Louisiana judge gives ruling on execution procedures for death row inmates
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A federal judge in the Middle District Court of Louisiana granted a motion to expedite consideration and reopening of the case.
According to court documents, a 2012 lawsuit, filed by Jessie Hoffman, accused the lethal injection death punishment as cruel and unusual and violated his Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Other death row inmates joined the suit.
By 2022, the Court dismissed the case as Louisiana couldn't get the injection drugs. In 2024, the Louisiana Legislature passed a new law allowing execution by nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution.
After the law was passed, plaintiffs argued a new controversy. Two death warrants are approaching for Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado.
Sepulvado is scheduled to be executed on March 17, 2025, and Hoffman on March 18.
'This case has always been about Louisiana's execution protocol,' wrote U.S. Judge Shelly Dick. 'It is still about Louisiana's execution protocol. And now that the protocol appears viable, there is an actionable case and controversy.'
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said death row cases have been reviewed at every level and expects district attorneys to finalize cases.
'These capital punishment cases have been reviewed at every judicial level, have had decades of unsuccessful appeals, and the death sentences affirmed by the courts,' Landry said. 'I expect our DAs to finalize these cases and the courts to move swiftly to bring justice to the crime victims who have waited for too long.'
'In Louisiana, we have the death penalty and we intend to use it,' said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. 'These are the worst of the worst. The families of these victims have waited long enough for justice, and Louisiana will put them first.'
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