Pardon for ‘Groveland Four’ moves closer to Senate vote

TALLAHASSEE — A pardon for Lake County’s “Groveland Four” was approved this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, putting the proposal one step away from the Senate floor.

The resolution (SCR 920) calls for a posthumous pardon for two of the men; the other two were killed by law enforcement officers in the aftermath of the alleged rape of a white woman in 1949. The legislation also formally apologizes to the men’s families and “deem(s) the four men formally exonerated.”

The Judiciary Committee unanimously supported the legislation Wednesday, which now needs approval only from the Rules Committee to make it to the full Senate.

A House companion (HCR 631) to the legislation has yet to be taken up by either of the committees scheduled to hear it.

“This is Florida’s version of “To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ” said Sen. Gary Farmer, the Fort Lauderdale Democrat who sponsored the resolution. “And I appreciate the committee supporting this resolution so that these families can get some closure.”

The incident began when a 17year-old woman and her husband claimed that four black men — Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee and Ernest Thomas — had raped her near Groveland. The men were tortured until some of them confessed to the crime.

Thomas was killed a week later when authorities said he tried to escape. The other three men were convicted, with Greene receiving a life sentence and Irvin and Shepherd condemned to death.

An appeal of Irvin and Shepherd’s convictions, spearheaded by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, prompted the high court to overturn the verdict in 1951. Irvin and Shepherd were shot several months later, purportedly in self-defense, by Sheriff Willis McCall and a deputy. Shepherd was killed.

After Irvin was convicted and sentenced to death again, Gov. LeRoy Collins commuted his sentence. Irvin was paroled in 1968 and died two years later. Greenlee, paroled in 1962, died in 2012.