Willie Francis Must Die Again Documentary
| Willie Francis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 12, 1929 Louisiana, United States of America |
| Died | May ix, 1947(1947-05-09) (aged 18) Louisiana State Penitentiary |
| Cause of death | Execution by electrocution |
| Known for | First known incident of a failed execution by electrocution in the Usa[1] |
| Criminal condition | Executed (May 9, 1947 (1947-05-09)) |
| Confidence(s) | Murder |
| Criminal punishment | Death |
Willie Francis (January 12, 1929 – May nine, 1947) was an African American teenager known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution in the U.s.a..[1] He was a juvenile offender sentenced to death at age sixteen past the country of Louisiana in 1945 for the murder of Andrew Thomas, a Cajun chemist's owner in St. Martinville who had once employed him. He was 17 when he survived the first attempt to execute him, as the chair malfunctioned. After an appeal of his case taken to the United states of america Supreme Court failed, he was executed in 1947 at age 18.
Arrest and trial [edit]
In 1944, Andrew Thomas, a chemist in St. Martinville, Louisiana, was shot and killed. His murder remained unsolved for 9 months, but in August 1945, Willie Francis was detained in Texas due to his proximity to an unrelated crime. Police force claimed that he was conveying Thomas' wallet in his pocket, though no evidence of this claim was submitted during the trial.[ii]
Francis initially named several others in connection with the murder, simply the police dismissed these claims. A brusk time subsequently, while nether interrogation, Francis confessed to Thomas' murder, writing, "It was a secret about me and him." He had no counsel with him.[3] The pregnant of his statement is still uncertain. Author Gilbert King, in his volume, The Execution of Willie Francis (2008), alludes to rumors in St. Martinville of sexual abuse of the youth by the pharmacist. Francis later directed the police to where he had tending of the holster used to deport the murder weapon. The gun used to kill Thomas was found near the crime scene. It belonged to a deputy sheriff in St. Martinville who had one time threatened to impale Thomas. The gun, and the bullets recovered from the offense scene and Thomas' torso, disappeared from law show just earlier the trial.
Despite two separate written confessions, Francis pleaded non guilty. During his trial, the court-appointed defence attorneys offered no objections, called no witnesses, and put up no defense. The validity of Francis' confessions were not questioned by the defense, although he had no counsel at the time.[3] Two days later the trial began, Francis was apace convicted of murder and was sentenced to expiry by twelve jurors and the judge despite Francis having been underage at 15 at the fourth dimension of the offense.
Execution effort, appeal, and 2d execution [edit]
On May iii, 1946, Francis survived an endeavour at execution past the electrical chair. Witnesses reported hearing the teenager scream from behind the leather hood, "Take it off! Have it off! Permit me breathe!" as the supposedly lethal surge of electricity was being applied.[4] The portable electric chair, known equally "Gruesome Gertie", was found to have been improperly gear up upwards by an intoxicated prison house baby-sit and inmate from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Republic of angola. The sheriff, Due east.L. Resweber, was after quoted as saying: "This boy really got a stupor when they turned that machine on."[iv]
Afterward the botched execution, a young lawyer, Bertrand DeBlanc, decided to accept Francis' case. He felt it was unjust, and cruel and unusual punishment, equally prohibited in the Constitution, to subject him again to the execution process. DeBlanc had been best friends with Thomas and his decision was greeted with dismay past the citizens in the small Cajun town. DeBlanc took Francis' case to the Supreme Court in Francis 5. Resweber, 329 U.Southward. 459 (1947), citing diverse violations of his 5th, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. These included violations of equal protection, double jeopardy, and barbarous and unusual penalty.
The US Supreme Court rejected the appeal. Later, Willie Francis was returned to the electrical chair on May nine, 1947. He told reporter Elliott Chaze a couple of days prior to the execution that he was going to see the Lord with his "Sunday pants and Sunday heart." He was pronounced dead in the chair at 12:10 p.m. (CST).[five]
Documentary [edit]
Willie Francis' life was the subject of a 2006 documentary, titled Willie Francis Must Die Again, written and directed past filmmaker Allan Durand. The film, narrated by actor Danny Glover, chronicles the full story of his case and the unprecedented court boxing that followed his failed execution. Produced by regional film managing director/producer Glen Pitre, the movie includes kickoff hand accounts of Francis' original trial, interviews with Sis Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, a book about the expiry penalization, and Gilbert King, author of The Execution of Willie Francis (2008); and cultural perspective provided by director Allan Durand.
In popular media [edit]
- Ernest Gaines' 1993 novel A Lesson Earlier Dying, telling the story of a immature black man facing execution in 1940s Louisiana, was partly based on the Willie Francis case.[half-dozen]
See also [edit]
- Capital penalty in Louisiana
- Capital letter punishment in the United States
- Francis 5. Resweber
- John Babbacombe Lee
- Joseph Samuel
- Pedro Medina
References [edit]
- ^ a b "Court to Study Strange Instance Of Willie Francis". Prescott Evening Courier. May 9, 1946. Retrieved 2009-06-12 .
- ^ Today I Found Out (ten January 2017). "The Boy Who was Executed Twice". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ^ a b Gilbert King (July xix, 2006). "The Ii Executions Of Willie Francis". Washington Post . Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ^ a b Justice Harold Burton. "Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber dissent". Retrieved 2009-06-10 . Justice Burton cited an affidavit by Harold Resweber, witness to the botched execution, which reported Francis' burst.
- ^ Elliott Chaze (May 10, 1947). "Second Trip To Chair-Willie Francis Dies". Saint petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-06-12 .
- ^ "Writing A Lesson Before Dying" (PDF). THesouthernreview.orgaccessdate=2017-03-30. 2005.
Bibliography [edit]
- King, Gilbert (2008). The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder and the Search for Justice in the American South. Basic Civitas Books.
- Miller, Arthur S.; Bowman, Jeffrey H. (1988). Death by Installments: The Ordeal of Willie Francis. New York.
External links [edit]
- Supreme Court case history
- Gilbert King, The Execution of Willie Francis, official website of book
- Elevation 10 Amazing Execution Survival Stories
bobbittpurpectiod.blogspot.com
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis
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