Loyd Jowers (November 20, 1926 – May 20, 2000) was the owner of a restaurant (Jim's Grill) near the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. In December 1993, Jowers appeared on ABC'sPrime Time Live and related the details of an alleged conspiracy involving the Mafia and the U.S. government to kill King. According to Jowers, James Earl Ray was a scapegoat, and was not involved in the assassination. Jowers believed that Memphis police officer Lieutenant Earl Clark fired the fatal shot.In 1998, the King family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators" for the murder of King. A Memphis jury found Jowers responsible on December 8, 1999, and that the assassination plot also involved "governmental agencies."Full court transcript: goo.gl/oKgnS4 _______________________________________________EXCERPT OF PROCEEDINGSDecember 8th, 1999THE COURT: In answer to the question did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King, your (THE JURY) answer is yes. Do you also find that others, including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant? Your answer to that one is also yes._______________________________________________At a 1999 press conference following this verdict, Coretta Scott King stated that "there is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr... the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame."Following statements by Dexter King and other family members, Dexter was subsequently asked by a reporter, "there are many people out there who feel that as long as these conspirators remain nameless and faceless there is no true closure, and no justice." He replied:No, he [Mr. Lloyd Jowers] named the shooter. The shooter was the Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark who he named as the killer. Once again, beyond that you had credible witnesses that named members of a Special Forces team who didn't have to act because the contract killer succeeded, with plausible denial, a Mafia contracted killer."Loyd Jowers