Teenager exonerated 70 years execution by electric chair

14-year-old George Stinney Jr was executed in 1944 for murder but his conviction has now been thrown out.

17:55 18 December 2014

A 14-year-old boy who was executed by electric chair in 1944 has been exonerated by a South Carolina judge.

George Stinney was proven guilty of killing two girls aged 7 and 11. Eyewitnesses testified that they saw him with the two girls before they died picking flowers. Later, the two girl’s beaten bodies were found in the mill town of Alcolu.

He was convicted during a one-day trial and given no right to appeal. He was the youngest person to have been executed in the United States in the 20th century.

Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen “I can think of no greater justice” after throwing out Stinney’s conviction.

In January, Judge Mullen heard the testimony during a two-day hearing. She said that the conviction was overturned solely because the 1944 court had failed to grant the teenager a fair trial. She added that there is no sufficient evidence to prove that Stinney’s confession to the police was “highly likely” to have been coerced.