Alabama recorded one of the most brutal and botched executions in the history of capital punishment. The death row inmate named John Louis Evans III was executed in an electric chair in 1983. He was convicted of murdering notable pawn broker Edward Nassar in a robbery spree committed in 1977.
Captured inside the Holman Prison’s death chamber, the daring last words of the 33-year-old were that he was ready for his death, even if the Supreme Court decides to go otherwise and pull the plug on it. Little did he know that the process of his execution would shock the whole world, courtesy of a malfunctioning electric chair that would leave him caught up in flames for a solid 14 minutes.
A report by The Mirror reveals that John was strapped to the fatal electric chair named Yellow Mama. The defective device got its name from its peculiar yellow paint. With the first 30-second-long voltage pulse near volts jolting the culprit, one of its straps securing the electrode in his left leg snapped open. It shot off immediately, triggering uncontrollable flames. The overpowering stench of burning flesh was all around the room, forcing witnesses to shrug with horror and prompting some to turn their backs.
There was visible smoke leaking from beneath the hood of the electric chair, which covered his head. The entire chamber was filled with the pungent and unavoidable smell of burnt flesh and clothes, which made it a wholly morbid situation. Surprisingly, despite the high-voltage first shock, the attending doctors found that Evans still had a pulse, which led them to proceed to a second round.
#OnThisDay in 1983 John Louis Evans @executedtoday in Atmore, Alabama. His execution was particularly gruesome, as Alabama used a faulty electric chair, which took multiple tries to finally kill him @aldotcom @MGMAdvertiser @tuscaloosanews @TimesDaily @oanow @abc3340 pic.twitter.com/CPOR2kOyW2
— A History of violence #OnThisDay (@MissingVanished) June 22, 2025
With the convict subjected to a second round of shock, which lasted for half a minute, the nightmare of visuals only increased. This time, smoke was witnessed additionally coming out from his legs as well as from the electrode cap that was fastened to his skull. Horrific enough, small flames were even seen dancing around his neck as John’s body convulsed violently with the voltage shock. His hands, however, were clenched as he appeared to be frozen, even in torment.
The scene that unfolded was so gruesome that it led Evans’ defense lawyer, Russell Cannan, to plead with the others in the room to look away. He later confessed that the punishment was cruel and unusual, which his client was subjected to. As for the execution, Russell branded it as vengeance meted out in the name of justice. After the second round, doctors again found a pulse.
This time, the then-Governor George Wallace refused to interfere with the barbaric execution that was taking place inside the death chamber. While Evans’ defense lawyer pleaded for clemency at this point, the plea was declined, after which Evans was again refastened to the electric chair for a third round of torture. Another 30-second-long round of electric surge was delivered, and it was only then that John Louis Evans finally died. He was pronounced dead at around 8:44 p.m., following 14 minutes of excruciating torture on the dreaded Yellow Mama electric chair.
His execution was later described as an olfactory nauseating experience, especially for the eyewitnesses. A Vocal Media report quoted one such person, named Mark D. Harris, who had a vivid memory of the moment. He mentioned, “The leather straps pulled his shoulders back into an awkward and uncomfortable final position. Eaglelike. That’s how he looked, with a shaved head and a sharp, handsome nose and chin. But Evans’ face was pure calm.”
While the Alabama court of justice proclaimed delivering justice against the crime committed by Evans, his case became a highly scrutinized event that invited public outrage over public execution. Prison staff who witnessed the horrific execution described it as ‘barbaric’, acknowledging the fact that there was never a history of an electric chair malfunction going catastrophically. Public perception of the death penalty became highly debated by then, as critics pointed out that John’s execution was far from a ‘quick and clean death’.
