Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Bullet and Rifle Test News Article Collection (Mss. Gr. 166)

Historical note

In August 1996 James Earl Ray's lawyer William Pepper asked University of Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory firearms expert Robert Hathaway if he would conduct an investigation regarding the rifle said to have been used to kill Martin Luther King Jr. Ray, who pleaded guilty to the murder in 1969, had been appealing his conviction since 1970. Hathaway, reluctant at first, recommended several of his colleagues, but then agreed to take the case at Pepper's behest.

In February 1997 Hathaway testified before the Tennessee Court of Appeals that a scanning electron microscope could provide previously unavailable evidence that might prove the rifle was, or was not, the one used to murder King. Judge Joe Brown agreed to reopen the investigation and in May the rifle was brought to the University's crime lab.

As Hathaway put together a team of forensic experts, reporters from around the world came to the University to cover the story. The investigation was aired on Dateline NBC, CNN, and Fox News among many other media outlets including radio stations in South Africa. It was during this time that the University of Rhode Island's Department of Communications Office began collecting news articles regarding the investigation.

This collection consists of over 1,400 news articles filed chronologically February to August 1997. There were many more reports transmitted over broadcast outlets around the world which the Communications Office could not track due to budgeting constraints.