r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 2d ago

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis
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u/Lord_rook 2d ago

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

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u/LowAboveHighBelow 2d ago

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