RAY'S HOPE

By Jill Smolowe

Every day for the past 28 years, James Earl Ray has held firm to his story: he didn't kill Martin Luther King Jr. Eight times he has petitioned state and federal courts to reopen the case. Eight times judges have turned him down, upholding the guilty plea that Ray made 11 months after King's assassination in April 1968, then recanted three days later. Even statements by the King family asserting their belief that Ray deserves a full trial have led nowhere. Last Friday, however, a criminal-court judge in Memphis, Tenn., provided Ray with a glimmer of hope.

Giving a preliminary interpretation of a test comparing the markings on the bullet that killed King with test bullets that were recently fired from Ray's 30-06 hunting rifle, Judge Joseph Brown said, "This comparison revealed that the gross and unique characteristic signature left on the 12 test bullets by the James Earl Ray rifle was not present on the death bullet." Adopting a tone of advocacy that a prosecutor termed "improper," Brown essentially called for reopening the King investigation. He told defense lawyers and state prosecutors that he wants to see the results of FBI test firings made in 1968, then gave them a week to decide how they intend to lay their hands on those results, which reportedly are under congressional seal.

Firearms experts for both sides agreed last week that the new test was inconclusive, but the defense investigator who oversaw the test argued that better results might be obtained after cleaning the gun barrel with a wire or nylon brush. Prosecution experts countered that such a cleaning might damage the barrel, tainting its value as a source of evidence. Brown put off a ruling until the parties reconvene this Friday.

--By Jill Smolowe. Reported by Jackson Baker/Memphis

With reporting by JACKSON BAKER/MEMPHIS