The electric chair was designed for use on a grown man.

But because he was a boy of 14 years old and small for his age, George Steny Jr. didn't quite fit.

It was rumored that he had to sit on a stack of books, one of which was a Bible,

to reach the apparatus that would cause his ultimate death. His head was smaller than the

typical adult, and so after the first attempt, the headgear slipped off, and the execution had to be

temporarily halted while it was reattached. Nevertheless, on June 16, 1944, George Steny Jr. was put to death by the state of South Carolina for a double murder he did not commit.

Actual Innocence is a podcast that tells the stories of people who serve time for crimes they did not commit.

Listen to the heartbreaking true accounts of wrongfully convicted people and their journey to exoneration.

Thanks so much for listening.

Usually, when I help to tell a story of a person who has been exonerated, they're almost always the voice you hear most throughout the episode. But in this case, that's not possible.

George Sidney Jr. was executed

on June 16th,

1944,

at the age of 14.

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