Now 80, she said Wednesday that she is grateful God has let her live long enough to see her brother’s name exonerated.
“I think it’s long overdue,” she said. “I’m just thrilled because it’s overdue.”
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen
vacated Stinney’s conviction Wednesday in an order signed Tuesday granting Stinney family attorneys’ writ of coram nobis, a rare legal doctrine held over from English law that “corrects errors of fact” when no other remedy is available to the applicant.
Stinney was accused of the bludgeoning deaths of Mary Emma Thames, 7, and Betty June Binnicker, 11.
“We believe that was the only vehicle with which we had a stone’s chance of getting this conviction overturned,” said attorney Ray Chandler, who worked with attorneys Steve McKenzie and Matt Burgess and Charleston School of Law professor Miller Shealy Jr.
“A write of coram nobis must be allowed,” Mullen wrote, quoting case law, “When a conviction is wrongful because it is based on an error of face or was obtained by unfair or unlawful methods and no other corrective judicial remedy is available.”
Mullen cited Stinney’s age at the time of conviction and execution as a leading factor in her decision. She also cited testimony from a [hearing] earlier this year that a confession from the young boy showed signs of coercion.
“We’ve always thought he was innocent,” Robinson said. “We’ve always tried to do something to make everyone understand that an injustice was done to this child. But there was nothing we could do about it. No one was listening, until today.”
Source: manninglive, December 17, 2014
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