on May 3rd 1946 inmate Willie Francis felt 2,000 volts of electricity surge through his body during his execution in the electric chair miraculously he survived but what happened next will leave you speechless here are 10 stories of inmates who Against All Odds survived their own execution in the shocking events that followed welcome to criminal records number 10 Kenneth Smith in the controversy convicted killer Kenneth Smith requested to die by having pure nitrogen pumped into his lungs but this type of execution has
never been attempted in the world on November 17th 2022 Kenneth Smith a Hitman from the US was brought to the execution chamber despite one of the highest courts in the country ordering a delay in the 1980s Smith was hired by preacher Charles Senate senior to end the life of his wife Elizabeth Senate Charles overwhelmed by a massive debt planned her death with the intention of collecting life insurance he paid Smith and another man John Forest Parker $11,000 each for the job however the plan didn’t go as expected leading to
Smith’s capture and death sentence after spending 33 years on death row a date was set for his execution but when the time came the three-person team in charge of administering the lethal injection failed to find an intravenous line they repeatedly punctured his arms while he screamed and begged them to stop in a desperate attempt they even punctured his muscle causing excruciating pain in his own words Smith recounted when they couldn’t find a suitable vein they ordered the guards to tilt the gurnie back so that my feet
pointed to the ceiling and my head hung down toward the floor like in an inverted crucifixtion their masks were covered in my blood and they eventually punctured my clavicle in an attempt to insert a central intravenous line into the subclavian artery after 4 hours of failed attempts they finally returned him to to his cell complying with the court order to Halt the execution his lawyers described the experience as disturbing and traumatic something most would agree with but the worst was yet to come on August 26th 2023 the state of
Alabama decided that Smith would be executed by nitrogen hypoxia a method never before used in the US authorities believed that after having escaped death so many times this was the only way to end his life in this procedure Smith would simply inhaled the gas until he lost Consciousness and died on January 25th 2024 Kenneth Smith’s execution was carried out Smith 58 made a final statement through a mask which muffled his words tonight Alabama made humanity take a step back said Smith I leave with love peace and light I love you all
thank you for supporting me Witnesses saw him dressed in his prison uniform covered with a white sheet up to his chest he was strapped to the gurnie in two places with a strap around his stomach and another across his chest during the execution he violently Shook on the gurnie and the process lasted about 25 minutes after having cheated death once this time there was no Escape number nine Romo broom on September 15th 2009 convicted rapist and murderer Romo broom was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the state of Ohio
however the executioners faced issues that made it possible to carry out that day broom was born on June 4th 1956 in Michigan and moved to Ohio with his mother at the age of five over time he became involved with bad influences that shaped the course of his life his criminal history began in 1974 with car thefts on highways but soon escalated to more serious crimes including rape and murder the crime that led him to death row was the kidnapping rape and murder of Trina Middleton a young woman who was walking home with her friends after a
football game in East Cleveland Ohio after being identified through DNA evidence he was arrested convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection however his execution turned into an unexpected struggle for over 2 hours the executioners unsuccessfully attempted to find a suitable vein to administer the lethal drugs during the process broom suffered extreme pain from the repeated punctures in his arms eventually the state of Ohio intervened and halted the execution initially it was rescheduled for a week later but over time his
lawyers succeeded in delaying it for years broom even wrote a book about his traumatic experience although a new execution date was set for 2022 it never took place on December 20th 2020 raml broom passed away due to complications from covid-19 while he ultimately died on death row it is undeniable that he managed to evade his execution and live far longer than the state had originally planned number eight William duel there’s a reason why hanging was discontinued as a method of execution in the past several people survived
including a young man named William duel duel was a minor when he was convicted as an accomplice in the attack on Sarah Griffin in England on November 24th 1740 he was hanged at tyburn along with four other convicts his body was left hanging for about 20 minutes and after being declared dead he was lowered and taken to an anatomy theater for deection however after his clothes were removed and he was placed on the table one of the attendants noticed something strange duel was breathing slowly over the hours his breathing grew faster until he
managed to sit up and speak unfortunately for him the doctors reported to the authorities and that very night he was returned to prison it was discovered that due to the pressure of the Rope on his neck he had suffered a bout of of delirium preventing him from remembering his execution the next day he had fully recovered the news spread quickly and the public celebrated his unexpected survival he was eventually pardoned due to his mental state and his sentence was commuted to penal Transportation meaning his exile
to North America he spent the rest of his life in Boston where he is said to have died around 1805 number seven John Lee on February 23rd 1885 there were three failed attempts to execute John Lee by hanging all of them unsuccessful John Lee was born in England on August 15th 1864 at the age of 21 he was convicted of ending the life of his employer Emma keiss in her own home the only strong evidence against him was the fact that he was the only man present in the house at the time of the crime along with his criminal history and some cuts on his
arm despite Lee insisting on his innocence he was sentenced to hang on the day of the execution he was led to the Gallows with the Rope tightened around his neck and a sack covering his head however when the Executioner pulled the lever to open the trap door nothing happened he tried several times but the trap door simply wouldn’t open it was an embarrassing moment for everyone present and the coroner decided to suspend the execution Lee was returned to his cell while the mechanism was tested again it worked perfectly with each attempt but
as soon as Lee was placed on the trap door it failed again throughout the entire process Lee remained calm claiming that his faith in God would save him what happened next a judge commuted his sentence to life imprisonment years later after several appeals and new evidence showing that he might not have been the only man in the house the night of the crime his innocence was determined and he was released in 1907 what happened to him afterward remains a mystery some versions say he died in a mental asylum in Tavistock during World War II while
others claim he moved to the United States where he became a speaker and passed away in Milwaukee in 2009 regardless of the truth John Lee will always be remembered as the man who couldn’t be hanged number six Anne green on December 14th 1650 Anne green a domestic servant in England was executed by hanging after being found guilty of infanticide however her story has been told for centuries due to its incredible outcome born in 1628 eight Anne worked in the house of Sir Thomas red a Justice of the Peace living in Oxfordshire
during her time there she was seduced by her employer’s grandson Jeffrey red who left her pregnant at 17 weeks Anne had a miscarriage fearing retaliation she tried to hide the remains but they were discovered leading to her being accused of ending the infant’s life she was sentenced to hang and executed at the famous Oxford Castle her body remained hanging for 30 minutes before being l lowered placed in a coffin and handed over to the doctors at the University of Oxford for dissection what is shocking is that Anne never died for 24 hours she
was without food water and with little oxygen until just before the doctors began to dissect her body one of them noticed she still had a pulse imagin their surprise when they saw Anne slightly move her body immediately he and other doctors began resuscitating her administering medications until she could finally speak and move on her own 3 Days Later Sir Thomas Reed passed away leaving no authority to revoke her pardon however her case caused a disturbance with a group of people demanding that she be executed again
fortunately no one listened to them and Anne was released many saw her story as divine intervention a miracle that saved her from Death eventually Anne lived a peaceful life married had three children and died in 1659 number five Willie Francis we’ve seen cases of people who survived lethal injection but what about an execution in the electric chair that seems impossible however in 1946 a young African-American named Willie Francis survived an attempt at execution in the electric chair an event that remains one
of the greatest anomalies in the history of the death penalty in the United States 2 years earlier in 1944 a pharmacist from St Martinville Louisiana named Andrew Thomas was found dead after receiving multiple gunshots it was said that Thomas had been abusing young people in the area leading many to believe that Willie Francis might have been one of his victims for 9 months the case remained unsolved until in August 1945 Willie only 16 years old was arrested as the primary suspect according to the police he was found
with Thomas’s wallet but no evidence ever proved this moreover the weapon used in the crime belonged to the county sheriff’s assistant August fuselier which raised even more doubts about Willie’s guilt despite the lack of concrete evidence he was pressured into signing two written confessions likely obtained under coercion his trial was a sham the defense attorneys didn’t call any Witnesses or raise objections and within just two days an all-white jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death on May 3rd 1946 Willie was taken
to the electric chair however the execution failed the portable electric chair had been properly installed by a prison guard who was drunk preventing the current from killing him Against All Odds Willie Francis survived after this incident a lawyer named bertron deblanc took on his case and appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that not only had the execution been inhumane but there were also serious irregularities in the trial among them key evidence such as the murder weapon and Andrew Thomas’s body had disappeared days before the
trial despite the evidence that the Jud IAL process had been riddled with errors the Supreme Court rejected the appeal on May 9th 1947 one year after his first attempted execution Willie Francis was sent back to the electric chair this time there were no mistakes his last words were directed at a reporter I’m going to meet the Lord with my Sunday pants and my Sunday heart even today his case serves as a reminder of the flaws in the justice system and the brutality of the death penalty numero Quattro Allan Eugene Miller by now the state of
Alabama might deserve to be banned from carrying out executions by lethal injection because it seems they never managed to get it right in the case of Allan Eugene Miller not only did they fail to administer the lethal drugs but they almost killed him due to the numerous injuries inflicted on his body during the failed execution attempt on September 22nd 2022 Miller was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection for the murders of Lee holdbrooks Christopher Scott yansy and Terry Jarvis committed in 1999 during a delusional
episode however when it came time for his execution prison officials encountered serious difficulties locating a suitable vein to insert the intervenous line for an hour and a half the executioners tried unsuccessfully to find Venus access repeatedly piercing his arms hands and feet desperate they began inserting needles into various parts of his body with no success Miller remained conscious throughout the procedure feeling each puncture and the pain it caused after nearly 2 hours of failed attempts they strapped him
tightly to the gurnie with a chest strap and tilted him upright with his limbs bleeding the executioners finally left the execution chamber leaving Miller tied up alone and severely injured 30 minutes later he was removed from the gurnie his wounds were treated and he was returned to his cell Against All Odds Alan Eugene Miller had surv rived his execution what happened next his lawyers continued to fight for a change in his method of execution arguing that Alabama had demonstrated its inability to carry out Lethal Injections
effectively his case was the third in four years in which the state of Alabama failed in an execution sparking a strong debate over lethal injection as a method of capital punishment finally Allan Eugene Miller was executed on September 26th 2024 by by hypoxia through nitrogen deprivation number three John Smith if there were a record for the most executions survived by a single person that record would belong to John Smith born in 1661 Smith was a thief and robber in London however before taking this criminal path he served in the Navy
as a commercial sailor and later in the war as a soldier aboard until he was discharged after the famous battle of vgo bay shortly afterward he enlisted as a soldier and began associating with bad company which ultimately led him to a life of crime on December 5th 1705 he was found guilty of two charges and sentenced to death at first Smith didn’t seem too worried but when the time for the execution came his family caused a great uproar trying to lessen Smith’s suffering during the execution process he was hanged for about 15 minutes
without dying so he was lowered and taken to a nearby house to recover on February 20th 1706 Jon was released due to the traumatic experience he suffered from the failed execution however this was just the first of many surprises in Smith’s life after being freed he returned to his old habits of theft and less than 6 months later he was arrested again for the same crime despite having been previously convicted he managed to evade harsher Punishment Due to the complexity of his case clearly Smith did not deserve the mercy granted to him and
he was arrested for the third time for robbery this time it seemed that execution was inevitable but just before his trial the prosecutor died leaving him free once again people with such incredible luck are few and the most surprising thing is that Smith’s luck had not yet run out on May 17th 1727 at the age of 66 John Smith was arrested for attempting to steal a lock with a friend while his friend friend managed to escape Smith was captured and brought before the authorities it was discovered that he was trying to break
into a warehouse which earned him his third conviction he was sentenced to be transported as a prisoner to Virginia United States Smith requested that physical punishments be imposed on him but the mayor rejected his request eventually he was sent far from London leaving his family behind it is uncertain what happened to Smith after his relocation but it is hoped that his accompanied him until the end of his life number two Joseph Samuel in 1795 a German man named Joseph Samuel was sentenced to be transported as a
prisoner to England however what he did next was completely Unthinkable leading him directly to the death penalty though fate had other plans for him at the time Britain had a penal settlement in Sydney and Samuel along with other prisoners managed to escape from that settlement and return to England after his Escape they robbed the house of a wealthy woman and during the robbery they killed the police officer who was guarding the house since the woman was wealthy and an officer had been killed the authorities
launched an intense Manhunt to capture Samuel and his gang during the trial the woman specifically identified Samuel as one of the culprits Samuel confessed to the robbery but denied having killed the officer however since he was the only one identified he was sentenced to death by hanging while the others were released due to a lack of evidence on September 26th 1803 Samuel along with other prisoners was hanged the ropes used for the execution were strong enough to support up to 450 kg meaning they were more than capable of hanging a
human while the other prisoners died from strangulation Samuel’s rope broke and he fell to the ground this left everyone stunned the Executioner quickly prepared another rope also capable of supporting 450 kg and placed it around Samuel’s neck he raised him again but immediately after the cart beneath his feet was removed the Rope loosened and Samuel Fell to the ground once more the Executioner was confused knowing he had adjusted the Rope correctly Samuel suffered an ankle sprain from the falls and was in great pain once again the
Executioner prepared a new rope ordered the cart to lift him up and carefully adjusted the Rope this time when the cart moved away the Rope failed for the third time leaving Samuel falling to the ground again the crowd began to cheer calling for Samuel’s release and the situation grew violent the chief of police ordered that the execution be halted until the governor’s arrival when the governor arrived at the scene and reviewed the ropes which showed no signs of being cut and saw that the other prisoners had died with the same ropes
he agreed with the crowd that this was likely a sign from God that Joseph Samuel had not committed a crime worthy of execution as a result his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment number one wesl moguel it’s only fitting to close this video with a case that will leave you on the edge of your seat born on November 1st 1896 weslow Mel was a Mexican Soldier under the command of General Francisco Villa however after the start of the Mexican Revolution weslow was captured and sentenced to death by firing squad being
executed by firing squad is one of the most brutal forms of execution a condemned person can face but somehow weslow survived during that execution he was shot between eight and nine times in his body and as a final measure they shot him point blank in the head to ensure his death but after everything was over weslow realized that he was still alive although he decided to play dead to avoid being killed again when his body was taken down weslow managed to crawl through the night to the Church of Santiago aposto which was three
blocks away a member of the church found him and took him to his home where he recovered though permanently scarred and disfigured weslow survived that execution this case highlights how shocking human error can be and the tragedy behind the death penalty [Music]
