TRIPLE TRAGEDY IN ALCOLU
Author: Kendall Bell
First Edition
True Crime
Trade Paperback
Retail: $16.95US; 292pp
ISBN 978-1-62268-151-8 print
ISBN 978-1-62268-152-5 ebook

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TRIPLE TRAGEDY
in ALCOLU
The execution of 14-year-old George Stinney, Jr., accused of the
murders of Betty June Binnicker and Mary Emma Thames.
Author: Kendall Bell

Chapter One

March 23, 1944, began as a sunny, warm spring morning in the sleepy lumber town of Alcolu, South Carolina. Children ran and played after school while many adult fathers worked at the lumber mill. Most of the women of the time were homemakers. In what seemed to be an idyllic community, flowers bloomed and birds chirped. All seemed peaceful with the world. But that was before evil walked in and altered the lives of the town folk and South Carolina history in a manner so horrific that it must never be forgotten.
    Early the following morning, the bodies of eleven-year-old Betty June Binnicker and seven-year-old Mary Emma Thames were found bludgeoned to death. And later that evening, March 24, 1944, George Stinney Jr. was charged with their deaths.
    Although Stinney allegedly killed both Binnicker and Thames, his trial, conviction, and execution was for killing only Binnicker. At fourteen years, seven months and twenty-nine days old, Stinney will forever remain the youngest person legally executed in the United States in the Twentieth Century.
    During the next seventy years, the killings and Stinney's execution were gradually forgotten by many in the state and the community as those close to the case—family members of Stinney, Binnicker and Thames—died. But the whispers, questions, and denials by Stinney's family and friends remained constant around Clarendon and the surrounding counties. These supporters adamantly denied the skinny fourteen-year-old boy could have committed the crimes. And neighbors who were young children when the killings took place, and who heard the rumors and half truths about the deaths remain reluctant to this day to discuss the case. Even seventy years later.
    With the advent of social media came a platform for Stinney's family and supporters to finally be heard. A group of lawyers in the nearby town of Manning accepted the call for justice and filed for an appeal. Because the Clarendon County Courthouse remained in the midst of major renovations at the time, Fourteenth Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen heard the case in neighboring Sumter County. The hearing began on January 21, 2014, with Third Circuit Solicitor Ernest "Chip" Finney representing the prosecution.
    A packed courtroom filled with friends, supporters, and family members of Stinney, Binnicker and Thames waited anxiously as the proceedings began. Television crews from Florence, Columbia, and other areas joined journalists from across the state and country to witness and report on the hearing.
    Those in attendance who expected and perhaps even hoped for courtroom drama were not disappointed. Tempers flared at times as Stinney's sisters took the stand. It became obvious to onlookers that the Stinney sisters were ready for George to be exonerated. Seventy years of pent-up frustration and anguish sometimes took center stage.
    And the families of Binnicker and Thames were just as adamant. After all, in their mind, justice had been served. Stinney had confessed, been tried, found guilty, and the state subsequently executed him. For them, the only travesty of justice came with having to relive the pain of losing two young family members all over again. They questioned the need for another trial.
    A problem that plagued both the State and lawyers for the Stinney family was that little documentation remained from the seventy-year-old case. Court records had long been disposed of along with all other evidence. After all, the case had been decided. The State had already executed Stinney and nothing the court decided in 2014 could bring him back.
    Most of the documentation that remained was with the South Carolina Department of Corrections and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. While the Department of Corrections documented the dates Stinney arrived and was executed, along with his inmate identification number, not much else about the case remained in its files.
    Likewise, the state archives held little from the case itself other than a few handwritten notes. However, the archives contained something that helped paint a more accurate picture of the situation. Newspapers across the country had run stories of Stinney's plight and many people wrote letters to then-governor Olin D. Johnston. While the majority of the letters urged the governor to consider clemency for Stinney, others were from people who felt strongly the execution should proceed.
    Another huge problem facing each side was the lack of witnesses. Many of the key witnesses who testified in 1944 were deceased. Others had moved away or could not be located. And the years had taken their toll on the few witnesses that remained. Memories had faded and facts blurred. So it surprised few that contradictions mounted as each witness struggled to recall events that unfolded back in 1944.
    Yet another monumental issue facing each side was that the area had changed drastically since 1944. The old lumber mill was still standing but now defunct. Gone were most of the housing areas that existed back then. Even the roadway has changed. Witnesses attempted to show on a current map where some of these crime scene locations had been, but with so many geographical elements changed, it proved to be a lesson in futility.
    Even the ditch where the girls' bodies had been found no longer exists.
    Today, the spot is a part of a large soybean field that has been plowed under many times throughout the years.
    Despite these setbacks, lawyers for both sides made a valiant effort to prove their case.

***

When the 2014 hearing concluded, both sides felt confident their arguments would prevail. Lawyers representing Stinney's siblings asked the judge to vacate the conviction on grounds that Stinney had not received a fair trial. Solicitor Finney argued that Stinney received as fair a trial as anyone else in 1944.
    People on each side of the issue turned to social media to make their case in the court of public opinion. As weeks and then months dragged on without a decision, some of Stinney's supporters began questioning why the process could be taking so long. Some suggested bypassing the courts and petitioning South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to pardon Stinney.
    Then, on December 17, 2014, the Stinney family received good news: Judge Mullen vacated Stinney's conviction, ruling that he did not receive a fair trial.
    In her thirty-page order, Mullen ruled that there was a "fundamental Constitutional violation of due process" in George Stinney Jr.'s prosecution.
    While Stinney's family and supporters were elated, the families of the girls could not believe Judge Mullen's decision. Their anger turned to frustration as they asked people to remember that two little girls had been killed. They were appalled that the memories of their family members became secondary to sympathy for the person they felt certain had killed the girls.

***

Depending upon whom you ask, George Stinney Jr. was either a shy, mild-mannered young man who had a knack for drawing, or a teenaged bully who liked to pick on other children. And people on each side of the issue are fervent in their beliefs.
    Following the ruling, Solicitor Finney announced that he would not retry the case because not much remained as far as evidence, witnesses, or even transcripts from the original trial. He stressed that an effort to retry the case would be useless.

copyright © 2020 Kendall Bell

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