The First Teenager To Be Executed Twice

 Francis Willie was an African American teenager known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution in the United States.[1] He was a convicted juvenile sentenced to death at age 16 by the state of Louisiana in 1945 for the murder of Andrew Thomas, a Cajun pharmacy owner in St. Martinville who had once employed him. In the modern day, Francis's guilt has been disputed.[2] 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 Supreme Court of the United States failed, he was executed in 1947 at age 18.

In 1944, Andrew Thomas, a pharmacist in St. Martinville, Louisiana, was shot and killed. His murder remained unsolved for nine months, but in August 1945, Willie Francis was detained in Texas on suspicion of drug trafficking due to his carrying a briefcase and speaking with a stutter.[2] Police claimed that he was carrying Thomas' wallet in his pocket, though no evidence of this claim was submitted during the trial.[2]

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.[3] 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.[2] Fuselier had once threatened to kill Thomas.[2] The gun, and the bullets recovered from the crime scene and Thomas' body, disappeared from police evidence just before the trial.[2]

Despite two separate written confessions, Francis pleaded not guilty. Many of Francis' proponents have speculated that he was innocent and had been coerced to make false confessions.[2] During his trial, the court-appointed defense attorneys offered no objections, called no witnesses, and put up no defense.[2] The validity of Francis' confessions were not questioned by the defense, although he had no counsel at the time.[3] Two days after the trial began, Francis was quickly found guilty of murder by twelve White jurors and the judge sentenced Francis to death despite Francis having been underage at 15 at the time of the crime.