The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South Paperback – February 24, 2009

Author Gilbert King has presented us with a story I was not familiar with, namely the trial, conviction, and eventual execution of Willie Francis a teen-age black in St. Martinville, Louisiana. Francis gave a confession of sorts which led to his conviction and date with the electric chair. The chair malfunctioned and Francis's life was spared, albeit temporarily. The lawyer representing Francis left a lot to be desired as he did practically nothing in defense of him. Cajun lawyer Bertrand DeBlanc took on the case and fought for Francis with the case eventually reaching the United States Supreme Court where the conviction of Francis was upheld by a vote of 5-4. Much of the book is spent on appeals for Francis and the question of weather or not he was guilty of the shooting death of Andrew Thomas. Legitimate questions existed on whether or not Willie Francis did, indeed, commit the murder. Francis was executed on May 7, 1947, and this second time the chair did not malfunction. I feel the book was well done, but I have to say the coverage of the appeals, which was necessary, got to be repetitious at least for me.

I was gripped by the storytelling of a really tragic event in American history. In many places it is a page-turner. The background narratives, the inside conversations among officials, the teaching moments are expertly woven into this story that makes for a great read. Sometimes the story line became a little congested and clumsy with too many asides, but I later discerned their necessity. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to know about America's great racial divide, about injustice shrouded in alleged justice, about a system that insists upon the letter of the law, that claims to be blind, can still get a person executed (even executed twice) in the name of justice when no one had settled on the facts related to the crime, when evidence was inexplicably lost. The story also demystifies the Supreme Court. The story takes the reader inside the marble walls, behind the lofty bench, and ceremonial black robes into the conferencing of the justices, their in-house communications, their legal philosophies, their personal philosophies, that could still get a teenager killed despite their misgivings about the case.

Details an obscene incident with the judicial system and a young Black male that was put in prison. This book is very painful to read but we must not forget and we must work to make it stop.

This gripped me. Wow. I had no idea. I got pulled into this story via a circuitous route. It's not normally the kind of book I would pick up, but I am so glad that I did. There are so many facets to this tale, much to consider in terms of history, justice, race. More than one character was an inspiration, and I was drawn to learn more about them beyond the book. Impressive research. Held me for the duration.

a very sad story of a youth who was twice executed for a crime he may not even have committed. the story is set in the racially divided south and centers on the killing of a white man allegedly by willie francis, a black youth of 15 who had a borderline i.q. Francis was sentenced to death in Louisiana's electric chair. after the chair malfunctioned, Francis's attorneys tried to have the u.s. supreme court commute his sentence to life, arguing double jeopardy and cruel and unusual punishment. today this execution would never have occurred, as the court has since ruled that minors and the mentally incapacitated cannot be put to death. a recommended read for anyone interested in true crime or the workings of the u.s. supreme court.

THIS IS ONE VERY HARD BOOK TO PUT DOWN. IT GOES INTO EXCEPTIONAL DETAIL WITH RESPECT TO A CRIMECOMMITTED IN A HEAVILY RACIST AREA AND HOW THE LAW DEALT WITH IT, OR TRIED TO. THE CASE EVEN REACHED THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, RESULTING IN A CRITICAL DECISION. I THINK THIS IS A VERY SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL PIECE OF WORK AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ALL INTERESTED IN RACISM IN THIS COUNTRY, HOW OUR COURT SYSTEMS WORK (OR ARE SUPPOSED TO), AND HOW LOCAL INFLUENCE HAS SUCH A KEY ROLE IN OUR COURTS AND SUCH RACISM. A VERY WORTHWHILE BUY.

I KNOW SO MANY ATROCITIES HAVE BEEN AND ARE STILL HAPPENING TO PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD, BUT THIS IS INSANE. THIS HORRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED TO POOR WILLIE JUST MAKES ME SICK! IT IS A WONDERFUL READ IF YOU LOVE MEMOIRS AND HISTORY. WONDERFUL NOT AT WHAT HAPPENED, BUT THAT THINGS ARE FINALLY COMING TO LIGHT. NOT JUST ABOUT WILLIE, BUT NATIVE AMERICANS AND ANY OTHER THING MAN CAN KILL! BLESS WILLIE'S HEART, WHICH I DO BELIEVE YOU WILL SEE HAPPENED IN THE END.

This book stirred emotions, but was not too emotional. It is a "true" suspense murder with intense courtroom drama and a race against time to keep Willie from going to the electric chair a second time. It is a challenge of the legal system and one's individual interpretation of the law and how one attorney had the fortitude to challenge the law. This is a GREAT book to read!

A very good book, but this book is not really about southern injustice against black Americans. Rather the theme of this book is about the death penalty, and specifically the electric chair. It seems quite possible that our hero is actually guilty, but the focus of attention is on the legal status of double jeopardy. Can a person be electrocuted for the same offense twice? And is electrocution really humane? These, and many other questions, remain the main issues here. I found I learned a lot about the American legal system (although I had to look a few things up myself) and what was really surprising was to discover that the until the 1920s, the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments of the American Constitution, applied only at a federal level! This is a wonderful read for anyone interested in American history, especially legal history, but given that the story takes place in the racially divided south of the 1940s, the reader gets a glimpse of the inequality and injustice meted out to Black Americans in the Jim Crow years.Not quite as good as his book, "Devil in the Grove," but worth a read anyway.