George Stinney, The Youngest Person To Be Executed In The U.S. Exonerated After 70 Years

This is some wild s**t! It goes to show you how long the system has been corrupt. However, the above photo has been a viral one for some time now. It shows a 14-year-old George Stinney, the youngest person to ever be executed in the United States. The photo was taken in 1944 – the year the teen was convicted of beating to young white girls to death. Well, 70 years after the conviction and execution, Stinney has been exonerated.

Hit the jump for more.

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Judge Carmen Mullen reversed the decision of Stinney’s June 1944 conviction of beating June Binnicker and Emma Thames to death.

“Given the particularized circumstances of Stinney’s case, I find by a preponderance of the evidence standard, that a violation of the Defendant’s procedural due process rights tainted his prosecution,” Mullen said in the ruling.

Stinney’s trial was a total of three hours long and after there was no witnesses or physical evidence, it took 10 minutes for a jury of 12 white men to convict him. Talk about a set up from the door. The young boy’s defense attorney didn’t use his skill to the best of his ability.

“By not putting the state’s case to the test at all, by not cross examining witnesses, not putting up a defense at all, not giving a closing argument, George was never afforded effective council and as a result his Sixth Amendment rights were violated,” Defense attorney, Steven McKenzie said.

Stinney was so short that they needed to prop him up with a phone book for his electric chair execution, and 70 years later, his justice comes through. Flawed system.

Check out the gallery for more.

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