Student’s Killer Dies in Electric Chair; 2nd Execution in Louisiana in Week
Willie Watson Jr., 31, convicted of the 1981 sex killing of a Tulane University medical student, was executed early Friday after a two-hour reprieve, becoming the second person this week to die in Louisiana’s electric chair.
The execution at Louisiana State Penitentiary followed a 4-4 vote by the Supreme Court rejecting a last-ditch appeal. The execution was the sixth in the state this year and the 85th in the nation since capital punishment was restored in 1976.
Watson had received the two-hour reprieve when Gov. Edwin W. Edwards agreed to meet with defense lawyers who asked that his death sentence be reconsidered.
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