Newly found documents shed light on MLK's convicted killer

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Recently discovered photos and letters are giving an inside look at the man convicted of assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968, King was shot and killed by a sniper as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was trying to mediate a garbage workers' strike.

The celebrated civil rights leader's death led to race riots in dozens of cities and mourning around the world.

American James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the murder of the civil rights leader and was sentenced to 99 years in prison in March 1969. Ray died in 1998.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/30/tennessee.james.earl.ray.photos/index.html

---

"CNN Presents: Eyewitness to Murder -- The King Assassination" premieres on CNN Sunday at 7PM Eastern.