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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums14-year-old black boy executed in South Carolina.....exonerated 70 years later.....
After seven decades, a black 14-year-old boy has been cleared of murder.
In 1944, George Stinney was convicted of murdering two white girls in Alcolu, South Carolina. He was executed via the electric chair after his white lawyer called no witnesses and performed no cross-examinations.
Judge Carmen Mullins vacated the conviction against Stinney on Wednesday, WISTV reports.
In January, a judge agreed to hear new testimony and arguments in the case.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/17/george-stinney-exonerated_n_6342148.html
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edit to add another article with more info:
When George Stinney Jr. was executed for the killings of two white girls in 1944, he was so small that the straps of South Carolinas electric chair didnt fit him properly, and he had to sit on a book for his electrocution.
Stinney was just 14 years old at the time and became the youngest person put to death in the United States in the 20th century. But this week, 70 years after the fact, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen tossed out his conviction, which was reached after a trial that didnt even last a full day and was never appealed. As the Associated Press noted, it took Mullen nearly four times as long to issue her ruling as it took in 1944 to go from arrest to execution.
I can think of no greater injustice, Mullen wrote in her 29-page order, the AP reported.
Stinney, who was black, was arrested for the beating deaths of two young girls in the segregated town of Alcolu. There wasnt any physical evidence linking him the crimes, and he wasnt allowed to see his parents after he was apprehended.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/17/judge-throws-out-teens-murder-conviction-70-years-after-his-execution/
johnp3907
(3,729 posts)If you go to the link to an an earlier story about the case being re-examined you see this about Stinney's lawyer:
"He normally handled civil cases and was running to be a legislator at a time when almost all voters were white."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/george-stinney-new-trial_n_4650905.html
BeyondGeography
(39,339 posts)The Central Park jogger case, among many others, showed we haven't come very far since then.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)Virtually no one EVER mentions the Central PArk Jogger case. I am glad you did.
I think it would behoove everyone to watch this Documentary called The Central Park Five
BeyondGeography
(39,339 posts)ohnoyoudidnt
(1,858 posts)I know they model a number of their shows after real cases. Thanks for mentioning the documentary.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,671 posts)and make sure they don't leave behind a false legacy.
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)not to mention the people who were lynched or murdered for the crime of having black skin? america: face your ugly, racist past, and fix the legacy that continues today
WhiteTara
(29,692 posts)...Face OUR ugly racist past and fix the legacy that continues today.
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)It is not MY past or present. It belongs to white america.
WhiteTara
(29,692 posts)you are so right, you have no shame in this. I apologize for my presumption!
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)but thank you for being so gracious
WhiteTara
(29,692 posts)authentic and compassionate human. I fall short very often but thank you for your response!
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)Response to noiretextatique (Reply #4)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Baitball Blogger
(46,671 posts)I'm guessing that the culprits were either connected to the police, or had the power to control the investigation.
Justice will not be served until the guilty party is found.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,671 posts)mythology
(9,527 posts)The case is more than 70 years old.
DNA evidence didn't get started in courts until the 1980s. And in South Carolina the evidence only needed to be kept until after Stinney was executed. So even if there was blood or hair evidence, it's long since been disposed of. Unfortunately in this case, probably the best that can be hoped for is that Stinney's name is cleared and those involved in the conviction have their names posthumously shamed.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)lpbk2713
(42,735 posts)They should all be ashamed.
nc4bo
(17,651 posts)For people like this, even the bible-thumpers' version of hell is too good for them.
nc4bo
(17,651 posts)and many boogeyman infested nightmares follows those guilty of racism and bigotry. It must be so god damned frightening for them every time they are faced with reminders of this history or a skin of varying different shades........there was no reckoning, no price paid, no reparations............
It is the same for Native Americans, for so many.
In this case, telling a lie over and over will never change the facts, never. The slave deserved to be burned to death or lynched or drowned - he shouldn't have done "X" or "Y". Fast forward to recent history, those n's shouldn't have done "X" or "Y" or the police would never have shoot to kill, that's what happens when you break the law.
Right.
Too bad the rest of humanity can't just bury the mouthbreathers under our feet as the rest of us continue to progress and evolve.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Stinney was just 14 years old at the time and became the youngest person put to death in the United States in the 20th century. But this week, 70 years after the fact, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen tossed out his conviction, which was reached after a trial that didnt even last a full day and was never appealed. As the Associated Press noted, it took Mullen nearly four times as long to issue her ruling as it took in 1944 to go from arrest to execution.
I can think of no greater injustice, Mullen wrote in her 29-page order, the AP reported.
Stinney, who was black, was arrested for the beating deaths of two young girls in the segregated town of Alcolu. There wasnt any physical evidence linking him the crimes, and he wasnt allowed to see his parents after he was apprehended.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/17/judge-throws-out-teens-murder-conviction-70-years-after-his-execution/
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)14 years old ...
lenrely
(13 posts)It's ironic who our changing culture chooses to exonerate and who it still kicks to the curb.
Catherine Vincent
(34,486 posts)Even if the child was black. They didn't go with life in prison? Even if they thought the child was guilty, that was totally evil and messed up. And we all know if this was a white child that did this, they wouldn't have executed him.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Stinney was just 14 years old at the time and became the youngest person put to death in the United States in the 20th century. But this week, 70 years after the fact, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen tossed out his conviction, which was reached after a trial that didnt even last a full day and was never appealed. As the Associated Press noted, it took Mullen nearly four times as long to issue her ruling as it took in 1944 to go from arrest to execution.
I can think of no greater injustice, Mullen wrote in her 29-page order, the AP reported.
Stinney, who was black, was arrested for the beating deaths of two young girls in the segregated town of Alcolu. There wasnt any physical evidence linking him the crimes, and he wasnt allowed to see his parents after he was apprehended.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/17/judge-throws-out-teens-murder-conviction-70-years-after-his-execution/
Chisox08
(1,898 posts)Hell, they are still wearing a badge and a gun, they are still the prosecutors and judges.
Takket
(21,525 posts)Response to Cali_Democrat (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Number23
(24,544 posts)The good folks of SC must have been trying to "send a message" and decided they wouldn't kill him in jail themselves.
Every time I see people pining for the Good Old Days and screaming about how things have never been as horrible as they are now, I just shake my head. IMO Nothing brandishes a person's cluelessness faster than loudly and openly pining for the Good Old Days.
napkinz
(17,199 posts)Rev. Charles Stinney, the younger brother of George Stinney, Jr.