In the Florida Legislature unanimously approved a resolution declaring the case was a miscarriage of justice, apologizing, and calling for pardons.
Those pardons came from the Board of Executive Clemency in early , in one of the first actions in office by Gov. Ron DeSantis. But family members and advocates such as Thompson and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried always wanted full exonerations — for Florida to declare that the four did not do it. Through their pardons in and continued pressure for their exoneration, and through the prayers of their families and the relentless quest for the truth, this motion will make clear that Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas suffered a racist miscarriage of justice for more than seventy years for crimes they never committed.
To support possible exonerations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an investigation in December , ordered by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi shortly before she left office. The FDLE sent its investigative report to Gladson in July, recommending he seek to have the charges and convictions dismissed.
These officials, disguised as keepers of the peace and masquerading as ministers of justice, disregarded their oaths, and set in motion a series of events that forever destroyed these men, their families, and a community. Supreme Court decision overturning the convictions of Shepherd and Irvin, the Sentinel's electric chairs cartoon was cited as one of the factors that should have led to a change of venue in the men's original trial.
The Groveland Four coverage then would not happen today. Reporters and editors at the Sentinel are expected to question official versions of events, not to blindly accept them. However, that does not excuse us from taking responsibility for past coverage, even if it was nearly 70 years ago. In , the Florida Legislature unanimously asked Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet to pardon the four men for the crimes they didn't commit.
They didn't. Today, Gov. In a Feb. The son of a federal judge and the grandson of a U. A former Republican state legislator and national convention delegate, Akerman aspired to a career in public service. But, Chapin wrote, as a result of his treatment by the Sentinel , "his political future in ruins and his legal practice and reputation damaged by his role in the Groveland case, he moved to Virginia.
It is my firm belief that when this occasion does arise that even your editorial writers will no longer condemn but will respect me for my activities in this case. This article is adapted from "Maligned in Black and White," published on Poynter. Pinsky, a former senior reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has been reporting on racial justice issues around the Southeast for nearly 50 years.
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View more issues. Local Culture Creative. Florida crash near Orlando involves 17 vehicles; at least 5 people hospitalized: report At least five people were hospitalized Saturday after a massive crash in Seminole County, Florida, that involved at least 17 vehicles, according to reports. At least one injured person was transported from the scene on a trauma alert, FOX 35 of Orlando reported. Another 17 people were said to have minor injuries, the report said. Orlando man killed in wrong-way crash on S.
At around 1 a. Kim Montes. Meanwhile, a year-old Sanford man was driving a Jeep Compass east in the Monday near mile marker 15 on State Road in Orange County.
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