Test Firings of Ray’s Rifle Inconclusive

Bullets recently test fired from the rifle belonging to James Earl Ray bore markings unlike those found on the bullet that killed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, a ballistics expert who testified in a Memphis court hearing said. But the results were inconclusive, a judge ruled. Ray, serving a 99-year sentence for King’s assassination, is seeking a trial based in part on claims that technology unavailable at the time of the killing will show that his rifle was not used in the slaying. Ray’s conviction has been upheld eight times.