Baker Burns: The Wrongful Execution of Ms. Lena Baker

Ms. Lena Baker was the first and only woman executed in Georgia’s electric chair. The execution occurred in 1945 after she was convicted of killing a white man, her employer, Ernest Knight.

Lena Baker was born in 1900 in Cotton Hill, a small farming community five miles southwest of Cuthbert. She did farm work with her family, which consisted of her mom, dad, two sisters, and a brother.

As an adult, Lena and her family relocated to Cuthbert. She tended laundry and cleaned houses to earn a living. The mother of three children never turned down a job.

Sexual Assault in the Gristmill

A local gristmill owner named Ernest Knight hired Ms. Lena to care for him while he recovered from a broken leg. Soon after accepting the job, Knight began locking Ms. Lena in the gristmill for days at a time.

Ernest repeatedly raped Ms. Lena after locking her in the gristmill. Rumors around town painted the story much differently, speculating that Ernest and Lena were romantically involved.

His son even beat Ms. Lena one evening, insisting she leave his father alone. Little did he know what actually happened in Knight's house.

On April 29, 1944, Ms. Lena and Ernest got into an argument. He threatened to beat her with an iron bar. As she ran for her life, Ernest pulled a pistol. Ms. Lena grabbed the weapon, and a struggle ensued. 

At some point, she pulled the trigger during the tussle. Knight was shot and died instantly. Ms. Lena walked to the home of J.A. Cox, the county coroner and a man with whom she had previously worked, and confessed her crime.

Electric Chair Execution

At her trial she said that he had imprisoned and threatened to shoot her should she try to leave.

On August 14, 1944, after a five-day trial, Judge Charles William “Two Gun” Worrill concluded the case with a guilty verdict and death sentence.  She was hauled off to Reidsville State Prison in February 1945.

She was denied clemency and scheduled for execution on March 5, 1945.

When asked if she had any final words, Ms. Lena said clammy from the electric chair: 

”What I done, I did in self-defense, or I would have been killed myself. Where I was I could not overcome it. God has forgiven me. I have nothing against anyone. I picked cotton for Mr. Pritchett, and he has been good to me. I am ready to go. I am one in the number. I am ready to meet my God. I have a very strong conscience.”

Ms. Lena was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. after six minutes of repeated shocks in the electric chair. The Cuthbert newspaper reported her death with the headline, “Baker Burns.”

Ms. Lena was buried in an unmarked grave at the Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church cemetery. She had previously sung in the choir at the church. In 1998, a group of church members purchased a marker for Ms. Baker’s gravesite.

Georgia discontinued the use of the electric chair in 2001.

Georgia Gives Ms. Lena Pardon

In 2003, Ms. Lena’s family member requested a pardon from the state with help from the prison advocacy group Prison and Jail Project. The Parole Board granted her a full, unconditional pardon in 2005.

The board acknowledged that the 1945 decision to deny Lena Baker clemency was “a grievous error” and that she could have been charged with the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter, which would have prevented the sentence of capital punishment.

You can learn more about Ms. Lena’s case in the 2008 film The Lena Baker Story adapted from the book of the same name. You can read the book by clicking here.