In 1951, a group of Black men who came to be known as the “Martinsville Seven” were tried by a white jury and sentenced to death for their supposed role in the gang rape of a 32-year-old white woman named Ruby Stroud Floyd. Seventy years later, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has granted posthumous pardons to all seven of the men, saying they were treated unfairly by the legal system and didn’t deserve to be executed by the state.
Denise Lavoie of the Associated Press reported that Gov. Northam announced the pardons following a meeting with a group of the men’s family members, descendants and advocates working to clear their names.
“The case attracted pleas for mercy from around the world and in recent years has been denounced as an example of racial disparity in the use of the death penalty,” Lavoie said. “Cries and sobs could be heard from some of the descendants after Northam’s announcement.”
