Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
01-24-2014, 08:34 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/trial-sought-sc-boy-14-executed-1944-172035983.html
New trial sought for SC boy, 14, executed in 1944
Associated Press
By JEFFREY COLLINS
January 21, 2014 12:23 PM
SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — A 14-year-old black boy executed nearly 70 years ago is finally getting another day in court, and his lawyers plan to argue Tuesday for a new trial, saying his conviction was tainted by the segregationist-era justice system and scant evidence.
George Stinney was found guilty in 1944 of killing two white girls, ages 7 and 11. The trial lasted less than a day in the tiny Southern mill town of Alcolu, separated, as most were in those days, by race.
The novel decision of whether to give someone executed a new trial will be in the hands of Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen. Experts say it is a longshot. South Carolina law has a high bar to grant new trials. Also, the legal system in the state before segregation often found defendants guilty with Nearly all the evidence, including a confession that was central to the case against Stinney, has disappeared, along with the transcript of the trial. Lawyers working on behalf of Stinney's family have gathered new evidence, including sworn statements from his relatives accounting for his whereabouts the day the girls were killed and from a pathologist disputing the autopsy findings.evidence that would be considered scant today. If Mullen finds in favor of Stinney, it could open the door for hundreds of other appeals.
But the Stinney case is unique. At 14, he's the youngest person executed in the United States in the past 100 years. Even in 1944, there was an outcry over putting someone so young in the electric chair. Newspaper accounts said the straps in the chair didn't fit around his 95-pound body and an electrode was too big for his leg.
Stinney's supporters said racism, common in the Jim Crow era South, meant deputies in Clarendon County did little investigation after they decided Stinney was the prime suspect. They said he was pulled from his parents and interrogated without a lawyer.
School board member George Frierson heard stories about Stinney growing up in the same mill town he did, and he has spent a decade fighting to get him exonerated. He swallowed hard as he said he hardly slept Monday night.
"Somebody that didn't kill someone is finally getting his day in court," Frierson said.
"Somebody that didn't kill someone is finally getting his day in court," Frierson said
Really, already proved him innocent did you bastard even before the retrial? -Tyr
Nearly all the evidence, including a confession that was central to the case against Stinney, has disappeared, along with the transcript of the trial. Lawyers working on behalf of Stinney's family have gathered new evidence, including sworn statements from his relatives accounting for his whereabouts the day the girls were killed and from a pathologist disputing the autopsy findings. All the old evidence conveniently gone so the new evidence can not be properly disputed by the old evidence. How convenient. So they have zeroed out the old evidence and get to present the new evidence most of which has been gathered from family and friends. And sworn statements from his family about his whereabouts no less! As if they wouldn't lie and all haven't had decades to hone their stories together. What a farce but the main point is not clearing him but is about inflaming blacks against whites now! This comes from the tactics put into play by Obama== divide and conquer. How are they going to clear the dead murderer with the old evidence missing and new hear say evidence from his family? That's right if they do it'll be based upon political considerations and a feel good desire to prove enlightenment and a none prejudicial status. UTTER BULLSHIT imho.-Tyr
New trial sought for SC boy, 14, executed in 1944
Associated Press
By JEFFREY COLLINS
January 21, 2014 12:23 PM
SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — A 14-year-old black boy executed nearly 70 years ago is finally getting another day in court, and his lawyers plan to argue Tuesday for a new trial, saying his conviction was tainted by the segregationist-era justice system and scant evidence.
George Stinney was found guilty in 1944 of killing two white girls, ages 7 and 11. The trial lasted less than a day in the tiny Southern mill town of Alcolu, separated, as most were in those days, by race.
The novel decision of whether to give someone executed a new trial will be in the hands of Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen. Experts say it is a longshot. South Carolina law has a high bar to grant new trials. Also, the legal system in the state before segregation often found defendants guilty with Nearly all the evidence, including a confession that was central to the case against Stinney, has disappeared, along with the transcript of the trial. Lawyers working on behalf of Stinney's family have gathered new evidence, including sworn statements from his relatives accounting for his whereabouts the day the girls were killed and from a pathologist disputing the autopsy findings.evidence that would be considered scant today. If Mullen finds in favor of Stinney, it could open the door for hundreds of other appeals.
But the Stinney case is unique. At 14, he's the youngest person executed in the United States in the past 100 years. Even in 1944, there was an outcry over putting someone so young in the electric chair. Newspaper accounts said the straps in the chair didn't fit around his 95-pound body and an electrode was too big for his leg.
Stinney's supporters said racism, common in the Jim Crow era South, meant deputies in Clarendon County did little investigation after they decided Stinney was the prime suspect. They said he was pulled from his parents and interrogated without a lawyer.
School board member George Frierson heard stories about Stinney growing up in the same mill town he did, and he has spent a decade fighting to get him exonerated. He swallowed hard as he said he hardly slept Monday night.
"Somebody that didn't kill someone is finally getting his day in court," Frierson said.
"Somebody that didn't kill someone is finally getting his day in court," Frierson said
Really, already proved him innocent did you bastard even before the retrial? -Tyr
Nearly all the evidence, including a confession that was central to the case against Stinney, has disappeared, along with the transcript of the trial. Lawyers working on behalf of Stinney's family have gathered new evidence, including sworn statements from his relatives accounting for his whereabouts the day the girls were killed and from a pathologist disputing the autopsy findings. All the old evidence conveniently gone so the new evidence can not be properly disputed by the old evidence. How convenient. So they have zeroed out the old evidence and get to present the new evidence most of which has been gathered from family and friends. And sworn statements from his family about his whereabouts no less! As if they wouldn't lie and all haven't had decades to hone their stories together. What a farce but the main point is not clearing him but is about inflaming blacks against whites now! This comes from the tactics put into play by Obama== divide and conquer. How are they going to clear the dead murderer with the old evidence missing and new hear say evidence from his family? That's right if they do it'll be based upon political considerations and a feel good desire to prove enlightenment and a none prejudicial status. UTTER BULLSHIT imho.-Tyr