Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 28, 1994                   TAG: 9403280118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN.                                LENGTH: Short

WITNESS: RAY DID NOT KILL MARTIN LUTHER KING

An affidavit filed Friday by Ray's attorneys implicates Loyd Jowers, who already has told a national television audience that Ray wasn't the assassin.

Betty Spates' March 8 affidavit was filed in Memphis at Shelby County Criminal Court, The Tennessean newspaper reported Sunday. Spates used to work at Jowers' Memphis restaurant, Jim's Grill.

Ray pleaded guilty in 1969 to shooting King from a bathroom on the second floor of the building that housed the restaurant. He recanted a few days later and has insisted he was an unwitting patsy in a plot to kill King.

"Based on everything I know, James Earl Ray was not the person who shot Dr. King," Spates said in the affidavit. "Other persons have tried to get me to change my story, saying that if I did so I would benefit financially. I have refused to do so, and will continue to refuse."

Judge Joseph Brown set an April 6 date to hear Ray's request to present new evidence in the case. Ray comes up for parole on May 25.

- Associated Press