Willie Francis, Louisiana Teen Who Survived the Electric Chair

LOUISIANA - For 80 years, Louisiana has held one of America's strangest and most disturbing death penalty stories.

Long before Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike shocked the country this year, a teenager from St. Martinville, Louisiana, survived the electric chair. His name was Willie Francis, and his case actually changed American legal history.

Today, as questions swirl over whether Tennessee can legally try to execute Pike again after she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs, many legal experts are now citing Francis' case in Louisiana.

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Who Was Willie Francis?

Willie Francis was just 16 years old when he was convicted in the killing of St. Martinville pharmacist Andrew Thomas in 1945.

According to techetoday.com, at the time Louisiana didn't have a permanent execution chamber in Baton Rouge or Angola. Instead, the state used a portable electric chair nicknamed "Gruesome Gertie." The chair traveled from Parish to Parish wherever executions were scheduled.

The failed execution happened in St. Martinville.

Kind of wild thought isn't it? I never knew anything like a portable electric chair ever existed.

The Day Louisiana's Electric Chair Failed

On May 3, 1946, Francis was strapped into the electric chair in St. Martinville.

Almost immediately, something went terribly wrong.

Instead of killing him, witnesses reported that Francis screamed as the electricity went through his body.

Via wikipedia "Witnesses reported hearing him screaming from behind the leather hood, 'Take it off! Take it off! Let me breathe!' as the supposedly lethal surge of electricity was being applied. The portable electric chair, known as 'Gruesome Gertie', was found to have been improperly set up by an intoxicated prison guard and inmate from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Francis walked away alive.

Surviving the electric chair might sound like the end of the story.

It wasn't.

Louisiana scheduled another execution. Francis' attorney, Bertrand DeBlanc, argued that forcing him to endure a second execution would violate the Constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment and amount to double jeopardy.

An interesting note...Willie Francis' attourney Bertrand DeBlanc was reportedly best friends with the vitctim who was murdered, pharmacist Andrew Thomas according to wikipedia.com.

The case went to the the U.S. Supreme Court, now known as Francis v. Resweber.

In a 5-4 decision in 1947, the Court ruled Louisiana could legally try again because the first failed execution was considered an accident rather than an intentional act of cruelty. Francis was executed on May 9, 1947.

Willie Francis Louisiana Execution — Wikipedia.com/Public Domain

That 1947 ruling is suddenly relevant again.

On September 30, 2026, Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike using lethal injection.

According to witnesses, Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, complained that her arm felt like it was "about to burst," and continued breathing long after the drugs were administered. She was eventually rushed to a hospital after emergency responders were delayed by confusion inside the prison.

Pike has now recovered and has been tranfered back to Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville. How her case moves forward will definately depend on Louisiana's Francis v. Resweber case.