King Assassin Ray Is Hospitalized
James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., has been hospitalized, officials said. Neither Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital officials nor state Corrections Department spokeswoman Pam Gehman would comment on Ray’s condition. Nashville television station WSMV reported he was near death. It did not identify its source. Gehman said Ray had been transferred from Riverbend State Prison in Nashville to the Columbia facility. Ray, 68, pleaded guilty in the April 4, 1968, slaying of King in Memphis. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
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