Teen Cleared of Murder 70 Years After His Execution - NBCNews

[WillyT]

Teen Cleared of Murder 70 Years After His Execution
By Lisa Riordan Seville - NBCNews
First published December 17 2014, 10:08 AM



<snip>

Seventy years after South Carolina executed a 14-year-old boy so small he sat on a phone book in the electric chair, a circuit court judge threw out his murder conviction.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Carmen Mullins vacated the decision against George Stinney Jr., a black teen who was convicted of beating two young white girls to death in the small town of Alcolu in 1944.

Civil rights advocates have spent years trying to get the case reopened, arguing that Stinney's confession was coerced. At the time of his arrest, Stinney weighed just 95 pounds. Officials said Stinney had admitted beating the girls, 11 and 8 years old, with a railroad spike.

In a 2009 affidavit, Stinney's sister said she had been with him on the day of the murders and he could not have committed them.

Stinney was put on trial and then executed within three months of the killings. His trial lasted three hours, and a jury of 12 white men took 10 minutes to find him guilty.

He is often cited as the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the 20th century...

<snip>

Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/exonerated-after-execution-judge-tosses-teens-murder-conviction-n270176

[Octafish]

1. A phone book.

And the real killer or killers remained free.

[NaturalHigh]

2. It galls me to think the killer just skated free.

Were any other suspects ever identified?

[Vox Moi]

3. No better argument for banning the death penalty.

Haunting photos.

[MineralMan]

4. End Capital Punishment Now!

[Iggo]

5. See? The system works!

[Nye Bevan]

6. I find it amazing that so many DUers support the death penalty.

The racial bias in its application alone is reason enough to oppose it.

[napkinz]

7. The Redemption of George Stinney, Jr.: Rev. Charles Stinney Speaks. Full Interview (10/10/2011)

Rev. Charles Stinney, the younger brother of George Stinney, Jr.