In a unanimous 38-0 vote, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 694, a measure that seeks to compensate the descendants of the Groveland Four; four Black men wrongfully accused of raping a white woman in Lake County in 1949. 

For Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, the bill was more than policy. It was personal. 

“As my first bill, this measure carries a deep personal connection for me,” Davis tells colleagues during the Feb. 19 session where the bill was heard. “This bill is about justice, not merely remembered as history, but carried forward as responsibility.” 

The Groveland Four – Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas – were accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman named Norma Padgett near Groveland on July 16, 1949. Despite corroborating alibis and a lack of physical evidence, the men were presumed guilty. 

Greenlee was 16 at the time. Irvin and Shepherd were 22. Thomas was 26. 

Davis recounted what followed. 

“They were beaten, confessions were given freely, they were cursed and Ernest Thomas was hunted down by a mob of 1,000 men and shot more than 400 times,” she says. “All of this happened because of a lie.” 

The convictions of Irvin and Shepherd were later overturned by the United States Supreme Court after NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall argued their case. But violence followed. Shepherd was killed by then-Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall while in custody and being transported. Irvin, also with them, was spared due to “playing dead beside the body of Samuel Shepherd,” Davis says. 

Decades later, Florida acknowledged the injustice. In 2017, the Legislature passed a resolution apologizing for what it called a “shameful chapter” in state history. In 2019, full pardons were issued. In 2021, a Lake County judge dismissed the indictments and vacated the convictions. 

SB 694, which specifies $4 million to be distributed to The Groveland Four’s next of kin, represents what Davis described as “the final step.” 

“It fulfills an obligation the state has already recognized, to redress the loss of life, and the violation of civil rights, these men, and these families have endured,” she says. “Let me be clear. No amount of money can restore a life taken, a future stolen or a family shattered. A compensation is the remedy the law provides, and it is the remedy the state owes.” 

Several senators rose in support. 

“This bill before us does not attempt to put a dollar amount on suffering because some harms defy monetary measurement,” one senator says. “But it offers tangible, meaningful recognition that the state of Florida acknowledges a historical wrong and seeks to remedy in a way that provides dignity, support and acknowledgment to those who continue to carry its legacy.” 

Another added, “The trauma from this injustice didn’t end with these men’s lives. It rippled through families and communities for decades.” 

For Carol Greenlee, daughter of Charles Greenlee, the Senate’s action is validating, yet emotional. 

“I appreciate very much what the Senate is trying to do and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” says Carol, now 76, via phone from Tennessee. “It means a lot to me and my family that those folks know that they (Groveland Four), including my father, were innocent.” 

She pauses when talking about what this moment may have meant to him. 

“The only regret I have is that he is not here to thank these people in person,” she says. “I believe he would be overjoyed.” 

She says her father never fully spoke about what happened back in 1949. 

“I sat with my father one New Years Eve and I asked him about what he went through, but he never would talk about it,” she says.  “It was too painful and he didn’t want his children to feel that pain.” 

“He also just wanted to raise his children in a peaceful manner, appreciating the good in this world and not dwelling on the negative. He didn’t want us to be negative toward anybody.” 

Davis, in her closing remarks before the Senate vote, closed with a deeply personal reflection.  

“The incident of the accused rape occurred on July 16, 1949,” she said to the Senate. “I was born on July 16, 1979. Exactly 30 years to the day of the incident. I am thankful that it was God’s divine will, that the person born on the anniversary of that tragedy was destined to stand here and help bring closure to it.” 

She dedicated the moment to the families who testified on behalf of the bill and to the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a driving force behind seeking justice for the Groveland Four. 

“Part of why I ran for office is not just to pass policy, but to deliver justice when it is in our power to do so,” Davis says. “Let us close this chapter with integrity. Let us show the families that we heard them and let us send a message that in the Florida State Senate, truth still matters.  

“And Senator Thompson, this is for you.” 

Moving forward, the related bill (HB6523) now awaits consideration in the House, where its passage is required before compensation can be finalized. 

If approved, Florida will close a 76-year chapter with accountability. 

Carol says she hopes House lawmakers follow the Senate’s lead. 

“It would send a message that this country is still good, that there are still good people,” she says. “We need to recognize and be very conscious of the fact that to uphold justice, we need to do the right thing, all the time.