On the night of January 20, 1972, LeRoy Drier, a 45-year-old man, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was one of three men who lost their lives during a violent armed robbery at the Shamrock Tavern in Davenport, Iowa. The incident was part of a robbery that went horribly wrong, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
A group of six young men from Rock Island, Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River that fateful night, their intentions set on robbery.
Among them was 17-year-old Sherman White, who acted as a lookout. Inside the tavern, the situation escalated quickly and violently. The bartender and two patrons, one of whom was LeRoy Drier, were shot and killed. Another patron, Clifford H. Mutum, aged 63, and the bartender, Harold E. George, age 54, also died in the tragic event.
The investigation that followed the triple homicide led to the arrest of five of the six men involved. Michael Mann, one of the participants, was not charged, as authorities believed he had been coerced into taking part in the crime. Sherman White was the first to be tried and was convicted on multiple counts, including murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The legal saga, however, did not end there. After spending 27 years behind bars, Sherman White's conviction was overturned by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled that the prosecution had withheld crucial exculpatory evidence from the defense. Following this decision, rather than face a new trial, White pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
The other men involved also faced justice for their roles in the deadly robbery. The shooter and another accomplice were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Two other members of the group pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and each served a decade in prison. In a remarkable turn of events years later, Ed Mutum, the son of victim Clifford Mutum and now a minister, met with Sherman White in prison and offered him his forgiveness.
