ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Agriculture Commissioner-elect Nikki Fried says she wants to get a formal pardon for four African American men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in 1949.
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The case is considered one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Jim Crow-era Florida.
A Lake County woman accused the Groveland men of abducting and raping her after two of the men stopped to help her and her partner after their truck broke down.
Fried said in a statement Monday she would bring up the Groveland Four's case at the first Florida Cabinet meeting she attends.
She wants to try to expedite a review that could lead to their posthumous pardon at a clemency board hearing.
As agriculture secretary, Fried is one of four members on the state's clemency board, which also includes the governor, attorney general, and chief financial officer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.