FL S0136

Acknowledges and formally exonerates Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas (the "Groveland Four"), who were wrongfully convicted in a 1949 rape case in Lake County based on coerced confessions and lack of physical evidence.

Offers a formal apology to the Groveland Four and their families for the grave injustices perpetrated against them by the criminal justice system, law enforcement, and racial hatred.

Urges the Governor and Cabinet to grant pardons to Walter Irvin and Charles Greenlee, whose convictions were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1951 but who remained imprisoned or experienced further injustices.

Documents the broader tragedy including Ernest Thomas's death at the hands of a deputized posse, Samuel Shepherd's death during a shooting by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall, and the suspected connection to the 1951 bombing death of NAACP leader Harry T. Moore and his wife.