The Youngest Person Executed in the United States in the 20th Century

This was all over facebook today and is definitely an interesting read.

Meet George Junius Stinney Jr, the youngest person ever executed. He was a black boy arrested on the suspicion of murdering two young white girls. There names were Betty June Binnicker (11) and Mary Emma Thames (8). The incident took place in Chalendon County, SC on 3/24/1944. The girls were riding there bikes when they stopped to ask George and his sister Katrina where they could find "maypops". The girls were later found dead in a ditch.

Police arrested Stinney four hours after finding the girls dead and after a closed room interrogation, got a confession from Stinney Jr. According to officials Stinney stated that he wanted to have sex with Betty June (11) and he had to get rid of her 8 year old sister. He ended up striking both in the head with a railroad post and killing them instantly. Townsmen threatened to storm the jail and lynch Stinney and his parents where fired from there jobs and had to leave town.

His lawyer during the time argued that Stinney was to young to be held responsible for the crime, but a law in South Carolina stated that serious crimes at the age of 14 were to be tried as adults. Subsequently Stinney was charged with the crime and his punishment was to be executed by the electric chair.

The execution was carried out by the South Carolina execution board on June 16, 1944, At 7:30 pm. Stinney walked into the execution chamber weighing only 90lbs and standing 5'1. He was so small that the electric chair straps could not fit on his arm, also the mask wasnt small enough so it slipped off during the execution so his face was exposed to the witnesses. R.I.P.