SUMMER READING

A FORMER D.A. WAS THE PUBLIC DEFENDER I NEVER REALLY KNEW

"The Execution of Willie Francis"  by Gilbert King

"Bertrand DeBlanc agreed to take Willie’s case, despite the fact that the victim, Andrew Thomas, was one of DeBlanc’s best friends."

Gilbert King also notes in his non-fiction work on the death of the only man who ever sat in the electric chair twice that Bertrand DeBlanc, back from World War II and starting his law practice in St. Martinville.   DeBlanc was really taking on an unpopular and difficult case when he agreed to help the young man's father.   He agreed to try and stop the second attempt at killing Willie.   Louisiana was using its portable electric chair, and this compelling story takes us to the mid-40's Death Penalty "Justice" that often foreshadows our current Louisiana Criminal Justice System.

When you read a book, it tends to draw a particular point of view from your experience, and having known Bertrand DeBlanc in the twilight of his career,  I realized that the aged and eventually infirm fellow I knew was a shadow of the champion he had been.   "Mr. Bert" was a Public Defender when I returned to Lafayette with my Law License in 1980, and in about ten years he had outlasted his skills.  He finally retired and many of us had no idea how he had fought in an unpopular and bizarre case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Visiting with him you would hear little of this Willie Francis story.  He would find a memory about going to Crowley and sleeping on by grandpa's screen porch after a dance at the Crowley House Theatre,  or other tidbits from the past.  But he never bragged about being one of Louisiana's first true Public Defenders.  This book is about the "Mr. Bert" I never knew: the young, courageous, tireless lawyer fighting for a principle and justice.  Bringing treats to his client in the Parish Jail, sharing the misery of hopes dashed and encouragement dredged up from despair,  Mr. Bert was a Public Defender Hero.  When I met him, he was a former District Attorney (defeated for re-election by an ADA) and a Public Defender with a classically excessive caseload in the hundreds.

There are other heroes in the work,  and other villains.  The Trial Lawyers rolled over in Willie's case, Justice Frankfurter comes off as torn between his judicious obligations and justice,  the Iberia Sheriff is a rabid racist, and the Press is clearly a major manipulator of the youthful Willie Francis. But "Mr. Bert" of the mid-40's is a young idealist, working to vindicate the concept in the Constitution that bars "Cruel and Unusual Punishment", in a case in which Louisiana wanted to have two shots at killing Willie Francis.  It was one of those cases that surely affected Mr. Bert the rest of his life.

A great summer book from Gilbert King, and great tribute to "Mr. Bert" - who, after all, turns out to be one of the first true Champions of Criminal Justice!

G. Paul Max