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By The Associated Press

A Florida newspaper is apologizing for coverage seven decades ago that helped give credence to the false narrative that four young African-American men had raped a White woman in central Florida.

The Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 10 printed an apology for the newspaper’s role in “this injustice” against the men known as the Groveland Four.

From left, Sheriff Willis McCall, jailer Reuben Hatcher, Walter Irvin, Charles Greenlee, and Samuel Shepherd, at the Lake County Jail in Lake County, Florida, in 1949. (Photo: Library Of Congress/NAACP Records)

The apology comes a day before newly inaugurated Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida’s Cabinet meet to discuss the Groveland Four’s case. DeSantis has said he wants to consider a pardon for the men.

The four men were wrongly accused of raping a White woman in 1949 in the central Florida town of Groveland, near Orlando.

One of the men, Ernest Thomas, was killed during a manhunt. The other three were convicted with dubious evidence.

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