James Ray - singer - died in 1964.

He was never exonerated by the government, which would have released him from prison. He was however deleted by the King family as well as Ambassador Andrew Young as a possible suspect.

well he was 70 when he died and he was in prison for 30 years so that makes it 40 years.

James Earl Ray lived for 70 years. He was born on March 10, 1928 and died on April 23, 1998.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was 39 years old when he was shot and killed by James Earl Ray.

Ray fled north to Toronto, Ontario, where he hid out for a month and acquired a Canadian passport under the false name of Ramon George Sneyd. On June 8, 1968, a little more than two months after King's death, Ray was captured at London's Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on the false Canadian passport.

At check-in the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport -- Sneyd -- was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. At the airport, officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder.

He confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, and after pleading guilty was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Three days later, he recanted his confession. Ray had entered a guilty plea on the advice of his attorney, Percy Foreman, in order to avoid a potential trial conviction, which could have led to a sentence of death. The method of execution in Tennessee at the time would have been electrocution.

Ray fired Foreman as his attorney and derisively called him "Percy Fourflusher," thereafter. Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal, who used the alias "Raul", had been deeply involved. Instead he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King," but may have been, "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. Ray sold this version of King's assassination and his own flight to William Bradford Huie.

Huie investigated this story and discovered Ray sometimes lied. Ray told Huie he purposely left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight because he wanted to become a famous criminal. Ray was convinced he was so smart that he would not be caught. He believed Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected President, and Ray would only be confined for a short time. He spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a trial.

On June 11, 1977, Ray made his second appearance on the FBI Most Wanted Fugitives list, this time as the 351st entry. He and six other convicts had escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, on June 10, 1977. They were recaptured on June 13, three days later, and returned to prison. A year was added to Ray's previous sentence, to total 100 years.

In 1997, King's son Dexter met with Ray, and publicly supported his efforts to obtain a retrial. Loyd Jowers, a restaurant owner in Memphis, was brought to civil court and sued as being part of a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King. Jowers was found legally liable, and the King family accepted $100 in restitution, an amount chosen to show that they were not pursuing the case for financial gain.

Dr. William Pepper, a friend of King in the last year of his life, represented Ray in a televised mock trial in an attempt to get him the trial he never had. Pepper later represented the King family in a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers. The King family has since concluded that Ray did not have anything to do with the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70, from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C. He probably contracted the disease through a blood transfusion given after he sustained a stabbing while at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Ray was survived by seven siblings. His brother Jerry Ray told CNN that his brother did not want to be buried or have his final resting place in the United States because of "the way the government has treated him." Ray was cremated and his ashes were flown to Ireland, the home of his family's ancestors.

James Earl Ray was 40 years old when he assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was born on March 10, 1928 and assassinated King on April 4, 1968.

He was shot in his magic taco by James who did a backflip and shot his taco and unicorn with hot sauce!

When he shot Martin Luther King Jr.? No, after a bit they found out who shot him and went to jail.

James Earl Ray disagreed with what Martin was trying to do. James E. Ray was a racist, he hated black people, and he thought he could get paid a lot of money from white extremists for killing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also thought he would be seen as a hero because he shot "The" one who was making all the trouble about Civil Rights. He expected the Klan to see him a hero, thus the reason for his quick confession. He received no money, he only got life imprisonment without parole and died in jail from natural causes. He died at Brushy MTN State Prison in Upper-East Tennessee.

James Earl Ray was captured in the city of London, England at London Heathrow Airport. Ray was attempting to leave England on a fake Canadian passport when he was caught.

No, James Earl Ray is not still alive in the prison. Ray died on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70.

Yes, James Earl Ray went to jail for shooting and killing Martin Luther King, Jr. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.