1. George Stinney was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death on a single day in April 1944 and then executed by electric chair on June 16,1944.
28 Facts About George Stinney
1. 2.
George Stinney is the youngest American with an exact birth date confirmed to be both sentenced to death and executed in the 20th century.
3.
George Stinney lived in a small home with a chicken coop in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina, with his father, George Junius Stinney Sr.
4.
George Stinney's father worked at the town's sawmill, and the family resided in company housing.
5.
John was released by police, but George Stinney was held in custody.
6.
George Stinney was not allowed to see his parents until after his trial and conviction.
7.
George Stinney then made a confession and told me where to find a piece of iron, about 15 inches where he said he put it in a ditch about six feet from the bicycle.
8.
In those days you didn't have to worry about children carrying guns and knives to school, but George Stinney carried a little knife and he scratched this child with his knife.
9.
George Stinney's parents did not see him again before the trial.
10.
George Stinney had no support during his 81-day confinement and trial; he was detained at a jail in Columbia, 50 miles from Alcolu, due to the risk of lynching.
11.
George Stinney was questioned alone, without his parents or an attorney.
12.
The entire proceeding against George Stinney, including jury selection, took place on April 24,1944.
13.
George Stinney's court-appointed counsel was Charles Plowden, a tax commissioner campaigning for election to local office.
14.
Plowden did not challenge the three police officers who testified that George Stinney confessed to the two murders, nor did he try to defend George Stinney.
15.
George Stinney did not challenge the prosecution's presentation of two differing versions of Stinney's verbal confession.
16.
In one version, George Stinney was attacked by the girls after he tried to help one girl who had fallen in the ditch, and he killed them in self defense.
17.
George Stinney's counsel did not call any witnesses, did not cross-examine witnesses, and offered little or no defense.
18.
An execution of a child as young as 14 was virtually unheard of in United States history, even for black children in the Jim Crow South who were convicted of murdering or raping white victims; many sources say that George Stinney was the youngest person executed in the US in the 20th century.
19.
George Stinney was then restrained by his arms, legs, and body to the chair.
20.
George Stinney's work gained the attention of South Carolina lawyers Steve McKenzie and Matt Burgess.
21.
McKenzie and Burgess, along with attorney Ray Chandler representing George Stinney's family, filed a motion for a new trial on October 25,2013.
22.
George Stinney ruled that he had not received a fair trial, as he was not effectively defended and his Sixth Amendment rights had been violated.
23.
George Stinney's mother had worked for the Burke family for a brief period.
24.
George Stinney's sister recalled that her mother had once come home saying that Burke Sr.
25.
George Stinney was the foreman of the grand jury that indicted Stinney, and has been accused of helping steer the blame off of his son and onto Stinney.
26.
Sonya Eaddy-Williamson, a white Alcolu resident who grew close to George Stinney's sisters, investigated the case.
27.
Lawyers for the George Stinney family have stated that there had been rumors of a deathbed confession to the murders by a member of a prominent white family; however, this has never been proven.
28.
George Stinney's case has been frequently referred to in debate over the use of the death penalty in the United States, especially in arguments against the death penalty, due to Stinney having been innocent and wrongfully executed.