{Article} #BlackEnterprise It took seven decades, but a #LakeCounty Circuit Court Judge cleared charges for the four Black men known as the #GrovelandFour and exonerated them. The men, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas, were failed by the justice system. Thomas was shot and killed by an angry white mob before he could be arrested, and Shepherd and Irvin were shot and killed by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall. Last month, local prosecutor Bill Gladson set the move in motion when he filed motions to toss Thomas’ and Shepherd’s indictments and set aside Greenlee and Irvin’s sentences and judgments. “We followed the evidence to see where it led us, and it led us to this moment,” Gladson said. The case of the Groveland Four is a disturbing example of the racial injustice that has plagued #BlackAmericans since the end of slavery. Gladson argued in his motion that the state never tested Irvin’s pants for semen, which they were able to do at the time. Instead, the prosecution left the jury with the impression that Irvin’s pants included evidence of the rape. Additionally, the qualifications of the prosecution’s top witness are also in doubt. In the second trial, one of the defense witnesses stated that authorities made one of the casts intentionally tie Irvin to the scene. Gladson also noted an email from the grandson of the State Attorney Jesse Hunter, who prosecuted the Groveland Four, saying Hunter and trial judge Truman Futch knew the Groveland Four were innocent. Greenlee was sentenced to life due to a recommendation of mercy from the jury. Shepherd and Irvin were sentenced to death but appealed. In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated their convictions and ordered a new trial for each. However, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall, who was transferring Shepherd and Irvin, shot both men, killing Shepherd and injuring Irvin. Irvin was retried, convicted, and sentenced to death again, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Meanwhile, McCall, who claimed self-defense, was never indicted. In 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis granted posthumous pardons to the men. ✨👉🏾 Kindly FOLLOW Our New Page @wonderwombman2 ✨ https://www.instagram.com/p/CXOEzaBpyGs/?utm_medium=tumblr
