Description of the Investigative Process

       Table of Contents

      A. The Investigative Team

      Our investigative team consisted of four attorneys from the Department of Justice and three federal investigators.3 No one on the investigative team, or supporting it, was involved in any prior official investigation of the assassination.4 We utilized the United States Secret Service (USSS) forensic laboratory to test and analyze the documents Wilson allegedly retrieved from Ray's car and to conduct handwriting comparisons with the written entries on them. Other governmental forensic services and private experts performed analysis pertaining to other issues.

      B. The Investigation's Methodology

      The investigative team reviewed materials generated by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials, prior investigations, private parties, the media, and courts. In the end, the investigative team considered tens of thousands of pages of documents, hundreds of items of evidence, hundreds of witness statements, and the extensive work product of private parties and other investigations.

      With regard to official records, we examined documents and evidence from the original 1968 criminal investigation conducted by the FBI, state and local law enforcement, and the state prosecutor's office; the 1976-1977 investigation of the assassination by a Department of Justice Task Force (DOJ Task Force); the 1977-1979 investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA); and the 1993-1998 investigation by the Shelby County, Tennessee District Attorney General's office. As to the HSCA investigation, we reviewed the 14 published volumes of testimony and evidence and, with the permission of the House Administration Committee, relevant records sealed at the National Archives since 1979. The FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Defense also furnished relevant, and in some cases classified, records not available to previous investigations.

      The investigative team also considered documents and information provided by private parties who have conducted their own investigations. Specifically, we spoke with Dr. William Pepper, who formerly represented James Earl Ray and currently represents the King family; Jack Saltman, producer of the 1993 HBO mock trial of James Earl Ray; Hickman Ewing, the "prosecutor" for the mock trial and a former United States Attorney in Memphis; Arthur Haynes, Jr., one of Ray's first attorneys; and Gerald Posner, an author who recently wrote a book about the King assassination, including the Jowers allegations. We considered information and materials each provided. In addition, we considered witness "testimony" from the 1993 HBO mock trial of James Earl Ray. We also reviewed relevant pleadings, discovery materials, and hearing transcripts from post-conviction and civil litigation related to the assassination, including evidence from the trial of King v. Jowers. Finally, we collected and read hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and several pertinent books.

      The investigative team reviewed these materials to determine whether there was any credible evidence to support any aspect of Jowers' or Wilson's allegations. The process was time-consuming and labor-intensive and the sheer volume of materials was enormous. In fact, because of the depth and number of prior investigations and the breadth of media coverage, most witnesses have given several prior statements, and some have provided as many as five detailed accounts of what occurred. For example, James Earl Ray's official statements and testimony, by themselves, cover more than a thousand pages.

      At the outset, we reviewed the materials to learn about the assassination and prior investigations and to gain a historical perspective regarding claims relating to the crime. We analyzed prior statements, affidavits, and testimony of relevant witnesses to determine whether they were internally consistent and in accord with each other and other evidence. When we found significant contradictions, we investigated further in an attempt to determine reasons for the inconsistencies.

      Notwithstanding the breadth of our review of the historical record, the investigative team did not consider everything related to the King assassination because of restrictions on time, resources, and access to documents. For example, because standard House of Representatives Rule VII mandates that the materials from the HSCA investigation, like all similar House records, remain sealed in the National Archives for at least 30 years, the House Administration Committee permitted us to review only information relevant to our investigation. As a result, while nothing we requested from the Committee was withheld, we did not examine the great volume of sealed records in their entirety. Rather, with the assistance of the HSCA's former chief investigator, we examined the records catalogue and then identified, obtained and studied all materials we believed to be pertinent. Also, while numerous books and articles have been written about the assassination, we did not review all of these works.5 Nonetheless, we found nothing to suggest that we failed to review the necessary historical record to evaluate Jowers' and Wilson's allegations.

      The investigative team also conducted its own original inquiry of the allegations, including interviewing more than 200 witnesses. We attempted to locate and interview every civilian and law enforcement officer who witnessed events related to the shooting or the recovery of Ray's Mustang. We also attempted to locate and interview all witnesses who had information relevant to the allegations by Jowers or Wilson or who purported to corroborate any portion of such allegations.6 In addition, we interviewed individuals who previously investigated the assassination, who took statements from eyewitnesses, or who represented James Earl Ray. With regard to witnesses who were particularly significant, we interviewed, when appropriate, their friends, relatives, and associates. After a review of the evidence presented during King v. Jowers, we conducted additional witness interviews and records review as warranted.

      We conducted most interviews in person. Some were conducted by telephone when necessary. When helpful and practical, we conducted interviews at the scene of the assassination. We also contacted and interviewed many witnesses more than once to clarify what they had said or to obtain further information based on what we subsequently learned from other sources.

      Because our investigation comes more than 30 years after the crime, a number of witnesses, not surprisingly, have died or were unavailable due to poor health. We were also unable to interview a few persons because they refused to cooperate or could not be located. Even so, we were able to consider the observations and opinions of nearly all relevant witnesses since most persons who were now unavailable had given prior statements.

      Scientific testing and analysis were conducted on the two documents we obtained from Wilson. We collected handwriting exemplars and known samples from relevant subjects to compare with the writing on the Wilson documents. Moreover,