The Democratic governor of Virginia on Tuesday granted a posthumous pardon to seven black men executed in 1951 for the rape of a white woman, following an investigation and trials marked by racism.
Ralph Northam announced his decision after meeting with descendants of these African-American men known as the “Martinsville Seven.” The pardons “do not address their guilt” but “acknowledge that they were not entitled to impartial justice,” according to a statement from his office.
Their skin color “played an undeniable role in their identification, investigation and sentencing” to the death penalty, especially because they were tried by completely white jurors, the decree said.
“Although we cannot change what happened, I hope this measure will bring some peace,” said the governor, who has been in favor of reforms of the penal system since the beginning of his term in 2018 and has awarded a number record of 604 pardons.
The case of Martinsville, southern Virginia, dates back to January 1949. A 32-year-old white woman reported being raped by a group of black men and police quickly made the seven arrests and obtained signed confessions.
But the seven men, interrogated without a lawyer, gave different versions of the facts and many were illiterate and unable to read their confessions.
Despite protests in their favor even in front of the White House, they were subjected to the electric chair in February 1951.
In 1977 the Supreme Court ruled against imposing the death penalty in cases of rape.
Virginia abolished the death penalty in March, a symbolic decision for this state that holds the record for executions in American history.