Groveland Four

The Groveland Four (or the Groveland Boys) were four young African-American men: Earnest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, who were accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman in Lake County, Florida, USA, in 1948. Thomas was killed as a suspect by a posse after leaving the area; Greenlee, Shepherd and Irvin were beaten while in jail to coerce confessions, but Irvin refused to confess falsely. The three survivors were each convicted at trial by an all-white jury; Greenlee was sentenced to life because he was only 16 at the time of the event; the other two were sentenced to death. A retrial was ordered by the United States Supreme Court after hearing their appeals, led by Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

In November 1951 Sheriff Willis McCall shot both Shepherd and Irvin while they were in his custody, saying they tried to escape. Shepherd died on the spot, and Irvin told investigators the sheriff shot them in cold blood. At the second trial, Irvin was convicted again and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life by the governor in 1955. In 1968 he was paroled. The four men were posthumously exonerated on April 18, 2017, by a resolution passed by the Florida House of Representatives. The state also apologized to their families for the racial injustice of the case, and lawmakers called on Florida Governor Rick Scott to officially pardon the men.

In 1948, a 17-year-old white woman, Norma Padgett, accused four young black men in Groveland, Florida of raping her. They were Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin. Shepherd and Irvin were both veterans of World War II.

Shepherd and Irvin were arrested shortly after the young woman accused them. The patrol car drove the boys to a secluded spot and ordered them out of the car. Both boys were beaten with blackjacks and fists and then kicked as the lay crumpled on the ground while being asked if had picked up a white girl. After, they were taken to the spot where the crime happened. Deputy Yates inspected Shepherd’s shoes, which he had worn the night before, Yates was frustrated to see that they were not a match to the footprints that were in the ground at the scene. Irvin’s were the same, but Irvin admitted that he was wearing a different pair of shoes. The two boys were taken to Tavares jail and taken to the basement to be interrogated while cuffed to overhead pipes and beaten.

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