At a news conference here today, seated at a table with a view of Dr. King's crypt, the civil rights leader's widow and children made it clear that they now consider the case closed. The ''most incredible coverup of the century'' has now been exposed, said Dexter Scott King, one of Dr. King's four children.

''We know what happened,'' Mr. King said. ''This is the period at the end of the sentence. So please, after today, we don't want questions like 'Do you believe James Earl Ray killed your father?' I've been hearing that all my life. No, I don't, and this is the end of it.''

In Washington, where Justice Department investigators have been reviewing aspects of the assassination at the request of the King family, officials said today that the Memphis verdict was unlikely to alter their review. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department's report was nearly complete and that criminal charges were not likely to be brought.

Dexter Scott King said that his family, which asked for and received $100 in damages from the jury in Memphis, did not care what the Justice Department did next.

''We did not do this to force their hands,'' he said. ''I doubt seriously they would indict themselves.''

In the trial, which began on Nov. 15, the jury was presented with sometimes contradictory and often confusing details about what was said to be an elaborate plot to kill Dr. King. Many of the approximately 70 witnesses appeared in person. But others, including the ailing 73-year-old Mr. Jowers, testified only through depositions or unsworn audio or video accounts.

Often, the lawyers introduced long and tedious videotaped or written accounts, seemingly more to create an official record than to sway the jury. Mr. Jowers's lawyer, for instance, devoted a day and a half to having a 300-page 1995 deposition of Mr. Ray read into the record. When the reading was finished, members of the jury clapped in relief.