Forty years after they were convicted by a jury of firebombing a grocery store in Wilmington , North Carolina , civil rights activists who became known as the `` Wilmington 10 '' were pardoned Monday by the state 's outgoing governor . `` These convictions were tainted by naked racism and represent an ugly stain on North Carolina 's criminal justice system that can not be allowed to stand any longer , '' said Gov . Beverly Perdue . `` Justice demands that this stain finally be removed . '' In 1972 , nine black men and one white woman were convicted in the store firebombing in the coastal city despite their claims of innocence and their supporters ' vehement argument that the defendants were victims of racially biased prosecutors . Their sentences were reduced in 1978 by the state 's governor then , Jim Hunt , and two years later their convictions were overturned in federal court for reasons of misconduct by the prosecutors . But until Monday there were no pardons , and the sting of the guilty verdicts still followed the six surviving members of the group that was known nationwide as the Wilmington 10 . Perdue said that among the key evidence that led her to grant pardons of innocence were recently discovered notes from the prosecutor who picked the jury . The notes showed the prosecutor preferred white jurors who might be members of the Ku Klux Klan and one black juror was described as an `` Uncle Tom type . '' Perdue also pointed to the federal court 's ruling that the prosecutor knew his star witness lied on the witness stand . That witness and other witnesses recanted a few years after the trial . Timothy Tyson , a North Carolina historian and a visiting professor at Duke University , said he was given the notes two years ago and started to go through them recently when the NAACP called again for pardons for the Wilmington 10 . `` It was pretty shocking stuff , '' he told CNN on Monday . There were at least six potential jurors with `` KKK Good ! ! '' written next to them , he said . Next to a woman 's name it said , `` NO , she associates with Negroes . '' On the back of the legal pad , the prosecutor , Jay Stroud , had apparently written the advantages and disadvantages of a mistrial , Tyson said . One of the advantages was a fresh start with a new jury . Stroud told the Wilmington StarNews in October that the handwriting on the legal pad was his , but people were misinterpreting his notes . `` I could have had an all-white jury , but I did n't want to do that . Why would I leave a KKK on the jury ? '' Stroud said . He told the newspaper that he wanted `` blacks who could be fair '' on the jury . It was actually the second jury that ruled on the case . The first jury was dismissed after a mistrial was declared when Stroud said he was ill. That jury had two whites . Tyson said the early 1970s were `` really hard and really bad '' and a `` bubbling cauldron '' of racially heated struggles in the state . North Carolina had the largest number of Ku Klux Klan members in the country , he said , but there was also a strong African-American freedom movement . `` ( The time ) was seething with anger and resentment and fear and rage , '' he said . And one of the Wilmington 10 was the Rev . Benjamin Chavis , whom Tyson described as a handsome , fearless civil rights leader who came from a brilliant family . He was a threat to the `` old guard '' of North Carolina leaders . Chavis was a target for police even before the firebombing occurred , Tyson said . Chavis , who would become the head of the NAACP in 1993 , was paroled in 1979 . Most of the others involved in the case struggled after they were set free . `` Things went badly for them , '' Tyson said . `` Many of them had their health broken in prison . ''
Outgoing governor says they were ` ` tainted by naked racism '' Governor 's decree says finally that ` ` of 10 '' members were innocent . One former member went on to become leader of the NAACP . Members of group have been out of prison for years , some have died .