Youngest People Sentenced To Death Row – UNDERAGE & CONDEMNED (US Executions) Last meal, Final Word
What kind of crime turns a child into a condemned man? What happens when the justice system looks at a 14-year-old and sees a threat, not a future? These are not stories of hardened k!llers who lived a life of violence. These are children, some guilty, some maybe not, who found themselves walking the last mile before they could even vote.
Tonight, we bring you the disturbing cases of America’s youngest inmates sentenced to death. Some were executed. Others waited years before the courts changed their fate. All were underage. All were condemned. George Stinny Jr., age 14. George Stiny Jr. was just 14 years old when the state of South Carolina strapped him into an electric chair and flipped the switch.
He weighed 95 lb. They had to stack books on the seat so the headpiece would fit. In 1944, George had been convicted of k!lling two white girls, ages 7 and 11, in the segregated town of Alcolu. There was no physical evidence, no fair trial, just a confession signed after hours of unrecorded police interrogation with no lawyer and no parent present.
George Stiny Jr. lived with his family in the humble mill town of Alcolu, South Carolina. Their small home, complete with a chicken coupe outback, sat in the black section of town just beyond the railroad tracks that divided the community by race. His father, George Junior Stiny, worked long days at the local sawmill, and the family lived in company-owned housing.
Inside that modest home were George’s mother and Brown Stiny, his younger brother Charles, 12, and his sisters Catherine, 10, and Am, just 7 years old. Like many small southern towns of the 1940s, Alcolu was deeply segregated. Schools, churches, and neighborhoods were strictly divided by race, and black and white residents had minimal interaction.
On the evening of March 23rd, 1944, a horrifying discovery shattered the quiet of Alcolu, South Carolina. The bodies of Betty June Baker, age 11, and Mary Emtts, age 7, were found in a shallow ditch on the African-Amean side of town after the girls had failed to return home the night before. George Stiny, Senior, the father of 14-year-old George Jr.
, had even joined in the frantic search. But what they found was beyond comprehension. Both girls had suffered brutal blows to the head, struck with a heavy blunt object. Some reports described the murder weapon as a piece of metal. Others said a railroad spike. The official medical examiner concluded the injuries were caused by a roundheaded blunt instrument roughly the size of a hammer forceful enough to fracture and penetrate both skulls.
There was no evidence of sexual assault on young Mary Emma. However, slight bruising was noted on the genital area of Betty June, the older of the two victims. Earlier that day, the girls had been seen riding their bicycles, picking wild flowers along the edge of town. As they passed by the Stinny family’s yard, they reportedly stopped to ask George and his younger sister and if they knew where to find Mayops, the local term for passion flowers.
It was the last time anyone saw them alive. George and his older brother John was arrested on the suspicion of murdering the girls. John was later released by the police, but George was held in custody. On April 24th, 1944, just 1 month after the murders, George Stinny Jr. was put on trial. He was a 14-year-old black boy standing alone in a Jim Crow courtroom.
His fate decided by an all-white jury in a racially charged town. The entire trial lasted just 2 and 1/2 hours. There were no witnesses called in his defense, no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and no written confession, only the word of officers who claimed George had confessed while in their custody.
The jury deliberated for barely 10 minutes before returning a verdict. Guilty of murder. The sentence was immediate and final. Death by electrocution. No appeals were filed. No stay of execution was granted. George Stinny Jr., barely taller than the Bible he was sworn in on, had just been sentenced to die.
70 years later, in 2014, a judge vacated George’s conviction, calling it a great injustice. But by then, it was far too late. His final words, as reported, were simple. No, sir. Shaun Richard Sers, age 16, Oklahoma, 1986. Shaun Sers was obsessed with Satanism. At 16, he murdered his first victim, Robert Bower, a convenience store clerk, in what he claimed was a ritual, that the devil made him do it.
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Sellers told a friend he wanted to see what it feels like to k!ll somebody. No one suspected him, and he got away with it. 6 months later, Sers k!lled his mother and stepfather, each with a single shot to the back of the head, making it appear the couple had been attacked by an intruder in the middle of the night. Afterward, Sers told a friend he thought he had done a good job feigning his innocent discovery of the bodies and described how he stood in his undershorts while firing the two shots so no blood would spatter and be
discovered on his clothing. The murders stunned Oklahoma City, but for months, no one suspected the teenage boy with a baby face and a fascination with the occult. Sha Sers went back to school, back to life, back to pretending, but his carefully constructed lies started to crack under pressure.
Investigators were already looking into the double homicide of Vonda and Lee Bellafat, Sha’s mother and stepfather, when an unexpected break came. Shaun’s best friend, Richard Howard, the same one he had confided in after both sets of murders began to talk. Under pressure from police, Howard revealed what Shawn had told him in chilling detail.
How he’d fired the gun in his underwear to avoid blood spatter. how he’d made it look like a burglary, how he thought he’d gotten away with it. The confession was the missing piece detectives needed. In March of 1986, Shaun Sers was arrested and charged with all three murders, the convenience store clerk, Robert Bower, and his own mother and stepfather.
He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. He was just 16 years old. What shocked authorities most wasn’t just the brutality of his crimes. It was the calm, almost smug way he talked about them. He even told investigators he was under the control of a demon named Ezerate. It would become one of the first and most high-profile murder cases where Satanism was used as a defense.
But even that wouldn’t save him. Shawn later became a born-again Christian behind bars. He renounced Satanism, spoke to church groups, and begged for forgiveness. But the state didn’t budge. In 1999, at the age of 29, Shawn became the first American executed for a crime committed under 17 in decades.
His last meal was Chinese food, egg rolls, sweet and sour shrimp, batter fried shrimp. His final words were haunting yet peaceful. Here I come, father. I’m coming home. Set my spirit free that I might praise thee. Let’s do it, Gary. Let’s get it on. Scott Allen Hayne, age 17. On October 6th, 1987 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Haynes, 17, and accomplice Robert Lambert carjacked 27-year-old Michael Hoden and 22-year-old Laura Sanders outside a bar, robbed them at knife and gunpoint, forced both into the trunk, then set their vehicle ablaze,
k!lling them in the inferno. It was one of the most chilling juvenile crimes in Oklahoma history. Both were arrested on October 9th, 1987 in Tulsa after the victim’s vehicle was linked back to the crime. Hayne faced charges of two counts first-degree murder, kidnapping, arson, and other felonies.
He was convicted in May 1988 following a two-stage jury trial in Creek County and sentenced to death. Hayne spent approximately 15 years incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in Mallister awaiting execution. His last meal included three cheeseburgers, three orders of onion rings, ice cream, and a slush drink. He was executed on April 3rd, 2003 at age 32 by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 8:39 p.m.
He offered no last words. Napoleon Beasley, age 17. Napoleon Beasley was a star athlete, a student leader, and by all accounts, a charismatic teen. But in a single tragic night, he attempted to steal a car and shot and k!lled a man in the process. That man happened to be the father of a federal judge, J. Michael Luig.
In Texas 1994, Napoleon Beasley, who was then 17, shot Luig in the head twice in his garage on April 19th, 1994 to steal his Mercedes-Benz. Beasley also shot at Luig’s wife, but missed. She survived the assault by playing dead. Beasley carried out the crime with two accompllices, Cedric and Donald Coleman.
Beasley’s case became a national debate on race and juvenile justice. Even the victim’s family urged clemency. It didn’t matter. In 2002, at age 25, Beasley was executed by lethal injection. His last words were a letter, long, remorseful, and direct. No one wins tonight. I hope my death will help the fight to prevent other kids from making my mistake.
Paula Cooper, age 15. Paula R. Cooper came from a deeply troubled childhood. Her home life was marked by abuse. Her mother once attempted to k!ll her and her sister in a closed car with the engine running. Her father frequently beat them with an extension cord. Social services never intervened.
On May 14th, 1985, Paulen, 15, and three underage friends, April Beverly, 15, Karen Carter, 16, and Denise Thomas, 14, skipped school, drank, and plotted to rob their elderly neighbor, 78-year-old Ruth Pela, under false pretenses, posing as Bible class students. Inside Pela’s home, Cooper attacked with a vase and then stabbed her 33 times using a butcher knife.
All while the others watched or waited. They took $10 and Pela’s car keys and fled. Within hours, police responded to the murder scene. Investigators found the stolen car abandoned and began canvasing the neighborhood. Multiple observations placed Karen Carter, April Beverly, and Paula Cooper in the vicinity. Behavior that matched the timeline.
Within days, investigators confronted Cooper. During interrogation, she confessed to stabbing Pela during what began as a robbery with her friends. On July 8th, 1985, she was charged with first-degree murder and committing murder during a robbery. Paula pleaded guilty without any plea deal.
She was sentenced to death at age 16, becoming the youngest person on death row in America at the time. Her case sparked international outrage. Even Pope John Paul II intervened. On July 13th, 1989, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned her death sentence and re-sentenced her to 60 years in prison, effectively commuting her sentence. Paula was transferred to the Indiana Women’s Prison, later to Rockville Correctional Facility.
She was released on June 17th, 2013 at age 43, having served about 27 years. But her story didn’t end there. Tragically, on May 26th, 2015, Paula died by suicide at age 45. In her suicide note, she wrote, “I have taken a life and never felt worthy.” Her sister later said Paula carried guilt every day of her life. Christopher Simmons, age 17.
In the pre-dawn hours of September 9th, 1993, in Jefferson County, Missouri, 17-year-old Christopher Simmons executed a chilling plan. He had previously told friends he wanted to k!ll someone and believed he could get away with it because he was under 18. accompanied by Charles Benjamin, 15, and initially with John Tesmer, 16, who backed out, Simmons broke into the home of 46-year-old Shirley Crook.
They bound her hands and eyes with duct tape gagger, then forced her into her van. They drove to Castlewood State Park and took her to a railroad trestle over the Marramac River where Simmons wrapped her hands and feet with electrical wire, covered her head with a towel, and threw her still conscious, into the river. She drowned. Later that same day, fishermen recovered Shirley’s body.
Simmons was heard bragging about k!lling her, stating she recognized him from a minor car accident and because the [ __ ] seen my face. The next day, police arrested Simmons at his high school. During interrogation at the Fenton Police Station, he waved his right to a lawyer and initially denied involvement.
Within 2 hours, however, he confessed and agreed to a videotaped reenactment at the crime scene. His confession played a central role in his prosecution. He was tried as an adult in 1994 for murder, kidnapping, burglary, and stealing and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. But Simmons case went all the way to the US Supreme Court.
In 2005, the court ruled in Roper versus Simmons that executing minors violated the eth amendment. Simmons sentence was commuted to life without parole. Simmons did not only secure his own commutation. The ruling vacated death sentences for dozens of juvenile offenders nationwide. 72 on death row across 12 states were affected immediately.
Roper versus Simmons forever changed juvenile justice in the US establishing that no one under 18 will be executed regardless of the crime. Willie Francis age 16. Imagine being 16 heading for the electric chair and the switch is flipped, but you live. That was the fate of Willie Francis. In December 1944, Andrew Thomas, a white pharmacist in St.
Martinville, Louisiana, was shot dead in his home’s driveway. The case remained cold for 9 months. In August 1945, the police detained Willie Francis, then 16, in Texas. They claimed he carried the victim’s wallet. During interrogation, Willie made written confessions, though he maintained his innocence at trial. Francis was charged with first-degree murder.
His state-appointed defense lawyers mounted virtually no defense, calling no witnesses and making no objections. 2 days later, an all-white jury found him guilty. He was swiftly sentenced to death by electrocution. The first execution attempt failed because the electric chair was set up improperly. While Francis’s attorney, Bertran Deblank, petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court arguing the botched execution violated the Fifth Amendment, double jeopardy, 8th Amendment, cruel and unusual punishment, and 14th Amendment.
The state courts denied relief. On January 13th, 1947, the court held that re-executing Willie did not constitute a constitutional violation, ruling that an execution attempt that fails due to accident does not trigger double jeopardy or cruel and unusual punishment protections. On May 9th, 1947, Willie Francis returned to the chair exactly one year later.
The execution was carried out successfully at just 18 years old. His final reported words in prison were simply nothing at all. Joseph John Cannon, age 17. In 1977, a troubled 17-year-old named Joseph John Cannon entered the Dallas home of C. Walsh, the sister of his courtappointed attorney. Walsh had taken him in an attempt to help a youth who struggled with illiteracy and poor mental health.
Instead, Canon shot her seven times at close range with a22 caliber revolver. He then attempted to sexually assault the still living body before fleeing in her truck. He was arrested weeks later and confessed, claiming no particular motive besides desperation and mental instability.
But the Texas courts found him fully culpable. Cannon was tried as an adult. During the trial, his defense presented evidence of organic brain damage, severe mental illness, schizophrenia, and a traumatic childhood marked by physical abuse, early brain injury from a truck accident, and solvent addiction. Despite this and despite multiple appeals and retrials between 1980 and 1985, the Texas courts maintained his capital murder conviction and he was sentenced to death by lethal injection, the maximum punishment available. He spent over 20 years on
death row, converting to Catholicism and expressing deep remorse. On the day of execution, Canon requested a comforting final meal. Fried chicken, barbecue ribs, baked potato, green salad, chocolate cake and shake, and iced tea. As the execution began, the IV needle in his arm collapsed and slipped out, forcing execution teams to stop, reposition, and start again.
Cannon reportedly lay back, closed his eyes, and calmly whispered, “It’s come undone.” After about 15 minutes, they resumed the procedure and carried out the sentence. He was pronounced dead at midafter afternoon, April 22nd, 1998, age 38. His last words were an apology. I am sorry for what I did to your mom. I hope you can forgive me.
Johnny Frank Garrett, age 17. On October 31st, 1981, Sister Tatia Benz, a 76-year-old Catholic nun, was found brutally raped, strangled, and stabbed in her convent room at St. Francis Convent in Amarillo, Texas. Her body showed signs of forced rape, contusions, and blunt trauma. A kitchen knife was found beneath her bed and a second knife in the driveway.
Fingerprints on the knife and bed headboard and curly dark hairs at the scene were later matched to Johnny Frank Garrett who lived across the street. He was arrested on November 9th, 1981 at age 17. At trial, Garrett’s defense failed to present crucial context. He suffered severe mental impairment, brain damage, and dissociative identity disorder, likely a result of chronic physical and sexual abuse in childhood.
In 1982, Garrett proceeded to trial and was convicted of murder during rape and burglary. The jury deliberated for less than an hour and recommended the death penalty. He was formally sentenced to death at age 17 and sent to the Texas death row at Huntsville’s Ellis unit. His mental health was not adequately considered during sentencing.
Johnny Garrett was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville unit on February 11th, 1992 at age 28. He requested ice cream as his final meal. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records indicate he declined to make a final statement. However, eyewitness accounts and AP News reported his last words as, “I’d like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me, and the rest of the world can kiss my ever loving ass because I’m innocent.
” As of February 28th, 2005, 71 individuals were sitting on death row across 12 US states for crimes they committed before turning 18. All were spared in a single sweep thanks to the Roper versus Simmons decision. Their death sentences were vacated. Most received life without parole. But for the 22 executed before that ruling, the law came too late.
They were teenagers, some reckless, some truly evil, some maybe just lost. Some died before they learned how to live. Others watched the laws changed too late to save them. Justice is supposed to be blind, but for the young and condemned, it was often deaf, too. If we’ve learned anything, it’s this. A courtroom can sentence a child to die.
But only history can decide whether we call it justice or regret. Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for more true crime stories just like this. And tell us in the comments, should juveniles ever be sentenced to death?
