?

A. No, sir. I don't think he could. I

didn't think enough of his statement that I

took to take him downstairs, downtown and

take a formal statement from him and so put

it in my arrest report that he was

intoxicated to the point there was no sense

in bringing him downtown.

Q. You put that in your report?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Was that report ever reflected in the

Memphis Police Department investigation

report?

A. Yes, sir. It is quite full of the

investigation. We all wrote our little part

that we had in it.

Q. But did you read the official MPD

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report and did you ever see the comments that

you have made just now included in that

report?

A. No, sir. I have never read the

report. I never had my hands on it. Well, I

did have my hands on, it but I never had time

to read it. When I was promoted in charge of

the homicide squad, there was a report in the

office, and I took it out of the desk -- out

of the file and put it in my desk drawer

where I could securely lock it up.

Q. All right.

A. And it was later taken from me by

Chief John Moore. He called me one day and

asked me if I had it. I said yes, I did. He

said, bring it to me. I carried it down

there. I haven't seen it since.

Q. Do you know what happened to it?

A. No, sir.

Q. One final line of questioning. Were

you over in the hospital at the time when the

body of Martin Luther King was present in a

morgue room?

A. Yes, sir, I was there.

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Q. And did you put your hand on the back

of Dr. King under his lower left shoulder

blade and feel an object?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What was the object that you felt

just beneath the skin?

A. Well, it felt just like a bullet to

me, the lead jacket of a bullet.

Q. Did it feel as though it was one

piece?

A. Yes, sir, it was still round.

Q. It felt as though it was one piece?

A. Yes, sir.

MR. PEPPER: Nothing further,

Your Honor.

MR. GARRISON: Your Honor, I

have no questions. Thank you, sir.

THE COURT: All right. Thank

you very much, Captain.

(Witness excused).

MR. PEPPER: Your Honor,

plaintiffs have another witness who has made

a special trip here. The entire testimony

will not take more than about seven to ten

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minutes.

THE COURT: We'll hear it.

MR. PEPPER: Thank you.

MR. PEPPER: Call Mr. Charles

Hurley, please.

THE COURT: Ladies and

gentlemen, let me probably admonish you. You

probably have heard some things you have

never heard before about this case. You are

not to discuss this evidence, not with your

family, not among yourselves or anyone else.

CHARLES HURLEY

Having been first duly sworn, was examined

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. PEPPER:

Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Hurley. It has

been awhile.

A. It has.

Q. Would you please state your name and

address for the record, please.

A. Charles Hurley, 2595 Cedar Ridge

Drive, Germantown, Tennessee.

Q. Mr. Hurley, what do you do for a

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living?

A. I'm division manager for Save-a-lot

Food Stores.

Q. How long have you held that position?

A. That position, about four years.

THE COURT: H U R L E Y?

THE WITNESS: Yes, Your Honor.

THE COURT: All right. Go

ahead.

Q. (BY MR. PEPPER) At the outset let me

thank you very much for coming down here at

considerable inconvenience to yourself.

Mr. Hurley, what position did you

hold -- what was your work back in 1968?

A. I was advertising manager for

National Food Stores in Memphis.

Q. What did your wife do at that time?

A. She worked for the Seabrook Paint

Company. She was a buyer at Seabrook Paint

Company down on South Main Street.

Q. Physically where was the Seabrook

Paint Company located in respect of the

rooming house?

A. It would be immediately across the

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street, virtually right across the street.

Q. Virtually opposite the rooming house

in question?

A. Right, uh-huh.

Q. And therefore virtually opposite

Jim's Grill, the restaurant at the bottom of

the rooming house?

A. Yes, I believe that would be correct.

Q. What was your practice on a usual day

when you finished work?

A. Well, what I would do is I would go

downtown and pick up my wife. I worked down

on South Florida Street, which is not really

very far from there, and we had one car at

the time, so that's what our usual practice

was to do.

Q. On the 4th of April, 1968, Thursday

afternoon, did you go downtown to pick up

your wife?

A. I believe, yes.

Q. Do you recall what time of day that

was?

A. I normally got off about

four-thirty. It is probably fifteen or

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twenty minutes to where she was. I would

just normally drive down and pick her up.

Q. And so around a quarter to five --

A. About that, I would say.

Q. -- ten to five, you drove to South

Main Street?

A. Yes.

Q. And you were facing north as you go?

A. I would be facing north, yes.

Q. And would you pull over to the side

of --

A. Yes. I would -- if she wasn't

downstairs, I would pull over and park.

Q. Was she downstairs on that day?

A. I believe she had come down and I was

not downtown, so she had gone back up to her

work space.

Q. So when you arrived, she wasn't down

there?

A. No, she wasn't down there.

Q. What did you do?

A. I just sat in the car and waited for

her.

Q. Where did you park your car?

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A. I parked, you know, facing north.

That would be the east side of South Main

right there almost opposite the rooming

house.

Q. Was there an automobile parked

immediately in front of you?

A. Yes, there was.

Q. And what kind of car was parked

immediately in front of you?

A. It was a white Mustang.

Q. It was a white Mustang?

A. Yes.

Q. How far back, can you estimate, was

that Mustang from Jim's Grill or the rooming

house?

A. It was right there. That has been a

long time.

Q. Sure.

A. But it was right there.

Q. Did you notice the license plates on

that white Mustang?

A. Yes, I did. Yes, I did.

Q. What kind of license plates were

there on that white Mustang?

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A. As I recall at the time and still

believe, it was an Arkansas license plate,

because the numerals were red and the

background was white.

Q. Do you believe the license plate on

that car was a white Mustang?

A. Yes, I am.

Q. Are you aware of the fact that James

Earl Ray was driving a white Mustang in

Memphis on that day?

A. I've heard that subsequently, yes.

Q. Are you aware of the registration of

that Mustang that James Earl Ray was driving?

A. You know, only what I've been told or

heard subsequently. I think it was the FBI

or someone had told me it was an Alabama

license, they believed it to be an Alabama

license.

Q. He was driving an Alabama

license-plate-registered car. You saw a

white Mustang with Arkansas plates?

A. I believe them to be Arkansas plates.

Q. On that street?

A. Yes.

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Q. Was there anyone sitting in that car?

A. There was one person sitting in the

car.

Q. When your wife came down and you

picked her up and you drove away, was that

person still sitting in that car?

A. Yes, uh-huh.

Q. Could you describe that person?

A. The only thing I could see was the

back of someone's head sitting in the car. I

couldn't identify him from that, I'm sure.

MR. PEPPER: That's fine. Thank

you very much, Mr. Hurley. Nothing further.

MR. GARRISON: I have no

questions of Mr. Hurley, thank you.

THE COURT: All right, sir. You

may stand down. You are free to leave.

(Witness excused.)

THE COURT: Any more

out-of-towners?

MR. PEPPER: Well, we do have on

call outside two more witnesses whose

testimony will be very brief. We can have

them return, if Your Honor wishes, tomorrow

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to begin in the morning. One has come from

Florida, but he is prepared to stay over. It

is at Your Honor's discretion, whatever you

wish.

MR. GARRISON: Your Honor, his

testimony may not be quite as brief. I will

have some cross-examination on him.

THE COURT: Very well. You've

answered the question I might have asked.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to

stop at this point. We will resume tomorrow

at ten o'clock. Again, please don't discuss

the testimony with anyone.

That also goes for the witnesses who

have testified here. You are not to discuss

your testimony on the stand here with any of

the reporters or anyone else.

All right.

(Jury out.)

(The proceedings were adjourned

at 4:30 p.m.)

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