A $4 million compensation package for the descendants of the Groveland Four is now one step closer to becoming law after lawmakers included the funding in finalized state budget negotiations over the weekend.

Although separate compensation legislation stalled in the Florida House earlier this session, the funding ultimately remained alive through the state budget process and is expected to move forward if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the proposed 2026–2027 budget.

The Florida Legislature is expected to take final votes Friday, May 29, on the proposed $114.5 billion spending plan. Once approved by both chambers, the budget will head to the governor’s desk, where he can issue line-item vetoes before signing the final package into law ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

The compensation is tied to one of Florida’s most well-known cases of racial injustice.

The Groveland Four — Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd — were wrongfully accused of raping a white woman near Groveland in 1949. Thomas was killed before he could stand trial, while Shepherd and Irvin were severely beaten by law enforcement officers during the case. The men maintained their innocence throughout the ordeal.

After decades of advocacy from family members, community leaders and historians, the State of Florida posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four in 2019.

Lake County Commission Chairman Leslie Campione introduces the guest speakers at the Groveland Four Monument Dedication on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione, who played a major role in efforts to secure the pardons and later helped establish a memorial honoring the men outside the historic Lake County Courthouse, said she expects DeSantis to support the compensation.

“I would expect the governor to sign this into law because he took a direct interest in it when we as a county were seeking the pardon before his cabinet,” Commissioner Campione says. “He actually came down to Lake County and was there when we dedicated the memorial to the Groveland Four in front of the historic courthouse.”

“I would be very surprised if he did not support this.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis joins Lake County officials in unveiling the monument at the Groveland Four Monument Dedication on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

Commissioner Campione said the compensation is about acknowledging a failure within the legal system that resulted in wrongful incarceration and convictions.

“It is important to distinguish this situation as restitution,” she says. “This is a way of saying that we did not uphold the standards of law and justice guarantee in our country, and these four people were wrongly imprisoned or convicted.”

She added that while nothing can undo the damage done, the legislation represents an attempt to recognize that wrong and offset some of the damage inflicted on these men and their families.

“Although you can never go back and change the way something happened, I think this could have a tangible impact in a positive way on these families who suffered through these wrongful convictions and incarceration and fought for years for justice to be realized,” she says.

Family members of the Groveland Four, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas, celebrate after the case was dismissed in 2021.

Campione also noted that many people involved in the effort viewed the compensation as part of a broader responsibility to confront failures in the justice system, but she sees this as a case of addressing these particular facts. 

“I think that’s what is happening with this legislation,” she says. “It is an attempt to make up for a wrong that was done and the fact that we did not live up to the standards of our judicial system and our principles.”

Author Gary Corsair shares his remarks at the Groveland Four Monument Dedication on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

Gary Corsair, author of “The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching,” said the compensation represents a long-overdue acknowledgment of the suffering endured by the men and their families, though he believes justice came far too late for many who fought hardest for it.

“Naturally, I’m pleased that the State of Florida is finally compensating the families of the Groveland Four for the terrible injustices that doomed four innocent men, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas,” Gary says. “However, this long overdue restitution is far too little and comes far too late.”

Gary spent years researching the case and interviewing surviving family members while writing his book. He credited much of the eventual momentum behind the exonerations to Henrietta Irvin, sister of Walter Irvin and sister-in-law of Samuel Shepherd.

Carol Greenlee, the daughter of Charles Greenlee, tells what the monument means to her and her family at the Groveland Four Monument Dedication on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

“Henrietta Irvin is the reason this day of restitution has finally arrived,” he says. “Without her, I wouldn’t have authored and published “The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching” (2004). There would have been no “Devil in the Grove” (Author Gilbert King) nine years later. The PBS documentary “The Groveland Four” (2018) wouldn’t have been made. And I doubt any lawmaker would have carried the torch for the simple reason that the Groveland Four were 48 years forgotten.”

Gary said many of the closest family members who carried the burden of the case for decades never lived long enough to see compensation become reality.

“The wheels of justice moved much too slowly to benefit those who lived the nightmare of wrongful convictions,” he says.

He also noted that many surviving relatives never sought financial compensation, only exoneration and restoration of their loved ones’ names.

“Each and every one of them wanted just one thing — for the names of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd to be cleared,” Gary says.

Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis

Previously, following Senate approval of the compensation measure, Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, who sponsored the legislation, called the bill deeply personal.

If signed by the governor, the compensation package would mark another major chapter in the decades-long effort to acknowledge and correct one of Florida’s darkest miscarriages of justice.

“This bill is about justice, not merely remembered as history, but carried forward as responsibility,” she said.

Photos by Cindy Peterson and provided.