KING, RAY FAMILIES AGREE TRIAL KEY TO RESOLVING KILLING.

Byline: Rick Bragg The New York Times

Twenty-nine years is a long time to wonder. Yet how much worse for the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., if the mystery stretches into forever.

James Earl Ray, the man who went to prison for the assassination of King, is slowly dying in a Nashville prison from cirrhosis of the liver. Three times since December, he has been in critical condition. Each time he rallied, to live on a little longer.

The King family here in Atlanta has been silent on the assassination and Ray's involvement from the beginning, in part because it was so painful. Now, the family wants Ray to have the trial he has begged for, for almost three decades, since he confessed to the killing, pleaded guilty and, days later, recanted his confession.

``In the name of truth and justice, our family is calling for a trial, a trial James Earl Ray never had,'' said Dexter King, a son of King. Dexter King said that he and others in the family have no way of knowing whether a trial will answer the many questions surrounding his father's death, but they believe it will air any new information that has emerged.

``I don't think his trial - if he is granted a trial - will necessarily give us the unequivocal proof,'' King said, ``but at least in regards to new evidence, we will know more than we do now.''

There is also the simple fact that it is the humane thing to do. ``Especially in light of the fact he is on his deathbed,'' King said.

The chances that the 68-year-old Ray will be granted a new trial in a killing that occurred in 1968 are extremely slim. It is even uncertain whether Ray, who is once again in fair condition but failing a little more each day, could survive long enough to see a trial through.

But his approaching death has lent a sense of urgency to an unexpected coalition of King's family, Ray's younger brother and several old civil rights advocates, to reopen the case. They hope a new trial will resolve whether Ray was the killer, and settle the many conspiracy theories - some involving the FBI and other agents of the U.S. government - that have swirled around the assassination for three decades.

``If there is something worth knowing, it is important for history,'' King said. ``It is important for peace of mind. It will not bring my father back, certainly.''

``If it does amount to something of consequence,'' he added, he and other members of the family can say, ``now I know more than I did. I can live with that.''

Several of King's oldest friends and associates have long supported Ray's crusade for a trial, never believing that he acted alone. Ray was a small-time fugitive from a Missouri prison who had bungled some of his petty crimes.

``Even if Ray pulled the trigger, he was the tool of other people,'' said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and an old associate of King. ``He never demonstrated that he had the intelligence or the resources to plot and carry it out. He was a tool, a patsy, as much a victim of the violence and hatred as Dr. King.''

It might be that Ray has told all he knows, and that a chance at any greater truth will not vanish into the coffin with him. But even if he did act alone or was only an unwitting pawn, as he has said, the fact remains that a man who went to prison for murdering a 20th-century prophet never had a real trial, before a real jury.

``I think that the whole process, the whole judicial process, will die with him,'' said William Pepper, a lawyer from London who represents Ray.

Ray has talked to reporters off and on for decades and even played himself in a mock trial on HBO. But he has never answered the specific questions about his involvement to the satisfaction of anyone. Old friends of King and family members hope it would be different in a trial.

Lawyers for Ray, in a hearing set for Feb. 20, plan to ask for a ballistics test on the rifle that is believed to be the murder weapon, hoping that contention will be proved wrong. It is one more step - and a crucial one, considering Ray's failing health - in ``the ultimate goal to get a trial,'' Pepper said.

Sometime before that hearing, the King family plans to hold a news conference to support Ray's plea for a trial, said Phillip Jones, chairman and chief executive officer of Intellectual Properties Management, which manages the King estate.

``The hearing on the 20th is not the sole and conclusive factor in determining whether he should have a trial,'' Jones said. ``The family had come to this decision before'' learning of the hearing.

Any public endorsement of a new trial from the King family would be valuable in James Earl Ray's effort to get a trial, said Jerry Ray, his 61-year-old brother, who now lives near Nashville.

``I appreciate them doing that,'' Jerry Ray said. ``Me and James have always tried to keep our distance from the King family. We thought it would be out of order to make any kind of comments and put them in a position where they would have to take a stand.'' But now that his brother is so sick, he said, he welcomes the King family's involvement, ``so that James could get a trial so before he dies, his name would be cleared.''