Virginia judge declares lynched men innocent, century after lynching occurred

A Virginia judge has officially declare innocent three black men were lynched for crimes they didn’t commit, more a century after the lynchings occurred.

The declaration was made through a court order filed Dec. 16 by Virginia’s 16th Circuit Court Judge Dale B. Durrer, along with Commonwealth’s Attorney Russell L. Rabb III and Righting the Record, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group, according to local newspaper The Culpepper Times.

The order affirms the presumption of innocence and acknowledges the denial of due process for William Grayson, William Thompson and Charles “Allie” Thompson, all of whom were kidnapped and murdered by lynching between 1849 and 1918, the newspaper also reports. 

“These men were our brothers and Culpeper County was their home,” NAACP-Culpeper Branch President Kaleb Hackley. "We declare that their stories will not be buried, we declare them innocent.”