The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles voted Thursday morning to pardon three of the nine Scottsboro Boys — a group of black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in 1931.
Charles Weems, Andy Wright and Haywood Patterson are the last of the group to have their cases overturned. They were convicted after a third round of trials in 1937 and eventually died before their sentences were ever addressed. (Via WHNT)
The teens were convicted by an all-white jury and all but the youngest defendant received a death sentence. (Via WAKA)
Five of the cases were overturned in 1937, and one man was pardoned before he died in 1976. All of the Scottsboro Boys served jail time, and were eventually released. (Via WBRC)
Because the other six had charges dropped or received a pardon, the board did not consider their cases.
A writer for the Montgomery Advertiser reports Alabama passed a law earlier this year allowing posthumous pardons for convictions at least 75 years old specifically for the remaining Scottsboro Boys to be pardoned.
Patterson died of cancer in 1952. Weems is reportedly living in Georgia and Wright in Connecticut.
