Four black men accused of 1949 rape of white woman in Florida are pardoned...

[aaronleland]

Four black men accused of 1949 rape of white woman in Florida are pardoned

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a dramatic, hour-long meeting that recalled events from nearly seven decades ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's three-member Cabinet granted posthumous pardons Friday to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman in a 1949 case now seen as a racial injustice.

The case of the men known as the Groveland Four has been documented in a book and is considered a blight on Florida's history. One of the four was killed before he could be charged and the other three were convicted on dubious evidence.


The families of the men accused of the assault told DeSantis and the Cabinet — meeting as the clemency board — that there is overwhelming evidence the men were innocent and there was no rape. The woman who was 17 when she said she was raped, sat in a wheelchair and later told Gov. DeSantis and the Cabinet the rape did indeed happen, saying she was dragged from a car, had a gun put to her head and was told not to scream or they would "blow your brains out."

At one point, the two sides briefly clashed. Beverly Robinson, a niece of one of the Groveland Four, was speaking to the governor and the Cabinet when she turned to the woman and her sons.

"It never happened. You all are liars," Robinson said.

"That's enough out of you," the woman said.

"I know it's enough out of me. It's always enough when you're telling the truth," Robinson replied.

The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority.

"I don't know that there's any way you can look at this case and think that those ideals of justice were satisfied. Indeed, they were perverted time and time again, and I think the way this was carried out was a miscarriage of justice," DeSantis said.

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 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 neighborhood, burning houses and firing guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell.

Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd were convicted by an all-white jury. Other evidence that could have exonerated them — such as a doctor's conclusion that the teen probably wasn't raped — was withheld at their trial. Greenlee was sentenced to life, and Irvin and Shepherd to death.

Thurgood Marshall, later the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, took up Irvin and Shepherd's appeals for the NAACP, and in 1951 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered new trials.

Just before those trials began, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot Irvin and Shepherd, claiming the handcuffed men tried to escape as he transferred them from prison to a jail. Shepherd died. Irvin was shot in the neck and survived despite an ambulance refusing to transport him because he was black. He was again convicted, even though a former FBI agent testified that prosecutors manufactured evidence against him.

Charges were never brought against any white law enforcement officers or prosecutors who handled the cases.

Irvin was paroled in 1968 and found dead in his car while returning to Lake County for a funeral a year later.

Greenlee was paroled in 1960 and died in 2012.

Greenlee's daughter, Carol Greenlee, told DeSantis and the Cabinet that there was overwhelming evidence that her father was innocent.

"He was accused, put in jail and tortured for something he didn't do," she said.

The woman who said she was raped disputed the families' stories.

"Y'all just don't know what kind of horror I've been through for all these many years," she said. "I don't want them pardoned, no I do not, and you wouldn't neither. I know (Robinson) called me a liar, but I'm not no liar."

Afterward, state Sen. Gary Farmer, who sponsored the 2017 resolution apologizing to the families, said the woman's comments were disappointing.

"She's now here at the end of her life and she had a chance to come clean, to seek forgiveness for herself and to support the justice these four families and these four men deserve," Farmer said. "It's very said that she lost this opportunity and continues to perpetuate this lie. This crime did not happen. The evidence is overwhelming."

And not a moment too soon. Ah, shit. They're all dead.

 

[Pogo]

>> The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority. <<​

What an irony. Rick Scott monkeyed this up and needed DeSantis to fix it.

 

[H B Lowrie]

That's just america for ya. Behind all the bullshit. It's no secret. That's why americans are always so scared. They know everyone knows.

 

[aaronleland]

A doctor concluded the woman probably wasn't raped at all, and the information was withheld from court. Even in 1949 that's some crazy shit. A doctor's conclusion withheld from court.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

The victim was telling the truth and the rapists got delayed black privilege .

 

[aaronleland]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

The victim was telling the truth and the rapists got delayed black privilege .

Delayed black privilege? One was murdered before he was charged. Another was shot by police before being convicted. The other two died years before being pardoned. Black privilege sucks.

 

[aaronleland]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

 

[Muhammed]

>> The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority. <<​

What an irony. Rick Scott monkeyed this up and needed DeSantis to fix it.

The scumbag pardoned rapists, jackass.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

Because there were no medical conclusions just speculations.

 

[Muhammed]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

 

[Pogo]

>> The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority. <<​

What an irony. Rick Scott monkeyed this up and needed DeSantis to fix it.

The scumbag pardoned rapists, jackass.

Yeah?

Link?

 

[Pogo]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

The victim was telling the truth and the rapists got delayed black privilege .

Ah, so you were there. Good to know you get around.

 

[Pogo]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because a doctor examining for signs of rape isn't relevant to a rape case.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

The victim was telling the truth and the rapists got delayed black privilege .

Delayed black privilege? One was murdered before he was charged. Another was shot by police before being convicted. The other two died years before being pardoned. Black privilege sucks.

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

Dude, post-1900 the state (government) was not so good to the blacks.

Nowadays it's not so bad. Before 1850 was even better.

 

[Muhammed]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because a doctor examining for signs of rape isn't relevant to a rape case.

What fucking "signs of rape" are you even talking about?

 

[aaronleland]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

A doctor's examination isn't relevant to a rape case? I guess the alleged victim says she's raped, and the doctor says, "Sounds legit." That's medical jargon, by the way.

 

[aaronleland]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because a doctor examining for signs of rape isn't relevant to a rape case.

What fucking "signs of rape" are you even talking about?

You do know doctors check for signs of rape, right? It's called collecting evidence.

 

[Polishprince]

Four black men accused of 1949 rape of white woman in Florida are pardoned

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a dramatic, hour-long meeting that recalled events from nearly seven decades ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's three-member Cabinet granted posthumous pardons Friday to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman in a 1949 case now seen as a racial injustice.

The case of the men known as the Groveland Four has been documented in a book and is considered a blight on Florida's history. One of the four was killed before he could be charged and the other three were convicted on dubious evidence.


The families of the men accused of the assault told DeSantis and the Cabinet — meeting as the clemency board — that there is overwhelming evidence the men were innocent and there was no rape. The woman who was 17 when she said she was raped, sat in a wheelchair and later told Gov. DeSantis and the Cabinet the rape did indeed happen, saying she was dragged from a car, had a gun put to her head and was told not to scream or they would "blow your brains out."

At one point, the two sides briefly clashed. Beverly Robinson, a niece of one of the Groveland Four, was speaking to the governor and the Cabinet when she turned to the woman and her sons.

"It never happened. You all are liars," Robinson said.

"That's enough out of you," the woman said.

"I know it's enough out of me. It's always enough when you're telling the truth," Robinson replied.

The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority.

"I don't know that there's any way you can look at this case and think that those ideals of justice were satisfied. Indeed, they were perverted time and time again, and I think the way this was carried out was a miscarriage of justice," DeSantis said.

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 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 neighborhood, burning houses and firing guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell.

Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd were convicted by an all-white jury. Other evidence that could have exonerated them — such as a doctor's conclusion that the teen probably wasn't raped — was withheld at their trial. Greenlee was sentenced to life, and Irvin and Shepherd to death.

Thurgood Marshall, later the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, took up Irvin and Shepherd's appeals for the NAACP, and in 1951 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered new trials.

Just before those trials began, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot Irvin and Shepherd, claiming the handcuffed men tried to escape as he transferred them from prison to a jail. Shepherd died. Irvin was shot in the neck and survived despite an ambulance refusing to transport him because he was black. He was again convicted, even though a former FBI agent testified that prosecutors manufactured evidence against him.

Charges were never brought against any white law enforcement officers or prosecutors who handled the cases.

Irvin was paroled in 1968 and found dead in his car while returning to Lake County for a funeral a year later.

Greenlee was paroled in 1960 and died in 2012.

Greenlee's daughter, Carol Greenlee, told DeSantis and the Cabinet that there was overwhelming evidence that her father was innocent.

"He was accused, put in jail and tortured for something he didn't do," she said.

The woman who said she was raped disputed the families' stories.

"Y'all just don't know what kind of horror I've been through for all these many years," she said. "I don't want them pardoned, no I do not, and you wouldn't neither. I know (Robinson) called me a liar, but I'm not no liar."

Afterward, state Sen. Gary Farmer, who sponsored the 2017 resolution apologizing to the families, said the woman's comments were disappointing.

"She's now here at the end of her life and she had a chance to come clean, to seek forgiveness for herself and to support the justice these four families and these four men deserve," Farmer said. "It's very said that she lost this opportunity and continues to perpetuate this lie. This crime did not happen. The evidence is overwhelming."

And not a moment too soon. Ah, shit. They're all dead.

Florida was ruled by Liberals back in the 1940's, glad to see DeSantis cleaning up leftist crap. It would have been great if Mr. Gillum and other prominent Democrats were to man up and take responsibility on the behalf of their ideology.

 

[Muhammed]

Probably wasn't raped. Probably?

It doesn't matter if the doctor said "probably". How is a doctor's conclusion withheld from a trial?

It's not relevant to the case.

A doctor's examination isn't relevant to a rape case? I guess the alleged victim says she's raped, and the doctor says, "Sounds legit." That's medical jargon, by the way.

No it is not relevant if the do not find any obvious signs of rape. It's only relevant if the doctor finds injuries.

 

[Pogo]

Four black men accused of 1949 rape of white woman in Florida are pardoned

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a dramatic, hour-long meeting that recalled events from nearly seven decades ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's three-member Cabinet granted posthumous pardons Friday to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman in a 1949 case now seen as a racial injustice.

The case of the men known as the Groveland Four has been documented in a book and is considered a blight on Florida's history. One of the four was killed before he could be charged and the other three were convicted on dubious evidence.


The families of the men accused of the assault told DeSantis and the Cabinet — meeting as the clemency board — that there is overwhelming evidence the men were innocent and there was no rape. The woman who was 17 when she said she was raped, sat in a wheelchair and later told Gov. DeSantis and the Cabinet the rape did indeed happen, saying she was dragged from a car, had a gun put to her head and was told not to scream or they would "blow your brains out."

At one point, the two sides briefly clashed. Beverly Robinson, a niece of one of the Groveland Four, was speaking to the governor and the Cabinet when she turned to the woman and her sons.

"It never happened. You all are liars," Robinson said.

"That's enough out of you," the woman said.

"I know it's enough out of me. It's always enough when you're telling the truth," Robinson replied.

The unanimous vote to pardon came almost two years after the state House and Senate voted to formally apologize to relatives of the Groveland Four and to ask then-Gov. Rick Scott to pardon the men. Scott, now a U.S. senator, never took action. DeSantis replaced Scott on Tuesday and made the pardons a priority.

"I don't know that there's any way you can look at this case and think that those ideals of justice were satisfied. Indeed, they were perverted time and time again, and I think the way this was carried out was a miscarriage of justice," DeSantis said.

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 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 neighborhood, burning houses and firing guns into homes in a disturbance that took days to quell.

Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd were convicted by an all-white jury. Other evidence that could have exonerated them — such as a doctor's conclusion that the teen probably wasn't raped — was withheld at their trial. Greenlee was sentenced to life, and Irvin and Shepherd to death.

Thurgood Marshall, later the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, took up Irvin and Shepherd's appeals for the NAACP, and in 1951 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered new trials.

Just before those trials began, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot Irvin and Shepherd, claiming the handcuffed men tried to escape as he transferred them from prison to a jail. Shepherd died. Irvin was shot in the neck and survived despite an ambulance refusing to transport him because he was black. He was again convicted, even though a former FBI agent testified that prosecutors manufactured evidence against him.

Charges were never brought against any white law enforcement officers or prosecutors who handled the cases.

Irvin was paroled in 1968 and found dead in his car while returning to Lake County for a funeral a year later.

Greenlee was paroled in 1960 and died in 2012.

Greenlee's daughter, Carol Greenlee, told DeSantis and the Cabinet that there was overwhelming evidence that her father was innocent.

"He was accused, put in jail and tortured for something he didn't do," she said.

The woman who said she was raped disputed the families' stories.

"Y'all just don't know what kind of horror I've been through for all these many years," she said. "I don't want them pardoned, no I do not, and you wouldn't neither. I know (Robinson) called me a liar, but I'm not no liar."

Afterward, state Sen. Gary Farmer, who sponsored the 2017 resolution apologizing to the families, said the woman's comments were disappointing.

"She's now here at the end of her life and she had a chance to come clean, to seek forgiveness for herself and to support the justice these four families and these four men deserve," Farmer said. "It's very said that she lost this opportunity and continues to perpetuate this lie. This crime did not happen. The evidence is overwhelming."

And not a moment too soon. Ah, shit. They're all dead.

Florida was ruled by Liberals back in the 1940's

Oh really. Was it now.

Again ---- link? Names?

That was the period when Stetson Kennedy wrote an exposé about the Klan after he had infiltrated it, and had to flee to Europe over the backlash. Where were these "Liberals" protecting him?

, glad to see DeSantis cleaning up leftist crap.

Rick Scott? The hospital-corruption bald head guy, "leftist"?

Maybe you should stick with places you know. Like Poland.

It would have been great if Mr. Gillum and other prominent Democrats were to man up and take responsibility on the behalf of their ideology.

Dafuck does that mean?