--- description: George Stinney Jr. was convicted of killing two girls in the small town of Alcolu, South Carolina, in 1944 title: Judge Tosses Teen's Murder Conviction 70 Years After His Execution image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82fee9c8861594a2/69876f8fcd68484e8f098b1f/george-stinney-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [justice](/tag/justice/) ## justice Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Judge Tosses Teen's Murder Conviction 70 Years After His Execution by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2014 7:36 PM CUT  George Stinney Jr appears in an undated police booking photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. George Stinney Jr appears in an undated police booking photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.Reuters by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2014 7:36 PM CUT Seventy years after South Carolina executed a 14-year-old boy so small he sat on a phone book in the electric chair, a circuit court judge threw out his murder conviction. On Wednesday morning, Judge Carmen Mullins vacated the decision against George Stinney Jr., a black teen who was convicted of beating two young white girls to death in the small town of Alcolu in 1944. **Read more** [American Held in Cuba Released After 5 Years](http://time.com/3637483/alan-gross-cuba-barack-obama/ "undefined") Civil rights advocates have spent years trying to get the case reopened, arguing that Stinney’s confession was coerced. At the time of his arrest, Stinney weighed just 95 pounds. Officials said Stinney had admitted beating the girls… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/exonerated-after-execution-judge-tosses-teens-murder-conviction-n270176 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3638574/george-stinney-jr-south-carolina-judge-murder-conviction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3638574/george-stinney-jr-south-carolina-judge-murder-conviction/"},"headline":"Judge Tosses Teen's Murder Conviction 70 Years After His Execution","datePublished":"2014-12-17T19:36:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:57:18.543Z","description":"George Stinney Jr. was convicted of killing two girls in the small town of Alcolu, South Carolina, in 1944","url":"https://time.com/3638574/george-stinney-jr-south-carolina-judge-murder-conviction/","keywords":["justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82fee9c8861594a2/69876f8fcd68484e8f098b1f/george-stinney-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82fee9c8861594a2/69876f8fcd68484e8f098b1f/george-stinney-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"George Stinney Jr appears in an undated police booking photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History","caption":"George Stinney Jr appears in an undated police booking photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3638574/george-stinney-jr-south-carolina-judge-murder-conviction/","name":"Judge Tosses Teen's Murder Conviction 70 Years After His Execution"}}]}] ```