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Wille Francis Must Die Again
(52 minutes) USA
Director/Producer: Allan Durand
Description:
Danny Glover narrates the unique story of Willie Francis, who survived execution in the Louisiana electric chair in 1946. After the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow a second execution, Felix Frankfurther--the Justice who cast the deciding fifth vote--then went to work behind the scenes to try to get the sentence commuted to life in prison.
Biography:
Allan L. Durand is a graduate of University of Southwestern Louisiana and has a law degree from Louisiana State University, as well as a Master of Laws in Taxation from Southern Methodist University. He served on active duty as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and also as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard. After graduating from SMU, he was employed as a Tax Senior with a major international accounting firm, and also practiced law in New Orleans and Dallas before returning to St. Martinville, a French Catholic town in southern Cajun Louisiana where he was raised. He is licensed to practice law in both Louisiana and Texas, and was one of the co-founders of the Tax section of the Lafayette Parish Bar Association, as well as one of the co-founders of the Lafayette law firm of Perrin, Landry, deLaunay and Durand. He presently practices law in Lafayette and has served as General Counsel to Farmers-Merchants Bank since 1996. In addition to his law practice, he has been either the producer or associate producer of four feature length motion pictures (including Belizaire the Cajun), and various documentaries for public television. The attorney who represented Francis in his bid to stop the second execution attempt was the younger brother of Durand's grandmother.
Contact information:
Allan Durand
235 La Rue France
Lafayette, LA 70508
E-mail: durand@plddo.com |
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©2007 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) |
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