Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee Pardoned After 12 Years in Florida Prison

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September 16, 1975

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee Pardoned After 12 Years in Florida Prison, 1975. aeaf1920-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/c7c9c570-7e3b-4153-986e-15534737b491/freddie-lee-pitts-and-wilbert-lee-pardoned-after-12-years-in-florida-prison. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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Wy fos

who |

man's confe

week, Governor Reuben Askew moved for a full pardon on the grounds

nt of the 1963 abductio y and killing of two gas en were inno

ion attendants in Port St. Joe, Fla.

ires a majority vote of Executive clemency in Florida, however, re

On Thursday, Governor Askew, heading the Cabinet,

and the St Last Friday, a third member

signed,

The

for the last ten years largely by NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

egal Defense Fund la attorneys. Last May 1,

to review the case.

Commenting on the pardon, the Legal Defense Fund's Director-Counsel,

Jack Greenberg, said: "Justice has finally prevailed after a 12-year struggle.

rre courtoom
The men were innocent victims of brutal police tactics, biz

ry drawn from a stongly prejudiced procedures --and condemned by an all-white j

community."

In 1963, Pitts and Lee were found guilty of first degree murder and

marily circumstan-
received sentences of death. The evidence against them was p

sses to the killings, and there was no physical evidence re no witr tial (there we

(More)

269

conn

sted

n to th

obtaine,

WaS corroborate de ne trial juq

Court of Appeal,

Defendants’ motion for a change of venue was not granted, ho ever, were again Convicted o: first degree murder an all-white jury.
Adams ha@ refused to tes: Y on defendants! be’ use he had not been given
immunity from Prosecution.

"There appears to have been a serion
which has been Perpetuated and which has Yesulted in the jailing for 12 years of two tnnocent men. The case appears to have been one of Stark racial injustice," Mr. Gree: g said.

even though originally

tion is NAACP Legal Defense and Educationa

ense Fund. The orc anization has a na
New York y and works with 400 cooperating

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Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee Pardoned After 12 Years in Florida Prison

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