MEDIA ADVISORY
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, State Representative Geraldine F. Thompson (D-Windermere), State Senator Gary Farmer (D-Fort Lauderdale), Groveland Four family members, and community leaders will hold a press conference tomorrow afternoon at the Florida Capitol to renew the call for the exoneration of the Groveland Four.
Commissioner Fried had pledged to seek their pardon during her first Clemency Board meeting. Following that pardon in January, family members of the Groveland Four and activists throughout Florida have continued to call for the exoneration of the falsely accused men. While the Groveland Four families recognize that a pardon excuses the actions of an individual who is guilty of a crime, an exoneration acknowledges innocence.
Who: Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Representative Geraldine F. Thompson, Senator Gary Farmer, Groveland Four family members, community leaders
What: Press conference on exoneration of the Groveland Four
When: Tuesday, December 10, at 1:00 PM
Where: 4th Floor Rotunda, The Capitol, 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL
Media: Open press, media should RSVP to [email protected]
Known as the “Groveland Four,” Ernest Thomas, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee and Walter Irvin are the four Black men who were wrongly accused of rape in 1949 and murdered, tortured, or wrongly imprisoned. During the 2017 session, the legislature unanimously passed a resolution which urged the cabinet to perform an expedited clemency review for the four men. In January 2019, at the first meeting of the new Clemency Board, pardons were granted to all four men.
