Bevel witnessed King's assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He reminded SCLC's executive board and staff that evening that King had left "marching orders" that, if anything should happen to him, he intended for Abernathy to take his place as SCLC's Chairman. Bevel opposed SCLC's next action, the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, but served as its Director of Nonviolent Education. Some time after that, he left the SCLC. After King was assassinated Bevel made a claim, described by the "New York Times" as bizarre, that James Earl Ray was not the killer and that he had evidence that Ray was innocent. Bevel would not reveal the evidence, and Ray was convicted of the crime.