Eyewitness to Murder — The King Assassination , 6 and 9
p.m., CNN)
By Barry Garron
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - CNN and Soledad O’Brien
mark Friday’s 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin
Luther King Jr. with a thorough and admirable two-hour
examination of whether James Earl Ray was the lone killer.
O’Brien carefully lays out the sequence and context of
events before the fatal rifle shot was fired in Memphis and
then looks meticulously at the evidence that Ray did and didn’t
do it.
To her credit, O’Brien plays it absolutely straight. She
acknowledges weaknesses in the official version but points out
huge holes in the conspiracy theories. That King’s own family
rejected Ray as the killer a decade ago and King associate
Andrew Young has his doubts still seems bewildering. (Ray
copped a plea and was sentenced to 99 years; he died in 1998.)
The special is the first of three two-hour programs CNN
will present under the “Black in America” umbrella. The other
two, also reported by O’Brien, look at the present and historic
experiences of black men (June 18) and black women (June 19).
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Tags: cnn, decade, family