The two girls were found in a ditch killed by a railroad spike a significant distance away from George’s home. He, a local black teen, was arrested only a few hours after the bodies were found, which can likely be accounted to racial profiling. He was promptly interrogated for hours without the presence of his parents, and it has been said from several sources that he was bribed with ice cream to confess to the murder.

       In the trial itself, his white, court-appointed lawyer gave no cross-examinations and brought no witnesses. The white jury took a short 10 minutes to reach the verdict that George Stinney was guilty. Three months later, he was strapped into an electric chair that he did not fit and executed. Stinney’s family has been pushing to clear George’s name, and a hearing was held in January, 1945.

        It has been uncovered that George had an alibi. His sister, Annie Ruffner, said she and George were in their field grazing their cow when the two girls briefly stopped by and asked where they could find flowers, to which Stinney responded that he did not know. The girls left shortly afterward. It is not certain that the case will be re-opened any time soon, but recently there has been more of a strive to re-open the case than there has been in the past twenty years combined.