James Earl Ray was born on 3/10/1928.  A confirmed racist and small-time criminal, Ray began plotting the assassination of revered civil rights leader MLK Jr. in early 1968. He shot and killed King in Memphis on 4/4/1968. Not long before Ray&#x27;s death (1998), Dexter King, Dr. King&#x27;s son visited Ray, who was feeble and sick from hepatitis C. Ray told him &quot;I had nothing to do with killing your father,&quot;  &quot;I believe you,&quot; Dexter King responded, and shook his hand in prison on April 23, 1998.