EXECUTION OF NEGRO
U.S. SUPREME COURT REJECTS APPEAL
RETURN TO ELECTRIC CHAIR PERMITTED
(Rec. 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Jan. 13. The United States Supreme Court, by five votes to four, held that the state of Louisiana could execute the 17-year-old negro, Willie Francis, although the first attempt to do so failed.
Francis went to the electric chair in May, 1946, for murder, but escaped death because of a mechanical failure, upon which he appealed on the ground that it would be a cruel and unusual punishment to place him in the chair again. After the failure of the first attempt to execute Francis, the Governor of Louisiana issued three successive reprieves. to enable Francis to place his case before the Supreme Court, which later ordered a stay of execution. The State Pardons Board refused to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25083, 15 January 1947, Page 7
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140EXECUTION OF NEGRO Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25083, 15 January 1947, Page 7
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