On this day in 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. The following June, a fugitive named James Earl Ray was arrested in London and extradited to the United States. Ray would eventually plead guilty to the murder. He later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw the plea. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray died in 1998 at the age of 70.
About.com – Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
Wikipedia – Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.