A good nonfiction book should keep a reader interested throughout the whole story. A great nonfiction book is one that keeps the reader glued, hoping for the best turnout, even though you know the outcome. Gilbert King’s THE EXECUTION OF WILLIE FRANCIS: RACE, MURDER, AND THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH falls into the latter category, relaying a real event that hooks you into its marvelous storytelling and such a crushing ending.
Most people are probably not familiar with the story of Willie Francis, since he has become a mere footnote in the discussion of the death penalty. He was a 16-year-old African-American from the Deep South who was convicted of killing a white druggist in 1945. The case was pretty much a show trial at best, with no witnesses ever called to defend him, and it seems that he was railroaded into recanting certain information.
It’s never made clear if Willie really did shoot the man himself or if it was an elaborate plot for which he became the scapegoat. Willie freely took responsibility for the murder and was more than willing to take his punishment, but that is not the crux of this book. Willie has another distinction in history: He was sent to the electric chair twice.
His first time in the chair was a botched attempt, in which he received all the pain, yet lived through it. Louisiana was all set to just wait six days and then do it again, until WWII vet Bertrand DeBlanc took the case. He was a man who not only knew the dead man, but came from a family with roots in Klan-like groups. He felt that Willie should have his sentence commuted to life in prison and that he should not have to endure such an experience again. DeBlanc, with his unwanted help from NAACP lawyers, took the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
This true story not only draws you in, but it never lets its hooks out of the reader. King has done an amazing amount of research into this horrific case, and his style does not read as though he is just rehashing the facts. Instead, it reads like a terrific thriller where you hope the good guys win in the end, even though you know from the start that Willie is doomed.
No matter where you stand on the death penalty, this book is an eye-opener of how far we have come from a time that mob justice was the norm, and how it weighed on the minds of all involved. —Bruce Grossman
