Ray Released, Sent to Prison Hospital

James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was released from a Nashville hospital and transferred to a prison hospital. Ray, 68, had lapsed into a coma last week and appeared near death from liver disease. His condition improved, and he was discharged from Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted Dec. 22. Ray’s brother, Jerry, has said his brother is in the final stages of cirrhosis of the liver. Ray confessed to the 1968 shooting death of the civil rights leader but recanted three days later and has sought a new trial ever since. He is serving a 99-year sentence.