James Earl Ray Conscious After Coma, Brother Says

James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., came out of a coma Thursday and was laughing and talking in his hospital bed, his brother said.

“He looked 100% better,” Jerry Ray said after leaving the hospital. “He’s talking and everything.”

Ray, 68, who suffers from liver and kidney damage and had been in a coma for days, was upgraded from critical to serious condition at Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital.

“It is still serious, but he seems to be more stable,” said Cheryl Goforth, the hospital’s chief operating officer, refusing to comment further.

Jerry Ray said the change isn’t really a turnaround because doctors have told him that his brother would be drifting in and out of consciousness.

He wasn’t able to finish sentences, but Jerry Ray said his brother smiled at jokes about bringing alcohol and a woman to his hospital room.

Jerry Ray didn’t talk with his brother about anything serious, but said doctors have given his brother only a 10% chance of survival, even if they perform surgery.

Jerry Ray said that he will approve life support for his brother if it is necessary. On Wednesday, he said he changed his mind about not authorizing life support after talking with others who don’t believe Ray was the assassin.

Ray, a white petty criminal, admitted to shooting King on April 4, 1968, while the civil rights leader stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.

Ray recanted the confession three days after he made it and has argued for a new trial even as he serves a 99-year prison sentence.

Jerry Ray and James Earl Ray’s attorneys are hoping a hearing in February will start the process of clearing him in King’s death. The hearing won’t go forward if James Earl Ray dies.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said earlier this week that he was hoping for a deathbed confession from Ray. Jackson said he never believed Ray acted alone and blames authorities for allowing conspirators to escape.

James Earl Ray was serving time at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison until last weekend, when he was transferred from a prison medical hospital.