Louisiana execution recharges debate on death by nitrogen gas
A death row inmate slated to become the first person to be put to death by nitrogen gas in Louisiana is seeking to halt the execution, citing constitutional concerns over the controversial killing method.
Jessie Hoffman is set to be executed March 18, but his attorneys are asking a judge for a preliminary injunction to prevent it due to the secrecy of how the execution will be carried out.
The inmate will present his arguments during a hearing on Friday, during which he is expected to testify.
Hoffman was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1996 rape and murder of 28-year-old Mary 'Molly' Elliot.
Hoffman's lawyers say that he was informed Feb. 20 that he will be killed using nitrogen gas, but state officials have not yet provided a detailed execution protocol, which the lawyers say is necessary to meet his constitutional rights.
'The State wants to roll out this new gas protocol but keep it hidden from the public and even from the man they seek to kill,' Samantha Kennedy, executive director of the Promise of Justice Initiative, who is representing Hoffman, told NewsNation.
'Jessie Hoffman has a right to know how he's going to be killed, and we have a right as his attorneys to be able to determine if it's going to be a constitutional.'
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has defended the state's decision to utilize nitrogen hypoxia, a method used to suffocate a person by denying them oxygen and allowing them to only inhale nitrogen gas.
'On March 18, 2025, the State of Louisiana will execute Hoffman by nitrogen hypoxia for Molly's murder. We have and will continue to vigorously defend the State's obligation to carry out this sentence and bring justice to the family and friends of Molly Elliot,' Murrill said in a statement.
Murrill told Nexstar affiliate WVLA that she hasn't personally spoken to the victim's family.
History of nitrogen gas executions in the US
The country's first execution using nitrogen gas was carried out last year in Alabama, which has now been used to execute four people in the state. If Hoffman's execution doesn't get halted, Louisiana will become the second state to utilize the method on death row inmates.
All of the men executed in Alabama using nitrogen shook or gasped to varying degrees on the gurney as they were being put to death, according to media witnesses, including The Associated Press.
Rev. Jeff Hood, the spiritual advisor for Kenneth Smith, who was the first person to be killed using nitrogen, witnessed his execution and called it 'a slow, painful means of torture.'
Smith's execution was 'the most violent thing that I have ever witnessed or engaged with,' Hood told Catholic news outlet OSV. 'It was absolutely … incredibly disturbing to see a human being suffocated to death.'
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has maintained the method as 'painless and humane.'
After convicted murderer Alan Miller settled a lawsuit against Alabama over the use of nitrogen gas in 2024, Marshall stated, 'The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane.'
Alabama's nitrogen executions prove even more how untested this method is, Kennedy said.
'It's impossible to know if somehow Louisiana Department of Corrections has fixed all the problems that happened in Alabama, where every single time they killed people with gas, it was absolutely a torturous, gruesome, horrific experience,' she said.
'Jessie Hoffman and the public have a right to know what is the process that Louisiana is engaging in, and … if they're upholding everyone's constitutional rights,' Kennedy added.
Which states allow for the use of nitrogen gas in executions?
Currently, four states allow nitrogen gas executions: Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
An Arkansas bill that would allow nitrogen on death row inmates passed the state House on Tuesday and will now advance for a full vote.
Louisiana had paused executions for 15 years due to an inability to secure lethal injection drugs, but with a nitrogen gas execution protocol finalized last month, the state has been eager to proceed.
'For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State's most violent crimes, but that failure of leadership by previous administrations is over,' Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement.
Louisiana scheduled two executions on consecutive days in March, but inmate Christopher Sepulvado, who was scheduled to be executed one day before Hoffman, died on Feb. 23 of an illness.
Hoffman had initially challenged Louisiana's lethal injection protocol in 2012 on the grounds that the method was cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick dismissed the lawsuit in 2022 because the state had no executions planned but reopened the case last month, saying that the scheduled executions were 'extraordinary circumstances' that warranted more scrutiny.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in Dick's ruling while it considers an opposition from Murrill.
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