Thomas Griffin

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death and Executed
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:	1913
Year Convicted:	1913
Year Cleared:	2009
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	South Carolina
County or Region of Crime:	Chester
City of Crime:	Blackstock
Result:	Pardoned Posthumously After Execution
Summary of Case:	"Thomas Griffin was codefendant and brother of Meeks Griffin, and Nelson Brice and John Crosby. The four men were convicted of the 1913 murder of a 73-year-old Civil War veteran in Chester County, South Carolina. The Griffin brothers and Brice and Crosby were indicted on July 7, 1913. Their trial was scheduled to begin two days later. With only a day to prepare, their defense attorney W.H. Newbold made a motion for a continuance. Newbold's motion was denied. When the four men appealed their convictions the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the denial of a continuance was insignificant. The four men petitioned South Carolina Governor Richard Manning for a pardon hearing. More than 120 peopled signed a petition supporting the pardon, including some white residents in Chester County. including Blackstock's mayor, a former sheriff, two trial jurors and the grand jury foreman. Gov. Manning granted the four defendant's a temporary reprieve, but eventually denied the pardon petition and all four men were electrocuted on the same day in September 1915. The brothers were the great-uncle of Columbia, South Carolina talk show host Tom Joyner. Joyner learned about his executed relatives in 2007 during the filming of a PBS documentary -- ''African American Lives 2." Joyner, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., and legal historian Paul Finkelman began investigating the case. Based on the evidence that the Griffin brothers were the victims of a frame-up by a man who was linked to the victim's stolen pistol, but who claimed he was only the lookout. On October 14, 2009 the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services Board unanimously voted to postumously pardon the Griffin brothers. It is believed to be the first posthumous pardons in a capital case in South Carolina history. Brice and Crosby were victimized by the same frame-up, but Joyner, Gates and Finkelman did not attempt to obtain the pardoning of those two men."
Conviction Caused By:	Perjurious testimony by the man who was the likely murderer.
Innocence Proved By:	"On October 14, 2009 the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services Board unanimously voted to postumously pardon the Griffin brothers. It is believed to be the first posthumous pardons in a capital case in South Carolina history. Pardon petitions were not filed on behalf of Nelson Brice and John Crosby."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Joyner: 'We got it! We got it! of Pardon for Ancestors, The State, By Roddie Burris, October 15, 2009"
Information Location 1:	http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/983363.html
Information Source 2:	"SC Board Pardons 2 Black Men Executed 94 Years Ago, Associated Press article, The New York Times, October 14, 2009"
Information Location 2:	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/14/arts/AP-US-Radio-Host-Pardon.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=thomas%20griffin&st=cse
Information Source 3:	"S. Carolina pardons radio host's kin who were executed in 1915, USA Today, October 15, 2009"
Information Location 3:	http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/10/s-carolina-pardons-radio-hosts-kin-who-were-executed-in-1915.html
Information Source 4:	"Pardons from 1913 murder terrific, but what about the other two guys, By Andrew Dys, The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.), October 16, 2009"
Information Location 4:	http://www.heraldonline.com/front/story/1678512.html
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Thomas Griffin

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death and Executed

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

1913

Year Convicted:

1913

Year Cleared:

2009

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

South Carolina

County or Region of Crime:

Chester

City of Crime:

Blackstock

Result:

Pardoned Posthumously After Execution

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Perjurious testimony by the man who was the likely murderer.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Joyner: 'We got it! We got it! of Pardon for Ancestors, The State, By Roddie Burris, October 15, 2009"

Information Location 1:

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/983363.html

Information Source 2:

"SC Board Pardons 2 Black Men Executed 94 Years Ago, Associated Press article, The New York Times, October 14, 2009"

Information Location 2:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/14/arts/AP-US-Radio-Host-Pardon.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=thomas%20griffin&st=cse

Information Source 3:

"S. Carolina pardons radio host's kin who were executed in 1915, USA Today, October 15, 2009"

Information Location 3:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/10/s-carolina-pardons-radio-hosts-kin-who-were-executed-in-1915.html

Information Source 4:

"Pardons from 1913 murder terrific, but what about the other two guys, By Andrew Dys, The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.), October 16, 2009"

Information Location 4:

http://www.heraldonline.com/front/story/1678512.html

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: