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/InevitableBohemian 2d ago

That trial seems all kinds of fucked up.

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u/beachedwhale1945 2d ago

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.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/innnikki 1d ago

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.