TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review the cases of the Groveland Four.
Her letter, dated Dec. 19, 2018, says that, if innocent, the four men should have their names cleared through the court system.
"A pardon will not exonerate the Groveland Four," she wrote in the letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "A pardon is a state action to forgive convicted individuals of their crimes."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and others say the four young African-American men were wrongly accused of raping a white woman nearly 70 years ago.
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis asked Wednesday that the case be brought before the Florida Commission of Offender Review for a clemency report on Earnest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, the Associated Press reported.
Thomas was killed during a manhunt. The other three were convicted with dubious evidence. A sheriff killed Shepherd, claiming he and Irvin tried to escape.
