Bullet, Rifle Testing Complete, But Not Disclosed, In King Murder

A team of fire arms investigators led by Robert Hathaway, criminalist for the Rhode Island state crime laboratory, has finished analyzing bullet frag ments taken from slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and has “reached a conclusion,” Hathaway said Thursday.

But that conclusion will remain a sworn secret until a Tennessee judge reviews the team’s report. Hathaway said he expects the report to be forwarded early next month.

“The American public will now know that both sides, the government and defense, have had a chance to review this evidence,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway, whose lab is at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown, and the two other team members were allowed three days to run the tests, using a scanning electron microscope and a comparison microscope at CamScam in Cranberry Township, Pa.

That time frame was established by Judge Joe Brown of Shelby County, Tenn. The work completes Phase 2 of a probe that began last week at the Rhode Island state crime laboratory.

Phase 1, completed during three days at the university lab, involved test firings of the rifle linked to the assassination of King, plus analysis of the test bullets and bullet fragments taken from King, using comparison microscopes.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, William Pepper, lawyer for James Earl Ray - the man who initially confessed to killing King but later recanted - said no details would be released until the report is turned over to the Tennessee court.