Gladson talks process for Groveland Four’s exoneration

By Makayla Gray makayla@ocalagaztte.com

Nearly 75 years ago, one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice took place in Central Florida when four Black men were wrongly accused of sexually assaulting a white teenage girl and beating her husband.

Decades later, the record was finally set straight as the men, known as the Groveland Four, were officially pardoned by the State of Florida in 2019. Marion County State Attorney William “Bill” Gladson, whose team uncovered new evidence that led to the criminal case finally being put to rest in 2021, recently spoke about the case in a two-part informational series.

During the sessions on March 12 and 19 at Fort King Presbyterian Church in Ocala, Gladson detailed the saga that has inspired numerous TV shows, countless news stories and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America,” by Gilbert King.

Gladson was joined in the presentation by Aaron Newson, a nephew of Ernest Thomas, one of the Groveland Four. Newson presented some of his own research findings, which said will be included in his book, which he expects to have published in November.

The sessions began with an overview of the case and an explanation of Gladson’s involvement.

In July 1949, a 17-year-old white girl in Groveland, Lake County, said she and her husband were headed home from a night of dancing when their car broke down and they were then attacked by four Black men. Her husband reportedly was beaten, and she was taken away and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by the four men. Reports at the time stated the woman told authorities she was able to escape to a diner off County Road 33 where she met the diner owner’s son, Gladson said. The woman reportedly told the man that she was fine.

Then-Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall quickly accused four young African American men—Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas—with the crimes. The arrests spurred racial outrage, and within days, an angry mob of more than 1,000 men hunted down Thomas and killed him, riddling his body with more than 400 bullets.

The remaining three suspects were put

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