It took 10 minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. It took 70 years after his execution to exonerate him.

The Washington Post, December 18, 2014: It took 10 minutes to convict 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. It took 70 years after his execution to exonerate him.

“After a two-hour trial and a 10-minute jury deliberation, Stinney was convicted of murder on April 24 and sentenced to die by electrocution, according to a book by Mark R. Jones. At the time, 14 was the age of criminal responsibility. His lawyer, a local political figure, chose not to appeal.

“Stinney’s initial trial, the evidence – or lack of it – and the speed with which he was convicted seemed to illustrate how a young black boy was railroaded by an all-white justice system. During the one-day trial, the defense called few or no witnesses. There was no written record of a confession. Today, most people who could testify are dead and most evidence is long gone.

“New facts in the case prompted Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen to vacate his conviction on Wednesday – 70 years after Stinney’s execution.

“‘I can think of no greater injustice than the violation of one’s Constitutional rights which has been proven to me in this case,’ Mullen wrote.”

Additional reading:

All That’s Interesting, August 7, 2021: George Stinney Jr. Was The Youngest American Ever Put To Death In The Electric Chair – Then His Conviction Was Overturned

The Child in the Electric Chair: The Execution of George Junius Stinney Jr. and the Making of a Tragedy in the American South by Eli Faber on bookshop.org