Florida posthumously pardons the Groveland Four, black men accused of dubious 1949 ‘rape’. One was shot 400 times by white posse
- Medical evidence that the rape of a white teenager never took place was suppressed at the trial
- One suspect was killed by a posse, while two others were shot by a sheriff while they were in custody awaiting retrial
Florida has granted posthumous pardons to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman nearly 70 years ago in a case now seen as a racial injustice.
The unanimous decision by the clemency board, which was composed of Governor Ron DeSantis and members of the independent cabinet, came minutes after the alleged victim, now in her 80s, pleaded with the board not to grant the pardons, saying she still relives the horror of the rape she said happened in 1949.
But many now doubt the attack ever took place.
DeSantis said the case against the men known as the Groveland Four was clearly mishandled.
“The way this was carried out was a miscarriage of justice,” DeSantis said.
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The ordeal began in Lake County in 1949, when the then-17-year-old said she had been raped. Three of the men were arrested and severely beaten; a fourth, Ernest Thomas, fled.
A white posse of about 1,000 men was formed to hunt down Thomas. He was shot 400 times when they found him sleeping under a tree. White residents also formed a mob and went to a black neighbourhood, burning houses and firing guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell.