The mercy seat

A complex portrait of a small town in Louisiana in 1943, as seen in the twelve hours before a black teenager's execution for the alleged rape of a white woman. 1943: Eighteen year old Willie Jones sits in his cell in New Iberia awaiting his execution for the alleged rape of a white woman. Across the state, a truck driven by a convict and his keeper carries the traveling executioner's chair closer. On a nearby highway, Willie's father Frank lugs a...