ORLANDO, Fla. – Following a recent surge in support to pardon the four young African-American men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in Groveland nearly 70 years ago, Florida Governor-elect Ron DeSantis said Thursday he plans to make reviewing the 1949 case a priority once he is in office.
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis asked Wednesday that the case be brought before the clemency board. The clemency board consists of the governor and three other elected officials. Patronis is the only one who will remain on the board past early January.
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It's not clear how long it will take the Florida Commission on Offender Review to do a clemency report on Earnest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin. The young men have been referred to as the 'Groveland four.'
Thomas was killed during a manhunt and the other three were convicted with dubious evidence. Shepherd was later killed by a sheriff who claimed he and Irvin tried to escape.
DeSantis said in a news release Thursday he looks forward to reviewing the report from the Office of Executive Clemency and discussing the Groveland four case as his first meeting with the Florida Cabinet in January.
"Make no mistake: these men were victims, " DeSantis said, adding that he urges all Floridians to review the facts of the case and similar cases.
"We must all learn from the past in its fullness, " he said. "We should be shocked by the acts of evil that were done yet inspired by the men and women of good will who have refused to let sleeping dogs lie."
Earlier in the week, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also called on the four young men to be pardoned.
Rubio made the request Tuesday on the floor of the Senate. Rubio said what happened to the four men was a "horrifying injustice" and still haunts Florida to this day.
The move is significant because GOP Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans on the state clemency board have refused to take up the pardon request.
“Seventy years is a long time to wait, but it is never too late to do the right thing," DeSantis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.