Teen Executed For Murder in 1944 To Get Posthumous Retrial
George Stinney, the 14-year-old black teen who was the youngest person to be executed in the United States in the 20th century for killing two white girls, could receive a retrial almost 70 years after his death.
Stinney was convicted of murdering two girls, aged 11 and 8, in Alclou, South Carolina in March of 1944 after police said her confessed to the crime. Just 84 days after being convicted by an all white jury in a trial lasting less than a day, the teenager was sent to the electric chair. According to witness reports, the straps used to bind him to the chair were too big for his small frame.
Now, supporters of the 14-year-old have filed a reuest on his behalf in Clarendon Country, South Carolina seeking a retrial. Since South Carolina has strict rules for introducing new evidence after a trial has been conducted, requiring the evidence to have been impossible to discover before the trial and likely to change the results, supporters are facing an uphill battle.
The request for a new trial includes sworn statements from two of Stinney’s siblings who say he was at home during the murder. Notes from Stinney’s confession have long since disappeared along with most other information collected by deputies and prosecutors used to convict Stinney.
Lawyers have also filed a request for a pardon from the state Department or Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services in case a retrial is not granted.
George Fierson, a local school board member campaigning for the retrial said that a pardon would be of little to no comfort for him in the Stinney case. “The first step in a pardon is to admit you are wrong and ask for forgiveness. This boy did nothing wrong,” Fierson said.
