Louisiana carried out its first execution in 15 years on Tuesday evening, using nitrogen gas to put 46-year-old Jessie Hoffman Jr. to death at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The execution was described as “flawless,” with the nitrogen gas flowing for 19 minutes. This marked the fifth time nitrogen gas was used in the U.S., following previous executions in Alabama.
Hoffman had been convicted of the murder of Mary “Molly” Elliott, an advertising executive, when he was 18 years old. Despite last-minute efforts by his attorneys to halt the execution, including appeals to the Supreme Court, the process went ahead as planned. Hoffman’s lawyers argued that the nitrogen gas method violated the Eighth Amendment and impinged on his religious rights, particularly his Buddhist practices, but Louisiana officials maintained that the procedure was painless.
The execution, which involved Hoffman being strapped to a gurney and breathing in pure nitrogen gas, was carried out in a manner similar to Alabama’s protocol. Witnesses reported varying degrees of shaking and gasping during previous nitrogen executions, which officials attributed to involuntary movements due to oxygen deprivation.
The Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case, and a local judge also denied a request to stop the execution. Louisiana officials emphasized the importance of delivering justice to victims’ families and stated that it was time to resume executions after facing challenges in obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Overall, nitrogen hypoxia is authorized for execution in several states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and now Arkansas.
In a move to resume executions, Louisiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature expanded the state’s approved methods of the death penalty last year to include nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution, in addition to the existing lethal injection process. On Tuesday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill allowing executions via nitrogen gas, making Arkansas the fifth state to adopt this method. With 25 individuals currently on death row in Arkansas, the new legislation could have significant implications.
Nationwide, the number of executions has sharply declined in recent decades due to legal challenges, a shortage of lethal injection drugs, and decreasing public support for capital punishment. This trend has prompted a majority of states to either abolish or temporarily halt the death penalty.
On Tuesday afternoon, a small group of anti-execution activists gathered outside the rural southeast Louisiana prison in Angola, where the state’s executions take place. Some distributed prayer cards featuring a smiling Hoffman and organized a Buddhist reading and “Meditation for Peace.” Attorney General Liz Murrill anticipates at least four executions in Louisiana this year. Prior to Hoffman’s execution, she stated that “justice will finally be served” through his death penalty sentence.
