Exonerated, 70 years too late: Judge clears 14-year old boy executed for killing two white girls in 1944

Exonerated, 70 years too late: Judge clears 14-year old boy executed for killing two white girls in 1944

If he had lived, George Stinney Jr would be 84 today. Perhaps, enjoying the golden years of his life with a wife, children and grandchildren.

Stolen life: George Stinney Jr (pictured) became the  youngest person executed in the 20th century when he was electrocuted in 1944 for the deaths of two girls in Acolu, South Carolina. A judge on Wednesday overturned the ruling on the basis that Stinney's civil rights had been violated by the justice system

Admission: Stinney confessed to killing 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker (pictured) and 7-year-old Mary Emma Thames, after the 14-year-old was separated from his parents and interrogated by police. Judge Carmen Mullins says it's likely the confession was coerced 

Stinney is seen second from the right in this pictured published in a newspaper in 1944 , entering South Carolina's death house at a state prison in Columbia

Instead, the black boy was just 14 and under 100 pounds when he was propped up on an electric chair with a phone book and executed for a pair of murders he probably didn't commit in 1944.

On Wednesday, seventy years too late, a South Carolina judge threw out Stinney's conviction on the basis that he had been wronged by the justice system, which pushed to arrest, convict and execute him in just a three-month period.

The ruling gave relief to Stinney's brother, sisters and civil rights activists who have been fighting to get his case reviewed for years.

Stinney was living with his family in the segregated mill town of Acolu, South Carolina when he was arrested in connection to the murders of two white girls, 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year-old Mary Emma Thames.

The girls disappeared on March 23, 1944 when they went for a bike ride together in search of wildflowers.

The girls' bodies were found the next morning in a shallow ditch behind a church, butchered to death with a railroad spike, their skulls crushed in.

Stinney was arrested after witnesses said they saw him picking flowers with the girls.

He admitted to the crime after being separated from his parents and interrogated by police.

After that, the justice system moved at lightening speed as he was tried in just one day and found guilty by an all-male, all-white jury who deliberated for less than 10 minutes.

Stinney was denied appeal and just three months after the girls' bodies were found, he became the youngest person in the twentieth century to be executed.

The 95-pound teen was so small he had to be propped up on a phone book on the electric chair, and one of the electrodes was too big for his leg.

South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Carmen Mullins reviewed his case this year, and issued her ruling to overturn it on Wednesday.

Mullins says she did judge the case based on the facts, since too many documents were lost, but on how the justice system treated the young boy.

She says she had to overturn the ruling because Stinney was not properly defended by his attorney, the confession was likely coerced and there was a lack of witnesses or physical evidence.

'From time to time we are called to look back to examine our still-recent history and correct injustice where possible,' Mullins wrote. 'I can think of no greater injustice than a violation of one's constitutional rights, which has been proven to me in this case by a preponderance of the evidence standard.'

Mullins also pointed out the fact that the court never tried to get the case moved to another location, where the jury would not have had an emotional connection to the two girls who died.

Finally, Mullins said that executing the boy for the crime, even though he was the minimum age for criminal responsibility in the state, constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

Some of Stinney's surviving family members were in court on Wednesday to hear the monumental ruling.

Stinney's two sisters and brother testified earlier this year in the course of the trial. In a 2009 affidavit, Stinney's sisters said that they spent the day with their brother when the girls went missing, making it impossible for him to have carried out the crime.

They took my brother away and I never saw my mother laugh again,' Stinney's sister Amie Ruffner, 78, previously said. 'I would love his name to be cleared.'

While the ruling is especially important for Stinney's family, it is also a major breakthrough for the African-American community at large, many of whom believe the U.S. justice system continues to hold a race bias.

Ray Brown, who is producing a film called 83 Days based on the Stinney trial, says the decision makes a 'great statement' to the country as cities across the nation have recently been embroiled in protests over the police killings of black men Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

Both were killed by white police officers, but grand juries in both New York and Missouri failed to indict the cops responsible.

'It’s never too late for justice,' Brown told The Grio. 'There’s no statute of limitations on justice. One of the things I can say about South Carolina and I can give them credit for — is that they got it right this time. During a period of time in our nation where we seem to have such a great racial divide, you have a southern state that has decided to admit they made a mistake and correct it.'