Miller Shealy, a professor at the Charleston School of Law, announces at the school in Charleston, S.C., on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, that attorneys plan to bring a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the 1944 execution of George Stinney. Stinney, executed in Columbia, S.C., was one of the youngest defendants executed in American history and the youngest executed in the 20th century. An all-white jury took only 10 minutes to decide Stinney's fate in the summer of 1944. A South Carolina state judge vacated the conviction almost two years ago. Attorneys announced Friday they will be working with law school students to file a lawsuit on behalf of Stinney's family. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith) (The Associated Press)
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Attorneys hope to bring a civil-rights lawsuit in the case of a black teenager electrocuted more than 70 years ago for the killings of two white girls in a segregated South Carolina mill town.
George Stinney was 14 when he was arrested, convicted of murder in a one-day trial and executed in 1944. A state judge in 2014 tossed out the conviction, saying a grave injustice had been done.
Charleston School of Law President Ed Bell said Friday that attorneys assisted by law students will research grounds for bringing a suit on behalf of the Stinney family.
It's not clear who would be sued, but Bell said depending on the research, the defendant could be the state or Clarendon County, where the trial was held.
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