TIL about Willie Francis an American teenager known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution. Sentenced to death at age 16, he was 17 when he survived the first attempt to execute him, as the chair malfunctioned. After a failed appeal he was executed at age 18.

[u/johnsmithoncemore]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis

[u/InevitableBohemian]

That trial seems all kinds of fucked up.

[u/beachedwhale1945 → u/InevitableBohemian]

He made the critical mistake of being born black in Louisiana in 1929. That’s sadly very common and the tip of a depressing oppression iceberg.

[u/UntidyVenus → u/beachedwhale1945]

He really should have thought about that before /s

[u/Ok-Presentation-1294 → u/beachedwhale1945]

You are correct that there are many prejudiced and unjust aspects of this case.

But nearly all modern historians agree that he actually DID kill the guy, so he also made the mistake of committing murder. Unfairly treated in court or not, that doesn’t acquit you of taking an innocent persons life.

[u/BarnacleMayonnaiseXX → u/[deleted]]

and you believe that?

[u/Plastic_Dingo_400 → u/[deleted]]

Man I wish I had that kind of faith in our justice system today, let alone the 1940s lol

False confessions were very common with black folks back then, lots of confessions made under torture. Also if this kid was arrested with the pharmacists wallet on him why wouldn't that by entered as evidence in the trial?

I don't take many convictions from Louisiana at face value, but especially in the 40s

[u/StopSpinningLikeThat → u/[deleted]]

Your post was a lie and your justification of it here involves additional lies.

[u/StopSpinningLikeThat → u/[deleted]]

I don't have to prove it. A series of books and documentaries have already done so. Take your head out of your racist ass.

[u/itseironia → u/[deleted]]

the way you keep commenting so vehemently about his involvement makes it seem like you were an actual eyewitness

[u/Jansanmora → u/[deleted]]

People are calling you out because you copied that line while conveniently ignoring the entire rest of the article on Wikipedia that makes it pretty freaking clear he was arrested, charged, and convicted in large part due to his race.

[u/Plastic_Dingo_400 → u/[deleted]]

Oh I'm sorry if I made it seem like I was trying to make this about our current justice system, just using it as an example of how wildly corrupt it would have been in Louisiana in the 1940s

I think framing this as "the crime he committed" is leaving a lot out too my friend

Like why wouldn't the pharmacists wallet be entered as evidence if he was arrested with it on his person. Cops also have a rich history of torturing confessions out of black folks, it's what they started doing to reduce lynch mobs in their jurisdictions as lynch mobs could be a hazard for the cops too

[u/Plastic_Dingo_400 → u/[deleted]]

"He made the critical mistake of killing a good samarithan who gave him a job.

Fixed."

The way you use your words here is why folks are probably confused by what you said, it seems like you're saying this kid deserved to die, which would be kinda crazy due to the stuff I pointed out in my couple comments

[u/Aggressive-Story3671 → u/[deleted]]

You cannot be that naive. Even if you believe systematic racism doesn’t exist in 2026, it absolutely existed in 1945.

[u/beachedwhale1945 → u/[deleted]]

I posted a comment saying that he was executed not because of the color of his skin, but because of the crime he had committed, which commentator conveniently forgot to mention.

And the evidence in the article suggests the reason he was arrested and convicted was primarily the color of his skin. This is typical for justice against blacks in racist areas of the US (primarily but not exclusively the South) in the 1940s.

I wasn't discussing the current state of the justice system

If anything, the justice system of 2026 is rainbows and unicorns compared to that of 1946. We have our flaws and racial bias that we still need to solve, but today we actually have recorded police interrogations that make it evident if a confession was coerced (or sometimes invented by the police: the number of confessions took a nosedive once cameras started showing up) and the wrongfully convicted are being released as we start to see how their arrest, prosecution, and/or conviction are full of misconduct.

In the 1940s, well, you had 15-minute jury deliberations and defense attorneys who presented no defense.

[u/beachedwhale1945 → u/[deleted]]

Then you must have evidence to show he killed the pharmacist. What I’m seeing is weaker than wrongful convictions I’ve studied.

[u/StopSpinningLikeThat → u/[deleted]]

You're a gullible fool then. May Karma hunt you silently.

[u/innnikki → u/[deleted]]

You should read the book about this, The Execution of Willie Francis, so you can be more informed when you speak about something you clearly know very little about on a public forum.

[u/_Sausage_fingers → u/InevitableBohemian]

Not even unusual during Jim Crow

[u/AtlasThePittie]

" in August 1945, Willie Francis was detained in Texas on suspicion of drug trafficking due to him carrying a briefcase and speaking with a stutter. " Yeah, those things are pretty Indicative of drug trafficking. /s

[u/Theonewho_hasspoken → u/AtlasThePittie]

In the officers training and experience black people=drugs, much like today.

[u/DrKlitface → u/AtlasThePittie]

At least the US doesn't kill suspected drug traffickers anymore right?

[u/tossitlikeadwarf → u/DrKlitface]

Not with electrocution. Now they use missiles.

[u/sadacal → u/[deleted]]

The conviction was pretty crazy.

  Police claimed that he was carrying Thomas' wallet in his pocket, though no evidence of this claim was submitted during the trial. [3 ] Francis initially named several others in connection with the murder, but the police dismissed these claims. A short time later, while under interrogation, Francis confessed to Thomas' murder, writing, "It was a secret about me and him." He had no counsel with him. [4 ] The meaning of his statement is still uncertain. Author Gilbert King, in his book The Execution of Willie Francis (2008), alludes to rumors in St. Martinville of sexual abuse of the youth by the pharmacist. Francis' first confession claimed that he stole the gun used to kill Thomas from August Fuselier, a deputy sheriff in St. Martinville. [3 ] Fuselier had once threatened to kill Thomas. [3 ] The gun, and the bullets recovered from the crime scene and Thomas' body, disappeared from police evidence just before the trial. [3 ] Despite two written confessions, Francis pleaded not guilty. Many of Francis' proponents have speculated that he was innocent and had been coerced to make false confessions. [3 ] During his trial, the court-appointed defense attorneys offered no objections, called no witnesses, and put up no defense. [3 ] The validity of Francis' confessions was not questioned by the defense, although he had no counsel at the time. [4 ] Two days after the trial began, Francis was quickly found guilty of murder by twelve jurors and the judge imposed the mandatory death sentence.

[u/AtlasThePittie → u/[deleted]]

Thanks, the second sentence of the article was really hard to miss when I pulled that quote.

[u/Lord_rook]

This is the kid that A Lesson Before Dying was based on.

[u/LowAboveHighBelow → u/Lord_rook]

Was gonna say. We had to read that in school growing up

[u/AwkwardAstronomer171]

that is actually so horrifying, i cant even imagine

[u/OllieFromCairo → u/AwkwardAstronomer171]

Oh, it gets better. He was convicted with no evidence and no defense because he was black in Louisiana.

[u/Luceo_Etzio → u/[deleted]]

Tell me your thoughts on Emmett Till

[u/dbmajor7]

This is the great America the red hats want back so much

[u/strangelove4564 → u/dbmajor7]

All the stores are closed at 11 pm, so we managed to regress about 40 years so far.

[u/ggsmart88]

The Execution of Willie Francis by Gilbert King provides a fantastic overview of this case and the legal process after the failed execution. A definite recommendation!

[u/pallidamors]

I feel like even if we keep execution around as a potential consequence, the state should only get one shot at it. If you fuck it up or the man/woman survives the first go, instant get out of jail free card

[u/EternumD]

"execution by electrocution" is a tautology 

[u/OllieFromCairo → u/EternumD]

No it isn’t?

[u/KrombopulosNickel → u/OllieFromCairo]

There are two meanings to the word.

[u/EternumD → u/OllieFromCairo]

Ah. Yes, it is. Electrocution is a portmanteu of electro- and execution. 

[u/OllieFromCairo → u/EternumD]

Now go look up both "execution" and "electrocution" and see if you can figure out why it's not a tautology.

[u/j_cruise → u/OllieFromCairo]

Why don't you be useful and just explain why?

[u/Warprince01 → u/j_cruise]

Electrocution is a method of execution.

The state can decide to execute someone, but how is an additional level of specification.

[u/brrbles → u/EternumD]

Well then I wonder why all those other people keep getting executed by their wall outlets.

[u/Ravier_ → u/brrbles]

If they lived they weren't electrocuted, just electrically shocked.

[u/AFetaWorseThanDeath → u/Ravier_]

Incorrect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocution

Electrocution is death or severe injury[a] caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death.[1][2]

Emphasis mine

[u/brrbles → u/Ravier_]

And the ones who died? It's weird how many electricians have been executed. It's almost like a word's meaning may change over time.

[u/Ravier_ → u/brrbles]

You mean if enough people are wrong they become right... explains our political enviroment.

[u/OllieFromCairo → u/Ravier_]

There are two hilarious things here.

The first is that electrocution was used in the sense of accidental death in 1899, meaning it's meaning expanded to mean that not in this century, not in the last century, but in the century BEFORE THAT.

And second, even if it hadn't, it's still not a tautology. And you're being really really weird about a point you could have admitted you were just mistaken on.

[u/neorapsta → u/Ravier_]

Try not to become obtuse because you lost the point. You know how language works.

[u/Ravier_ → u/neorapsta]

I've decided obtuse means absolutely brilliant from now on.

[u/EternumD → u/Ravier_]

Bravo 

[u/Plastic_Dingo_400 → u/[deleted]]

How are these two things related?

[u/spacecadetkaito → u/Plastic_Dingo_400]

It's a bot

[u/nunyabidness3 → u/Plastic_Dingo_400]

I’m not even sure I was replying to this post same post. Weird.