Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

by Gilbert King

A letter from Sam Buie, the assistant state attorney, urged the governor, now that he was free to issue a death warrant, to “get rid of this case once and for all.” It was not the first time Buie had attempted to influence the case outside the courtroom. In November 1951, only weeks after McCall had shot the two Groveland boys, Buie had a shocking story to tell, and he chose a high-ranking NAACP officer in Ocala to tell it to. Jesse Hunter, Buie told the officer, was so livid with Marshall after the lawyer attempted to disqualify him from prosecuting the second Groveland Boys trial that Hunter entered into a conspiracy with Willis McCall to kill Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin. It was Hunter’s pride, Buie said of his boss, that “caused him to plot this killing with McCall.” Marshall was immediately notified of the alleged conspiracy and saw right through Buie’s ploy. He suspected that by tipping off the NAACP, Buie was doing the bidding of his friend Willis McCall, who was “trying to drag Hunter into this killing.” Marshall was convinced that Hunter was not involved in such a plot because by that time, Hunter had himself, through Mabel Norris Reese, been keeping the NAACP informed on the FBI’s investigation into McCall’s shooting of the Groveland Boys.