In the winter of 1972, a retired foundry worker named Clifford Mutum, a 62-year-old male, lived a quiet life in Davenport, Iowa. On a January night, he left his home to go to the nearby Shamrock Tavern for a beer for himself and a soda for his wife. This simple errand, however, ended in a tragedy that would haunt his family and the community for years to come. That evening, a group of young men from Rock Island, Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River with robbery on their minds.
Three of them went inside the tavern, and when they left, Clifford Mutum and two other men were dead, with three others seriously wounded.
The investigation into the brutal crime led to the arrest of four young men. One of them, 17-year-old Sherman White, had acted as the lookout during the robbery. He was the first to be tried and was convicted of first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Another man involved, the shooter, received the same sentence. Two other accomplices pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were each sentenced to ten years in prison.
The aftermath of the violent crime deeply affected Clifford Mutum's family. His son, Ed, who had been a troubled young man with a history of alcoholism and run-ins with the law, was profoundly impacted by his father's murder. He testified for the prosecution during Sherman White's trial, finding himself for once on the opposite side of the law. The senseless violence that took his father's life left him with a deep-seated anger and a desire for revenge that would take him decades to overcome.
Years later, in a remarkable turn of events, Ed Mutum, who had since turned his life around and become a minister, made the decision to forgive his father's killer. He visited Sherman White in prison, an act of forgiveness that was met with both support and skepticism from those around them. White eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and expressed his remorse for his role in the tragic events of that January night. His sentence was later revised, making him eligible for release.
