Home > Great American Court Cases > Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber

Legal Citation: 329 U.S. 459 (1947)

Petitioner
Willie Francis

Respondent
E. L. Resweber, Sheriff of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, et al.

Petitioner's Claim
The petitioner, who had been sentenced to die by electrocution, had survived the state's first electrocution attempt; he contended that for the state to try to electrocute him again would be "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment, double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same crime) under the Fifth Amendment, and a violation of his right to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment (since other prisoners only had to undergo one execution attempt).

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
James Skelly Wright

Chief Lawyers for Respondent
Michael E. Culligan, L. O. Pecot

Justices for the Court
Hugo Lafayette Black, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson,...