TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the independently elected Cabinet granted a pardon to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman almost 70 years ago.
The posthumous pardons were granted Friday for the men known as the Groveland Four.
The Lake County men were accused of the 1949 rape under dubious circumstances. One was hunted down by a posse of about 1,000 men and shot more than 400 times.
Three others were convicted. After the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new trial in 1951, a sheriff shot two of them, claiming the handcuffed men were trying to escape. One died.
The two surviving men were eventually paroled.
In 2017, the House and Senate voted unanimously to formally apologize to the men’s families and asked then-Gov. Scott to pardon them. He took no action.
DeSantis replaced Scott as governor on Tuesday.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Governor Ron DeSantis and the three Cabinet members, who were sworn into office Tuesday, are expected to have a discussion Friday about the "Groveland Four" when they meet as the state clemency board.
Earnest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin were four African-American men accused in 1949 of raping a white woman in Lake County.
Thomas was killed by a posse after the rape accusation.
The three other men were beaten to coerce confessions before they were convicted by an all white jury.
Last month, DeSantis sent out a release declaring "justice was miscarried for the Groveland Four" and that he intended to make the issue a "priority" for the first Cabinet meeting.
While the agenda refers to a discussion, new Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried wants more.
"I'm going to be pushing for the pardon to come through, and to actually go forth with what we have been promising to that family for a long time now," said Fried.
Meanwhile, the two other Cabinet members new Attorney General Ashley Moody and returning Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis may only be in the discussion mode Friday.
