Martin Luther King Reinvestigation Simulation
Dear students of J. L. Ilsley High School: I am in need of your assistance. As you know, my husband, Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered
in 1968 in Memphis. James Earl Ray
was apprehended and convicted for the murder.
This, however, is not the whole story.
I believe that there were more people involved in the murder of my
husband than James Earl Ray. I am
therefore requesting your help. I
know that high school students are bright and capable of many things.
I am asking you to use your research skills to uncover any new information
that will lead to the full story behind my husband’s death.
If we can find enough information, we can present it to the Justice
Department, specifically to the Attorney General, Alberto R. Gonzales, and hopefully
bring to justice any others who were involved in this dastardly murder. I thank you in advance for any help you can offer in this matter and wish you well in your research. Sincerely, Coretta Scott King “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
Martin Luther King. Class! As you know, Martin Luther King has been dead for many years.
His convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, died many years later.
To the end, Ray claimed that he was innocent and had been framed. In order to serve justice, your task as researchers for
Coretta Scott King is to collect and present evidence compelling enough to
implicate others who may have helped Ray in the murder of MLK, or to indicate
that Ray did not kill MLK and was simply framed. You will present your information to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
and his legal council for the Justice Department.
They will determine, based on your information, whether Ray is innocent,
acted alone, or acted with others. The
Justice Department will then decide whether further investigations are needed to
bring other possible guilty parties to justice. Each of you will be assigned to a group responsible for
gathering information. You will
have to subdivide the texts you are assigned because there is so much to read.
After your reading is completed, come together as a group and discuss the
pertinent information found in your part of the text.
Take notes and organize how you want to present your information to the
Justice Department Committee. If you feel it would help your case, you may bring pictures
or posters to support your ideas. Look for poor logic and inconsistencies in the testimony
and articles you read. Be able to
support your claims. Reasons why the Justice Department and Alberto R. Gonzales
would consider reopening a murder case: 1. There was perjury in the original trial. 2. New evidence compels the justice system to take another look at the case. a. The one convicted now looks innocent b. The one convicted now looks like he/she had accomplices. 3. Jury tampering has occurred. 4. The trial was prejudiced (e.g., there was racism already in existence in the system, or, the jury heard so much about the case that it was hard for the accused to receive a fair trial). Research Groups: 1. Dr. Ralph Abernathy’s Testimony at the first Investigation. 2.
James
Earl Ray’s Testimony at the first investigation. Martin
Luther King Reinvestigation: Written
statement to HSCA 3. The layout of the crime scene by Gene Johnson 5. Medical Examiner report by Michael Baden 6. Conspiracy Theories. Gene Pearson Crawford and an FBI file |