Entering federal courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, were (from left) witnesses Jim Lawson and Andrew Young and lawyers Lucius Burch, Charlie Newman and Mike Cody. (Courtesy Mike Cody via the Mississippi Valley Collection at the University of Memphis Library.)
For Mike Cody, April 4, 1968, could have been a day he’d remember for helping win a federal court fight for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Instead, it was the day the civil rights leader was assassinated.
Cody recently told an Emory University School of Law audience about huddling in a small room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, the day before King’s death. Facing each other on twin beds were Cody and his boss on one side, and King and some of his lieutenants, including future Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, on the other.
Mike Cody, Burch Porter & Johnson, Memphis, Tennessee
