Devil in the Grove

On April 9, 1951, the Supreme Court overturns the convictions of Shepherd and Irvin. Justice Robert Jackson writes the concurring opinion, declaring that what happened in the Lake County Courthouse “[does] not meet any civilized conception of due process of law” (220). The case will now be retried at the Lake County courthouse. McCall feels pressure from the KKK to bring Norma Padgett’s rapists to justice.

Marshall recruits black Orlando lawyer Paul Perkins to argue the retrial along with Williams, Akerman, and Jack Greenberg. Williams forms a theory about what happened on the night of the alleged rape: Willie tried to have sex with Norma in the car, perhaps becoming rough with her, and Norma ran away. He then concocted the rape story as a cover. Williams and his team work to track down alibi witnesses.

On November 6, 1951, Sheriff McCall transports Shepherd and Irvin from the Florida state prison to the courthouse where their retrial is to take place. Along the way, McCall has tire trouble and stops the car. Not long after, Shepherd is shot dead and Irvin is critically wounded by McCall. After other police and newspapermen arrive, Irvin is brought to the hospital. McCall claims that the two prisoners tried to escape and he shot them in self-defense.

At the United Nations, the Soviet foreign minister points to the Groveland Boys shooting as a gross example of injustice in America.

The story is covered nationally and is met with widespread condemnation. Marshall arrives at the hospital to talk with Irvin, who recounts his side of the story, that McCall and Yates shot him and Shepherd in cold blood. A detective named J.J. Elliott is sent by the Florida governor to investigate. Jesse Hunter is shaken by the events, which he describes as “the worst thing that ever happened in Lake County” (245), and he avoids McCall.

A Klansman suggests to McCall assassinating Alex Akerman, but McCall rejects this idea. An attempt to terrorize Akerman outside the hospital is thwarted when Akerman fails to show up.

Because of his efforts on behalf of the Groveland trial, Harry Moore receives threatening letters and his winter home is vandalized in his absence. Nonetheless, he continues to fight and raise awareness for the case.

A coroner’s inquest is held to investigate the death of Shepherd and wounding of Irvin. At the site of the shooting, a box nail is discovered in one of McCall’s tires. Mabel Norris Reese writes that the nail looks “obviously planted.” Throughout the inquest, McCall is treated as a “guest of honor” and his testimony not seriously questioned (253).

A few days later, FBI agents discover a bullet in the sand where Irvin lay after the shooting. Its precise placement seems to support Irvin’s side of the story. Jesse Hunter more and more doubts McCall’s account of the events. Hunter urges the governor to suspect McCall, but the governor decides he can weather another civil rights scandal (255).

Marshall, and much of the northern press, is convinced that what happened was a cold-blooded attempt to murder the two defendants before the Supreme Court–ordered retrial (255). He raises some pertinent questions: If McCall shot in self-defense, why did he think it necessary to shoot both victims three times? Since the victims were handcuffed together, would not incapacitating one of them have sufficed to prevent the other from escaping?

McCall resents his characterization in the press as a typical racist southern sheriff and strives to clear his name.

Stetson Kennedy, a left-wing anti-KKK journalist from Jacksonville, accosts special investigator J.J. Elliott in his hotel. Pretending to be a Klansman himself, Kennedy coaxes important information about the case from Elliott; he discovers that Elliott is a Klansman and thus possibly in league with the governor to whitewash McCall’s murder of Samuel Shepherd.

Kennedy calls Marshall at NAACP headquarters and offers him vital new information on the case. No new information is learned, and the FBI dismisses Kennedy as a “phony,” but Stetson’s communist affiliation allows Marshall to renew his cooperation with J. Edgar Hoover.

Jesse Hunter is shocked by Judge Truman Futch’s order that Sheriff McCall again transport Walter Irvin to the retrial; he and Marshall both intervene, and Irvin is transported by the state highway patrol instead.   

McCall locates a white prisoner on death row in the Raiford prison who claims to have overheard Shepherd and Irvin “planning to escape” on the night of the transfer (263). The FBI does not deem the report credible, as prison inmates seem to have planted the idea in the inmate’s mind.

Harry Moore finds his position with the Florida branch of the NAACP in jeopardy. Attending a meeting, he finds himself demoted to an unpaid position (with back pay). He is disappointed at this and at the indifference of Florida blacks toward the NAACP’s work. Still, Moore continues his fight by writing letters to Governor Warren protesting the injustices of the Groveland case.

Racial violence intensifies in Florida, with attempted and/or successful bombings at a Jewish community center, a black apartment center, a Hebrew school, and a Catholic church.

Marshall hopes that Judge Futch will move the retrial to a more urban setting outside of his jurisdiction, but instead Futch chooses to maintain his control over the case; further, he bars Marshall and Greenberg from defending Irvin on the basis that they “represent the NAACP and not the client” (269).

Moore attends a fund-raising meeting called “The Truth about Groveland” at a Miami church, at which Marshall gives a stirring speech in defense of Irvin and in condemnation of McCall. Respect for Marshall grows among southern white ministers.

On Christmas night, 1951, Harry Moore is at home with his mother, Rosa, his wife, Harriette, and his daughter Peaches. Around 10:20 PM, a bomb blasts the house, seriously injuring Harry and Harriette. Moore expires at the local hospital, and Harriette dies not long after. The bombing is met with outrage and condemnation across the country. The FBI carries out an investigation; however, because the lines between law enforcement and the KKK are often indistinct in Florida, it proves “next to impossible” to trace the perpetrator (282).