Four young Black men falsely accused of raping a white woman more than 70 years ago in Florida — were exonerated Monday.
Known as the Groveland Four, the cases became a travesty of justice that has marred Florida's history.
Here are excerpts from the Associated Press report:
“A judge on Monday officially exonerated four young African American men of the false accusation that they raped a white woman seven decades ago, making partial and belated amends for one of the greatest miscarriages of justice of Florida's Jim Crow era.
“At the request of the local prosecutor, Administrative Judge Heidi Davis dismissed the indictments of Ernest Thomas and Samuel Shepherd, who were fatally shot by law enforcement, and set aside the convictions and sentences of Charles Greenlee and Walter Irvin. The men known as the Groveland Four, who ranged from 16 to 26 at the time, were accused of raping a woman in the central Florida town of Groveland in 1949."
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's clemency board gave pardons in January 2019 to the “Groveland Four"– Black men wrongly accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman in Lake County in 1949.
But despite the pardons, the case was still not over for the four men, now deceased – Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas.
In late October, State Attorney William Gladson, of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida, announced that he had filed motions to dismiss the indictments of Thomas and Shepherd; set aside judgments and sentences of Greenlee and Irvin and “correct the record with newly discovered evidence," according to a press release.
On Monday, Gladson said in the AP report: “We followed the evidence to see where it led us and it led us to this moment."
State Rep. Kamia Brown, a Democrat representing Orange County, said in a statement:
“Today as a state and a Nation, we witnessed an injustice that was righted with the exoneration of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas. While it has taken 72 years and the men of the Groveland Four are no longer here, we are thankful their names have been cleared and their families were able to witness this historic moment.
The past will continue to hang over the present until every injustice such as the one these four men faced has been undone. We must continue to fight for justice and equality, both for those in the present day as well as those in the past who did not have a voice to do so themselves."
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
