But just in case that happens, they’re putting a new bunch in place!
Many believe the Groveland Boys were innocent, and today, city and county governments, the Florida Senate and concerned citizens are pushing for the state to apologize, exonerate and pardon the four.
In light of that effort, Gilbert King — author of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, which is being made into a movie — spoke to TIME about why the Groveland Boys case still matters today. (…)
What really makes this case stand out is it’s kind of like a To Kill a Mockingbird-type case or a Scottsboro Boys-type case, where you have these really explosive allegations, and then the dynamic in the community just gets a little out of control, seeking vengeance. So there’s a near lynching and then really a travesty of justice that follows, and ultimately, the Supreme Court overturned these verdicts. And then you had a sheriff in this Lake County that sort of took it upon himself to be the judge and jury.
