Willie Francis (January 12, 1929 – May 9, 1947) is best known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. He was a juvenile offender sentenced to death at age 16 by the state of Louisiana in 1945. He was found guilty for the murder of Andrew Thomas, a Cajun pharmacy owner in St. Martinville who had once employed Francis. Francis was 17 when he survived the first attempt to execute him because the chair did not work correctly. He tried to appeal his case to the US Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court rejected it. He was executed in 1947 at age 18.