George Stinney Jr.
George Stinney Jr. was a 14-year-old Black boy from Alcolu, a mill village in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Those who knew him remembered that he liked to sing country songs and play hide-and-seek, and his sister Katherine Robinson remembers the time they spent together as children. After he was taken from his family, he was held in a Sumter jail, and on June 16, 1944, South Carolina executed him in the electric chair at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. His family and their lawyers say his confession was coerced and his trial was unfair, and in December 2014 a Sumter County circuit judge found he had been denied due process and vacated the conviction.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His family maintained he was not involved in the killings, and a 2014 circuit judge found he had been denied due process and vacated the conviction; a coerced confession and a rushed trial were also objected to.
Reported by: State of South Carolina (court); Judge P.H. Stoll (court); his family; Sumter County circuit judge (court).
Sources (5)
- South Carolina
- In 1944, George Stinney was young, black and sentenced to die
- 75 years ago today, SC executed a black teenager after a three-hour trial
- 'To give him a voice:' Electric chair on display honors SC boy executed 77 years ago
- Remembering the Execution of 14-year-old George Stinney, 80 Years Later