George Stinney Jr. was executed on the electric chair in Columbia in 1944 as a fourteen-year-old accused of double murder of white girls. A three-hour trial before an all-white court ended with a death sentence carried out eighty-three days after the crime. Seventy years later, a court vacated the verdict, finding violations of the right to a fair trial and lack of actual defense.
Murder in Alcolu
The bodies of eleven-year-old Betty June Binnicker and eight-year-old Mary Emma Thames were found in March 1944 in a water-filled ditch. One victim bore a head wound inflicted by a hard object, which a pathologist identified as a possible iron rod or stick. The crime shook the small town of Alcolu, where a Black boy worked as a cleaner in a local store.
Lack of physical evidence characterized the investigation from the very beginning – no DNA traces, blood, or fibers. No one saw the perpetrator or could confirm anyone’s presence near where the bodies were found. Police arrested Stinney three days after discovering the bodies without any material clues linking him to the crime.
Arrest and Interrogation Without Defense
Detained on March 26, the boy spent three weeks in isolation without contact with his family. No lawyer represented him during hours-long interrogations by white officers. Under pressure, he signed a statement whose content later raised controversies and doubts about authenticity.
Official defender Charles Plowden, appointed to represent the teenager, did not ask a single question during the trial. He called no defense witnesses, did not challenge the prosecution’s credibility, and did not move to dismiss the case. The lawyer’s complete inaction effectively deprived the accused of any legal representation.
Three-Hour Trial and Verdict
On April 24, a fourteen-year-old measuring one hundred forty-five centimeters and weighing forty kilograms stood before the court. A white judge, prosecutor Alice G. Haynes, and a jury composed exclusively of white men heard the case. Fourteen prosecution witnesses testified, but the defense presented no one.
The court record contained Stinney’s alleged testimony that he showed the girls a place for flowers, then killed them with an iron rod because they refused to give him money. This version had no confirmation in documents and appeared fabricated. The prosecution presented no evidence of the crime nor considered the small boy’s physical capabilities.
The death sentence came after three hours of proceedings, making Stinney the youngest person convicted and executed in United States history. Eighty-three days separated the crime from carrying out the execution. No one appealed or tried to stop the justice machinery grinding a Black teenager.
Execution on Electric Chair
On June 16, 1944, the sentence was carried out at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. The boy’s small body meant the standard mask didn’t fit his face. The shield fell repeatedly during the procedure, adding cruelty to an already horrifying scene.
Execution witnesses watched as a small child died on equipment designed for adult criminals. The ill-fitting equipment symbolized the absurdity of the entire proceeding against a fourteen-year-old. No one intervened or halted the execution despite obvious technical problems.
Case Reopening After Sixty Years
Steve McKenzie, a lawyer, began reanalyzing the case in 2004 after decades of oblivion. Examination of records revealed numerous procedural irregularities and lack of any credible evidence of guilt. Stinney’s family, represented by his sister Aimee Batcheler, petitioned to vacate the verdict.
The seventieth anniversary of the execution in 2014 coincided with proceedings before the district court in Columbia. Judge Carmen Mullen presided over proceedings examining circumstances of the decades-old trial. Documentation showed flagrant violations of the right to fair trial and actual lack of defense.
On December 14, 2014, the court vacated the conviction, finding it inconsistent with constitutional standards. Prosecutors did not appeal the decision, resulting in annulment of the execution. Stinney posthumously regained innocence seventy years after losing his life.
Documentation and Memory of Tragedy
HBO aired in 2015 the documentary The Last Word telling the story of a boy executed by a racist justice system. The film drew attention to systemic injustices against Black citizens in southern states. The production showed mechanisms leading to conviction of an innocent child.
Richard Gergel, a judge participating in proceedings vacating the verdict, published in 2022 the book The Prettiest Girl in the Colony. The publication analyzed in detail the price of Black life in South Carolina’s legal system. The author documented how racism permeated all stages of proceedings against Stinney.
The case became a symbol of racial inequality and institutional violence in the American judicial system. The story of a fourteen-year-old executed without fair trial reminds of dark pages of twentieth-century history. Memory of George Stinney Jr. warns of consequences of racial prejudice in justice systems.