14 Year Old George Junius Stinney, Youngest Person In History To Be Executed.

[NikkiB]

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot but wasn't sure where else to put it.





It's 1944, and police escort a 14-year-old boy into the death chamber. He stands just 5'1 and weighs a mere 95 pounds. He is so small in stature that dictionaries need to be stacked on the seat of the electric chair so that when he sits in it his head reaches the height of the electrodes. His chains are loose around his narrow ankles.
This young boy is about to be the youngest person ever to be executed in the history of the United States. Before there was a Troy Davis there was George Junius Stinney, Jr. and the state of South Carolina electrocuted him.
Stinney was accused of murdering two young white girls. They were eleven year-old Betty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames. The two girls went missing one day after they were riding their bikes while looking for flowers on the wrong side of the tracks in a small working class town of Alcolu, South Carolina where whites and blacks were separated by railroad tracks. The girls went missing and were later found dead in a ditch, murdered with a railroad spike.
George Junius Stinney was even part of the search crew and told a bystander simply that he had seen the girls earlier that day. This claim was enough probable cause for the South Carolina police to arrest Stinney for the double murder, even though, the idea of him being strong enough to kill not one but two girls is a stretch. Despite this fact, the police hauled Stinney into the station for hours of intense interrogation, without the presence of either of his parents. Reports claim the police offered Stinney ice cream if he confessed to them that he committed the double murder.
Stinney confessed. There is no written record of his confession in the archives. There is no physical evidence linking Stinney to the murder. There is no paper record of Stinney's conviction.
The lack of any physical evidence or archived police and court records is the reason South Carolina attorney Steve McKenzie, who detailed Stinney's story to TheGrio, said he wants to re-open the case of the execution George Junius Stinney, Jr. McKenzie said he believes Stinney was innocent of the murder and with "no investigative notes, no trial transcripts, no written confession, and nothing to indicate guilt," it is clear Stinney's trial and subsequent execution were suspicious at best and a miscarriage of justice at worst.
McKenzie hopes Ernest "Chip" Finney, the Claredon County solicitor (the district attorney) in South Carolina, will agree to file a motion to re-open the case by the end of this year. McKenzie says he believes Stinney was an "easy target" and was used as a "scapegoat" by police who wanted to quickly find and punish anyone they could tie to the murders.
Stinney was suspected simply because he mentioned he "saw" the girls earlier in the day. "[Stinney] was a convenient target," says Mckenzie, but the challenge now is "[h]ow do you exonerate somebody where there is absolutely no evidence one way or the other? There was only a coerced confession. The confession was never written. [It was an] oral confession testified to two white officers and told to an all white male jury."
This was South Carolina in 1944, with a black male defendant, two young white female victims, and an all white, male jury. Stinney never stood a chance.
McKenzie's theory is that if the solicitor re-opens the case anew, the complete absence of any evidence will exonerate Stinney of the murders once and for all. There "should be excellent records in cases of execution," McKenzie emphasized, and this case was an anomaly in that "there is no evidence of Stinney's guilt. [Stinney] had a court appointed attorney with political aspirations who did not even ask a single question of a witness" during the trial.
McKenzie also says he's not against the death penalty generally, but that juveniles should never be sentenced to die. "I don't believe that the death penalty is a 'per se' bad thing. There are cases where I think it's warranted. There are some people out there [who] no matter what, you cannot return them to society. In some cases it is warranted: Charles Manson. Ted Bundy,"
"But juveniles should never be executed," McKenzie told theGrio, adding that in this case Stinney was an innocent child executed for a crime he was railroaded into confessing to.

How terribly sad for this little boy and his family. There's a picture of him at the link that I wasn't sure how to ad.​

www.thegrio.com/news/was-the-youngest-person-ever-executed-innocent.php I always forget to link it, sorry!

 

[Tundratot]

[MENTION=5926]NikkiB[/MENTION] I don't see the link . . .

It is a terrible story. Altogether terrifying that the police were so ready to pin a pair of murders on a young black boy, and ignore any possible alternative just to put him in prison and to death. I can't believe that anyone actually thought that justice was done. Could those girls' parents really have thought that boy did it? Was the actual perp ever caught and charged with any crime at all?

 

[tmdgirl]

George Junius Stinney

Poor kid. I hope they figure out a way to exonerate him, even if its 67 years too late.

 

[Rockin Ma]

Stinney, who was black, was arrested on suspicion of murdering two white girls, Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 8, in Alcolu, located in Clarendon County, South Carolina, on March 23, 1944. The girls had disappeared while out riding their bicycles looking for flowers. As they passed the Stinney property, they asked young George Stinney and his sister, Katherine, if they knew where to find "maypops", a type of flower. When the girls did not return, search parties were organized, with hundreds of volunteers. The bodies of the girls were found the next morning in a ditch filled with muddy water. Both had suffered severe head wounds.

Stinney was arrested a few hours later and was interrogated by several officers in a locked room with no witnesses aside from the officers; within an hour, a deputy announced that Stinney had confessed to the crime. According to the confession, Stinney (90 lbs, 5'1") wanted to "have sex with" 11 year old Betty June Binnicker and could not do so until her companion, Mary Emma Thames, age 8, was removed from the scene; thus he decided to kill Mary Emma. When he went to kill Mary Emma, both girls "fought back" and he thus decided to kill Betty June, as well, with a 15 inch railroad spike that was found in the same ditch a distance from the bodies. According to the accounts of deputies, Stinney apparently had been successful in killing both at once, causing major blunt trauma to their heads, shattering the skulls of each into at least 4-5 pieces. The next day, Stinney was charged with first-degree murder. Jones describes the town's mood as grief, transformed in the span of a few hours into seething anger, with the murders raising racially and politically charged tension. Townsmen threatened to storm the local jail to lynch Stinney, but prior to this, he had been removed to Charleston by law enforcement. Stinney's father was fired from his job at the local lumber mill and the Stinney family left town during the night in fear for their lives.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Junius-Stinney-Jr/142742219075541

 

[Rockin Ma]

The trial took place on April 24 at the Clarendon County Courthouse. Jury selection began at 10 am, ending just after noon, and the trial commenced at 2:30 pm.[3] Stinney's court appointed lawyer was 30-year-old Charles Plowden, who had political aspirations.[3] Plowden did not cross-examine witnesses; his defense was reported to consist of the claim that Stinney was too young to be held responsible for the crimes.[3] However the law in South Carolina at the time regarded anyone over the age of 14 as an adult.[3] Closing arguments concluded at 4:30 pm, the jury retired just before 5 pm and deliberated for 10 minutes, returning a guilty verdict with no recommendation for mercy.[3] Stinney was sentenced to death in the electric chair.[2] When asked about appeals, Plowden replied that there would be no appeal, as the Stinney family had no money to pay for a continuation.[3] When asked about the trial, Lorraine Binnicker Bailey, the sister of Betty June Binnicker, one of the murdered children, stated:
“ Everybody knew that he done it, even before they had the trial they knew that he done it. But, I don't think that they had too much of a trial. â€￾
—Lorraine Binnicker Bailey, sister of victim Betty June Binnicker, as quoted by Jones, Mark R., South Carolina Killers: Crimes of Passion, pg. 41.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stinney

Standing 5'1" and weighing just over 90 pounds,[2] he was small for his age, which presented difficulties in securing him to the frame holding the electrodes. Neither did the state's adult-sized face-mask fit Stinney; his convulsing exposed his face to witnesses as the mask slipped free.[4] Stinney was declared dead within four minutes of the initial electrocution[3] From the time of the murders until Stinney's execution, eighty one days had passed.[3]

 

[Whisper]

unfuckingbelievable​

 

[62julietandvoid]

I would be willing to bet a white man did it just because they crossed the tracks. Was my first thought, anyway.

 

[Tundratot]

81 days from start to finish. How things have changed.

 

[melissa222]

yes how they have changed?

Being from South Carolina I can atest to the fact that things have surely changed, but only to the other extreme, now we have witnesses of murders and of rapes and robberies... but we still go by the "good ole boy" system here... you get more time for weed than murder around here... literally a man strangled his sister in law infront of her 3 year old child... the child testified to the uncle doing it, even gave the "gagging" noises mom made as uncle strangled her to death. and we gave him 5 years, he served 2 and 1/2..... friend of mine from highschool got caught with weed and some coke, served nine years... WTF?? We have molesters around her that get probation for after they have messed with up to three kids at a daycare where his wife worked.... We have police officers who serve warrants in other counties than their own for stealing a grill and shot the "Robber" in the back five times while serving a warrant they shouldn't have to start with.... our poor Christopher Pittman who was on adult medication and snapped at 12 years old killing his grandparents, oh we thru 30 years at the kid to make sure he never had a life... so yes my good ole state of South Carolina has the worse justice system in the country even today!!!!!!! We HAVE to rely on jail house justice for any kind of justice on crimes against women and children... Until the good ole boy system dies around here, it will never change. as shocking as this story is, I don't doubt it in the least... in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the one of the good ole boys in this county really killed those girls... and his buddy at the police department found this kid to pin it on... it is a fucking shame!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[malq]

George Junius Stinney

Poor kid. I hope they figure out a way to exonerate him, even if its 67 years too late.

Probably no receipt for the ice cream either.

This guy is up for double murder and they will have to use 9 telephone books.

 

[Obsolete]

I would be willing to bet a white man did it just because they crossed the tracks. Was my first thought, anyway.

A white man killed two white girls because they crossed the tracks? You mean he was punishing them for going into the "black" part of town?

I'm not being facetious, I really don't understand what you mean.

 

[Robynne]

Maybe a white person realizing that since these two girls were on the "black" side of the tracks, his crime would be blamed on a black person.

 

[62julietandvoid]

A white man killed two white girls because they crossed the tracks? You mean he was punishing them for going into the "black" part of town?

I'm not being facetious, I really don't understand what you mean.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I wouldn't put it past some toe jam pickin, sister fucking redneck with distorted views. Wouldn't be the first time some fuck decided to correct the evils of the world and teach little girls where the should and should not go. Could be that young boy did it. But that thought popped into my mind as I read about them crossing the tracks to the black side of town. I don't know either way. Was just a thought, I thought I'd share.

Robynne's post is possible too. I don't put nothing past no one. People are insane.

 

[Obsolete]

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I wouldn't put it past some toe jam pickin, sister fucking redneck with distorted views. Wouldn't be the first time some fuck decided to correct the evils of the world and teach little girls where the should and should not go. Could be that young boy did it. But that thought popped into my mind as I read about them crossing the tracks to the black side of town. I don't know either way. Was just a thought, I thought I'd share.

Robynne's post is possible too. I don't put nothing past no one. People are insane.

Thanks...I'm a bit slow on Monday mornings and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what you meant...and you're right. It could be a possibility.

Like you said, the boy could have committed the murders, but either way he shouldn't have been executed.

As far as reopening the case, I'm all for righting a wrong but who's paying for this new investigation? Unless it's being privately funded then I think the money could better be use to investigate a more recent cold case. One where the murderer is still a threat to the community.

 

[witzah]

Legal justice was a long time coming in the case of George Stinney, a 14-year-old black boy in rural South Carolina who became the youngest person executed in modern times when he was electrocuted 70 years ago for the murders of two white girls.

On Tuesday, Judge Carmen Mullins vacated the boy's conviction and cleared his name for the beating deaths of Mary Emma Thames, 7, and Betty June Binnicker, 11, in segregated Alcolu, S.C. The girls had been riding their bicycles when they disappeared in 1944. Their bodies were found in a watery ditch in the black side of town. Both had been attacked with a railroad spike.

.....

Mullins found "fundamental, Constitutional violations of due process," the judge said. She noted the lack of a credible defense during trial, and said the boy's confession, of which there were two versions, appeared to have been coerced. There were no witnesses and no physical evidence in the case.

.....

Stinney's sisters and a brother testified earlier this year at hearings on whether to overturn the conviction. "They took my brother away and I never saw my mother laugh again," said Amie Ruffner, 78. "I would love his name to be cleared."

.....

The victims' families opposed vacating the conviction, saying very little remained in the way of physical records from the trial, and that it would be impossible to determine exactly what happened decades ago in the Deep South courtroom.

The trial lasted only three hours. It took only 10 minutes for an all-white, all-male jury to convict Stinney. He was sent to the electric chair not quite three months later.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-boy-executed-s-conviction-overturned-article-1.2048611

While I understand that there family members were killed.... How could anyone disagree with this child's exoneration? Wouldn't anyone want the culpable party held responsible? Jiminy - this little boy want big enough to have physically killed the two girls in the manner described, one after another.... This is such a tragedy. I think there's a video of the boys execution on YouTube (I saw a YouTube with his face in the electric chair as the screen shot.... But I couldn't open it in safe mode, and I'm not changing it to confirm, because that just means it likely is, and his face was absolutely terrified..... )

 

[witzah]

March 23, 1944, Mary Thames, 7, and Betty Binnicker, 11, pedaled a bicycle into the countryside in search of wild passion flower blossoms.

They failed to return home, and their bodies were discovered the next day in a watery ditch near the black side of town, where Stinney lived with his parents and three siblings. The girls had been brained with a 15-inch railroad spike.

Deputy Sheriff H.S. Newman, acting on “information I received,” arrested Stinney, who had spoken to the girls as they passed his home.

Newman and a state cop questioned the boy and soon emerged with a full confession — two confessions, in fact.

In the first, the boy said he was helping the girls after Mary fell into the ditch. They suddenly began hitting him, so he defended himself. In the second version, he said he killed Mary so he could sexually assault Betty, although there was no evidence of rape.

Stinney’s trial began and ended on April 24, a month after the murders. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, so his prosecution hinged on the confession.

The defense attorney, Charles Plowden, 33, did not challenge the confession. Instead, he claimed Stinney was too young for a murder conviction. It was a wasted argument since state law said 14-year-olds could be charged as adults.

The jury, 12 white men, convicted Stinney in 10 minutes. They recommend no mercy, and the boy was sentenced to die.
Plowden filed none of the legal challenges that were standard in death penalty cases even then.
“There was nothing to appeal on,” he later said.

A budding politician, Plowden had antebellum family roots there in Clarendon County. Some say his primary defense strategy was to avoid upsetting the white power structure.

And he succeeded.

With little national notice in a country distracted by World War II, Stinney was sent to Death Row — the youngest person to face legal execution in America last century.

Local clergymen and black leaders lobbied Gov. Olin Johnston for clemency, but he was not inclined to show mercy.

In a reply to one minister, Johnston suggested that Stinney got off easy: “The colored people of Alcolu would have lynched this boy themselves had it not been for the protection of the officers.”
Stinney was electrocuted on June 16, 1944, not yet three months after the murders. He was 14 years, seven months and 29 days old, stood 5-feet-1 and weighed 95 pounds.

Most of his family, which fled Alcolu in fear in the days after the boy’s arrest, eventually relocated to the New York area.

For decades, his siblings — Charles Stinney, Katherine Robinson and Amie Ruffner — have sought a reexamination of the case.

They finally got a day in court last January, when South Carolina Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen presided over a hearing to determine whether Stinney got a fair trial.

“They took my brother away and I never saw my mother laugh again,” Amie Ruffner, now 78, testified. “I would love his name to be cleared.”

A forensic psychiatrist called Stinney’s statement “a coerced, compliant, false confession.”

Today, the sly police art of manipulating a false confession from gullible kids has been well documented. Judge Mullen seemed to recognize that Stinney didn’t stand a chance in 1944.

“No one here can justify a 14-year-old child being charged, tried and executed in 83 days,” Mullen said. “In essence, not much was done for this child when his life lay in the balance.”

Even the prosecutor at the hearing, Ernest (Chip) Finney III, saw the case as a travesty.

“Back in 1944,” he said, “we should have known better, but we didn’t.”

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/crime/s-kid-fair-trial-slays-article-1.2035609

 

[Krystal]

The defense attorney, Charles Plowden, 33, did not challenge the confession. Instead, he claimed Stinney was too young for a murder conviction. It was a wasted argument since state law said 14-year-olds could be charged as adults.

Plowden filed none of the legal challenges that were standard in death penalty cases even then.
“There was nothing to appeal on,” he later said.

Good God, he has to be one of the worst defense attorneys in the history of, ever. He needs to be arrested a charged for murder based on the shit he didn't do for his client that helped lead to the execution of an innocent child.