Seeking justice for 14-year-old boy executed in 1944

A 14-year-old black teenager executed by the state of
South Carolina nearly 70 years ago received another
day in court Tuesday. A hearing this week will
determine whether a South Carolina circuit court
judge could re-open the case and ultimately overturn a
guilty verdict for the youngest person to be executed in the United States in the last century. In March 1944, an all-white jury decided in under 10
minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. of
murdering two white girls in Alcolu, S.C. Three
months later, Stinney was sent to the electric chair. The decision to open a new trial rests on the
shoulders of Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen. She
clarified the purpose of the hearing in her opening
remarks, saying that the trial will not determine
whether Stinney was guilty or innocent but whether
he received a fair trial. “What can I do? What can I rectify?” Mullen said
Tuesday, the first day of the hearing. “And even if we
did retry Mr. Stinney, what would be the result? Again,
none of us have the power to bring that 14-year-old
child back.” Most of the evidence, including Stinney’s confession
and a transcript of the murder trial, has disappeared
and Stinney’s lawyers and supporters have demanded
justice for the boy, arguing that his conviction was
clouded by racial discrimination. Lawyers working for
Stinney’s family, who are leading the fight to exonerate the teenager, have presented new evidence,
including sworn statements from his relatives and a
pathologist refuting the autopsies of both girls. “The trial lasted only one day. The lawyer didn’t ask
any questions on cross-examination which is
stipulated to by the state. They called no witnesses,
and they offered little or no defense in this case,”
Judge Mullen told the court. 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year-old Mary
Emma Thames were found, beaten, in a watery ditch
beneath a bicycle path, according to a medical report. Hours later, police took Stinney into custody.
Stinney’s younger sister, Amie Ruffner, who was 7 at
the time, testified Tuesday and recounted how she hid
in a chicken coop when several white officers arrived
at their home. Ruffner told the court how she and her brother saw
the two girls the day they died and that they were alive
when she and George left them to tend to the family
cow. “[The police] were looking for someone to blame it on,
so they used my brother as a scapegoat,” Ruffner said. Officers at the time claimed Stinney confessed to the
murder, but there is no written record of it. According
to reports, Stinney’s trial lasted about 3 hours and the
defense presented no witnesses, no physical
evidence, and did not file an appeal. A jury was
composed of 12 white men. On June 16, 1944 the 95-pound Stinney was
executed in the electric chair. Newspaper accounts,
according to the AP, reported that the chair did not fit
his body. Stinney’s body was buried in an unmarked grave. The
hearing will continue Wednesday, and Judge Mullen
must decide if Stinney’s guilty verdict will stand.