Latest news with #DepartmentofPublicSafetyandCorrections
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
5 nabbed, 5 to go: Manhunt for escaped New Orleans inmates reaches 6th day
The massive manhunt for five of the 10 inmates who escaped a New Orleans jail stretched into a sixth day on May 21, a day after the fifth inmate was recaptured and a maintenance worker was arrested in connection with the case. Corey Boyd, 19, was taken into custody in New Orleans on May 20, according to Louisiana State Police. He fled the Orleans Justice Center while being held on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, aggravated battery, and threatening a public official. Boyd now faces an additional charge of simple other escapees have also been captured within New Orleans city limits and are now being held at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, according to the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The five who remain at large "are considered to be armed and dangerous,'' Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, who lauded efforts to recapture the escapees. Fifth inmate recaptured after New Orleans jail break; maintenance worker arrested "Great work by @LAStatePolice and all our law enforcement partners on the ground," she said in a social media post after Boyd was in custody. "5 more to go." The hunt continued for Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine Massey. Vanburen, Donald and Groves all are charged with second-degree murder, officials said. The sheriff's office has said the inmates appeared to have used a tool to cut through steel bars behind the toilet and sink fixture. Multiple outlets have reported that they left behind a mocking message on the wall that read: 'To Easy LoL.' Jail employee Sterling Williams, 33, has been charged with multiple counts of being a principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office. Williams told investigators he complied with a demand from one of the inmates to shut off the water to a cell, allowing the escapees to rip out a toilet and sink unit and climb through the hole in the wall that was created, Murrill said in a statement. In the arrest affidavit, Williams said one of the inmates threatened to stab him with a "shank" − a homemade knife − if he didn't follow instructions. Jermaine Donald, 42, was charged with second-degree murder, according to parish records. The governor's office said he also faced charges of aggravated battery and possession of a firearm, according to the governor's office. He pleaded not guilty in April 2024, the Times-Picayune/ reported. Derrick Groves, 27, was convicted of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder in October in connection with a shooting during Mardi Gras in 2018, according to a statement from the district attorney's office. Groves has been awaiting sentencing on a manslaughter charge since October, according to a news release from the governor's office. He also faces a charge of battery against a correctional facility employee, the Associated Press reported, citing court records. Antoine T. Massey, 32, is charged with domestic abuse involving strangulation and theft of a motor vehicle, according to Orleans Parish records. There also is a warrant for his arrest in St. Tammany Parish for second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, domestic abuse involving strangulation and violation of a protective order involving battery stemming from an incident in November, a spokesperson for the parish's sheriff's office told USA TODAY. Leo Tate, 31, was charged with burglary and drug possession, parish records show. The governor's office said Tate also was charged with theft of a motor vehicle and was sentenced in federal court for being a felon in possession of a firearm. reported Tate has also been sentenced to 10 years in prison for obstruction of justice, citing jail records. Lenton Vanburen, 26, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and armed robbery, New Orleans police said. Vanburen also faced charges of possession of suboxone, an opioid often used to treat addiction, and battery of a correctional officer, according to parish records. The daring escape from a long-troubled facility has put some of those closest to the crimes of the fugitives on edge, while other New Orleans residents say they've been going about business as usual. Tess Gonzales, manager of Daisy Mae's Southern Fried Chicken & Breakfast, said there's been some worry inside the bustling diner about the five escaped inmates still out in the streets, but there's also relief now that five have been captured in five days. 'It's both yes and no. There's some concern for our safety because they are dangerous criminals,' Gonzales, 53, told USA TODAY. 'But it's not like we're going to stop living our lives.' Meanwhile, the prosecutors who put at least one of the inmates behind bars are worried. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told reporters two of the lawyers who tried the case against Groves with him have left town with their families "out of fear of retribution and retaliation." "I am personally afraid," Williams admitted. Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Michael Loria and Terry Collins This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunt continues for 5 escaped New Orleans inmates still on the loose
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill revives effort to criminalize non-consensual STD exposure in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A Louisiana lawmaker has introduced a bill that would create new crimes for knowingly and intentionally exposing someone to a sexually transmitted disease without their informed consent. House Bill 76, sponsored by state Rep. Patricia Moore (D-Monroe), would establish two separate offenses: felony intentional exposure for incurable STDs and misdemeanor intentional exposure for curable ones. Under the bill, a person could face felony charges if they knowingly have an incurable STD and intentionally expose someone without that person's knowledge or informed consent through: Sexual intercourse or sodomy. Selling/donating blood, semen, organs, etc. Sharing needles. The proposed bill said the standard penalty includes up to 10 years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine. There would be harsher penalties if: The victim is under 13 and the offender is 17 or older: 25–99 years in prison, with at least 25 years served without parole. The victim is under 18 with an age gap of over two years: 10–25 years, with at least 10 served without parole. The victim is 65 or older: Up to 25 years The offender has an intellectual disability: Up to 15 years' sentence and up to a $10,000 fine Louisiana bill would allow abortion exceptions for minors in sex crime cases Anyone convicted would also be placed on lifetime electronic monitoring. Offenders must cover the cost of their monitoring unless deemed unable to pay, in which case the state may cover the expense. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections would be tasked with setting the payment rules. The bill includes affirmative defenses: If the exposed person knew the offender's status, knew the risks, and gave informed consent. If the offender disclosed their status and took preventative measures advised by a healthcare provider. The bill also creates a misdemeanor offense for knowingly exposing someone to a curable STD without informed consent through the same methods listed above. The penalty would be up to six months in jail and/or up to a $1,000 fine. The bill's current status is pending before the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. Rep. Moore filed similar legislation in 2021 (House Bill 238), which expanded an existing criminal statute that previously applied only to HIV exposure. The earlier bill drew criticism from some public health experts and LGBTQ advocates, according to a report from the Louisiana Illuminator. Opponents argued that the bill could discourage people from getting tested for STDs, since the enforcement hinges on the offender knowing their status. Groups like the HIV Medicine Association and the CDC have warned that criminalization laws can increase stigma, reduce screening, and undermine public health efforts. Moore said at the time that her goal was to address high rates of infection in Louisiana and that she was open to amendments and input from healthcare professionals. Trump store is selling 'Trump 2028' hats BRPD searching for man accused in deadly home invasion Louisiana House passes bill that aims to stop reservation reselling without restaurant consent Bill revives effort to criminalize non-consensual STD exposure in Louisiana Alijah Arenas, son of NBA star Gilbert Arenas and USC commit, in coma after crash Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Louisiana conducts its first nitrogen gas execution, ending 15-year death penalty hiatus
Jessie Hoffman, 46, was executed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of Mary 'Molly' Elliot, 28, in St. Tammany Parish. He's the first person put to death through nitrogen hypoxia, and the first death sentenced carried out in Louisiana in 15 years. (Photo courtesy Hoffman's defense team) Lawyers for Jessie Hoffman confirmed Tuesday evening he was put to death at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, being the first person in the state executed using nitrogen gas. It also marked the first time Louisiana has carried out the death penalty in 15 years, citing its inability to obtain the drugs necessary for lethal injection. With no foreseeable source for that method, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and the GOP-dominated state legislature approved nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative. Alabama is the only other state to have used the technique, having put four condemned men to death since adopting the method in February 2024. 'It went flawless. There was nothing that happened incorrectly,' Gary Westcott, secretary of Louisiana's Department of Public Safety and Corrections, told reporters after Hoffman's execution, according to WAFB-TV. Hoffman, 46, was executed for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of 28-year-old Mary 'Molly' Elliot. She had just gotten married a week before she was killed. Investigators said Hoffman abducted Elliot at a downtown New Orleans parking lot where he was a valet and where she parked daily for her job at an advertising agency. She was taken to rural St. Tammany Parish, where she was assaulted and fatally shot the day before Thanksgiving. A hunter found her nude body the next day at a remote boat launch near the Pearl River. If you commit heinous acts of violence in this State, it will cost you your life. – Gov. Jeff Landry Lawyers for Hoffman, seeking a last-minute reprieve from his death sentence being carried out, argued nitrogen hypoxia amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, prohibited under the 8th Amendment. Hoffman instead sought death by firing squad or lethal injection, acknowledging his responsibility for Elliot's violent death. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick of Louisiana's Middle District Court, temporarily blocked Hoffman's execution date to allow that argument to proceed. Attorney General Liz Murrill challenged that order. Last week, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals removed the injunction from Dick, a federal court appointee of former President Barack Obama. In a 5-4 decision late Tuesday afternoon, the Supreme Court refused to stop Hoffman's execution. Cecelia Koppel, one of Hoffman's attorneys and director of the Center for Social Justice at Loyola University College of Law, issued a statement on Hoffman's death shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday. 'Tonight, the State of Louisiana carried out the senseless execution of Jessie Hoffman,' Koppell said. 'He was a father, a husband, and a man who showed extraordinary capacity for redemption. Jessie no longer bore any resemblance to the 18-year old who killed Molly Elliot.' Koppel had unsuccessfully challenged Louisiana's move to nitrogen hypoxia, arguing the method was an illegal affront to Hoffman's Buddhist faith. Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Donald Trump, joined the court's three liberal jurists and wrote the dissenting opinion, calling out the 5th Circuit's failure to address Hoffman's religious concerns. The expedited nature of Louisiana's nitrogen hypoxia protocols was also a point of contention for Koppel. Although Landry and lawmakers approved the method last year, the governor didn't release the legally required execution protocol until Feb. 10. Those details remained under seal until March 5, giving Hoffman's team less than two weeks to challenge the pending execution. 'The State was able to execute him by pushing out a new protocol and setting execution dates to prevent careful judicial review and shrouding the process in secrecy,' Koppel said. Landry's office also issued a statement from him after Hoffman's execution. It stressed how Elliot's 'family and friends have been forced to relive the tragedy through countless legal proceedings.' 'In Louisiana, we will always prioritize victims over criminals, law and order over lawlessness, and justice over the status quo,' Landry said. 'If you commit heinous acts of violence in this State, it will cost you your life. Plain and simple.' Read the governor's full statement below. State corrections officials allowed only two journalists to witness the execution. According to The Advocate, Hoffman was fastened to a gurney and inhaled nitrogen gas for 19 minutes. State officials said he displayed 'convulsive activity' as he died, and he was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. Hoffman declined to make a final statement before his death and refused a last meal, according to the report. Ilona Hoffman, the executed man's wife, issued a statement that said he 'was not defined by his worst moment' and that the 'system' had failed him as a child. 'This execution was not justice. It was revenge,' Ilona Hoffman said. 'True justice recognizes growth, humanity, and redemption. Louisiana chose to ignore that.' The Promise of Justice Initiative, which opposes the death penalty, was among the groups in Hoffman's corner. Its senior staff attorney, Samantha Pourciau, took critical aim at the Landry administration in a statement after his death. 'Governor Landry's yearslong pursuit of this execution concluded with more pain and more trauma. Tonight, while many in our state cannot afford groceries, the state used countless resources to kill one man,' Pourciau said in part. 'The governor cannot cloak this in fighting for victims, because today we learned that this is not, in fact, what this family wants. This is what the governor wants. This has been in service of no one, but the bloodlust of our state government.' There are 55 more people on death row in Louisiana, and Murrill has said the state intends to execute four people this year. The full statement from Gov. Jeff Landry on Jessie Hoffman's execution: 'It is unfortunate that bad people exist, and they do real bad things. When these acts of violence happen, society must not tolerate it. God is as Just as he is Merciful; and my hope is that when Louisiana empties death row, there will never be another victim whose perpetrator must be placed there. In Louisiana, we will always prioritize victims over criminals, law and order over lawlessness, and justice over the status quo. If you commit heinous acts of violence in this State, it will cost you your life. Plain and simple.'
NBC News
11-03-2025
- NBC News
Louisiana's first nitrogen gas execution blocked by federal judge
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked Louisiana's first execution in 15 years after lawyers for the condemned man argued a new method known as nitrogen hypoxia would violate his constitutional rights. The inmate, Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, said the use of a face mask to deliver only nitrogen gas, depriving him of oxygen, "substantially burdens" his ability to engage in his Buddhist breathing practices and create "superadded pain and suffering." Hoffman's execution, scheduled for March 18, was set to be the first time Louisiana would put a person to death using nitrogen hypoxia. Louisiana Middle District Chief Judge Shelly Dick ruled in partial favor of Hoffman in his request, writing that it is in the "best interests of the public" to be able to examine the state's "newly proposed method of execution on a fully developed record." She said she was particularly troubled that the state only released a redacted protocol to the public until the day before the preliminary injunction hearing on Friday. "The public has paramount interest in a legal process that enables thoughtful and well-informed deliberations, particularly when the ultimate fundamental right, the right to life, is placed in the government's hands," she wrote. She said Hoffman cannot be executed until his claims are "decided after a trial on the merits and a final judgment is issued." Neither the office of state Attorney General Liz Murrill nor the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections immediately responded to a request for comment, but state officials immediately appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Hoffman's planned execution was set for a particularly busy one-week span of executions in America, with five states, including Louisiana, expected to carry out punishment. In 1996, Hoffman was 18 when prosecutors say he abducted his victim, Mary Elliott, at gunpoint from a New Orleans parking garage on the night before Thanksgiving Day, forced her to withdraw $200 from an ATM, then raped and shot her to death. State corrections Secretary Gary Westcott selected nitrogen hypoxia as Hoffman's method of execution. Last year, the state legalized the use of nitrogen gas in addition to the more widely used method of lethal injection, but officials have had trouble procuring the necessary lethal injection drugs since its last execution in 2010. There are more than 50 people on Louisiana's death row. Another state, Alabama, has had similar trouble sourcing lethal injection drugs, and last year, became the first state to administer nitrogen hypoxia. It has executed four prisoners using the method, including one last month. Louisiana corrections officials said they traveled to Alabama to study how its nitrogen system functions. Louisiana subsequently built a nitrogen hypoxia facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola consisting of an execution chamber, a valve and storage room, and an observation area. The state said in a court filing Sunday that "breathing in the mask is 'very comfortabl[e],'" and "the mask is very similar, if not identical, to the one used in Alabama's system." During a hearing last week seeking a preliminary injunction, Hoffman testified that he began practicing Buddhism in 2002 after the death of his grandmother. He said he believed having a mask on his face would only exacerbate his trauma and claustrophobia stemming from being locked in a closet by his brother as a young child. He said his breathing recently helped him to remain calm when he was moved to a smaller cell in anticipation of his execution, and the surroundings "triggered anxiety of small spaces." Dr. Philip Bickler, the chief of neuro-anesthesia at the University of California, San Francisco, testified that the sensation nitrogen hypoxia provides is "very similar to drowning." "I think for someone like Mr. Hoffman, nitrogen asphyxiation would be a particularly horrible method, a really inhumane choice for an individual who has a history of PTSD," Bickler said. The state's own experts rejected the idea that death by nitrogen hypoxia would adhere Hoffman to unconstitutional pain and that the "only material dispute" is how long it may take for him to become unconscious as he begins to breathe in nitrogen. At the hearing, the state also cross-examined a Zen Buddhist priest testifying for Hoffman, and noted that while she "maintained that air is important to the practice, she was unable to identify any doctrine within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that required oxygen in particular." Critics of nitrogen hypoxia have included the Louisiana group Jews Against Gassing, whose members have said the method "echoes" the Holocaust. Medical experts have also warned that if the procedure is not done properly, even a small amount of oxygen getting into the mask could lead to slow asphyxiation and prolong the time it would take to die. In previous nitrogen hypoxia executions, media witnesses have described inmates appearing to remain conscious longer than expected, and thrashing and shaking on the gurney. Last month, Gov. Jeff Landry said Louisiana would remain undeterred. "We will carry out these sentences and justice will be dispensed," he said. In opposing nitrogen hypoxia, Hoffman's lawyers offered other methods they believed would reduce his "risk of harm," including firing squad. The option is not currently legal in Louisiana. Last week, South Carolina executed its first inmate by firing squad after the prisoner, Brad Sigmon, chose not to die by alternative methods lethal injection or electrocution.
CNN
24-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
81-year-old death row inmate dies weeks before his scheduled execution
An 81-year-old Louisiana death row inmate died Saturday, several weeks before he was scheduled to be put to death for his young stepson's murder in what would have been one of the state's first two executions in 15 years as it shifts posture on capital punishment. The inmate, Christopher Sepulvado, had long been unwell, attorneys said: He was confined to a wheelchair and suffered from a variety of chronic conditions and illnesses, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an occluded – or blocked – artery to his brain and gangrene that led to sepsis in his leg. Days before his execution warrant was signed, doctors had recommended Sepulvado enter hospice care, his attorneys said. He was hospitalized last week in New Orleans, they said, and returned Friday to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. 'Christopher Sepulvado's death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana,' his attorney Shawn Nolan said Sunday in a statement, describing the prospect of the state executing 'this tiny, frail, dying old man' as 'simply barbaric.' The state Department of Public Safety and Corrections confirmed Sepulvado's death in a statement, noting, 'He died from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions.' Sepulvado's death comes as Louisiana moves to resume executions after more than a decade. To that end, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry two weeks ago announced the state had finalized a new execution protocol that includes nitrogen hypoxia, a new execution method it adopted last year. The method – which in Louisiana involves forcing an inmate to breathe 'pure' nitrogen gas through a mask, depriving him of the oxygen needed to live – has so far been used only in Alabama; it also is legal in Oklahoma and Mississippi. Lethal injection is the primary method of execution in the 27 US states with the death penalty. Louisiana officials have not said whether they intend to use nitrogen gas or lethal injection when they restart executions next month. Within days of the governor's announcement of the new protocol, warrants were signed scheduling the executions of Sepulvado and another inmate, Jessie Hoffman, for March 17 and 18, respectively. Landry cast the protocol as a step toward securing justice for the death row inmates' victims, saying the state had 'failed to uphold the promises made' to them. No executions have been carried out in Louisiana since 2010 due to the state's struggles to get the drugs necessary for lethal injection and scant political will (Landry's predecessor, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, was opposed to the death penalty). 'The time for broken promises has ended; we will carry out these sentences and justice will be dispensed,' Landry said in his statement. Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill echoed that sentiment in commenting on Sepulvado's death: 'Justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless six year old boy.' 'The State failed to deliver it in his lifetime,' Murrill said Sunday in a post on X, 'but Christopher Sepulvado now faces ultimate judgment before God in the hereafter.' Sepulvado was sentenced to death in 1993 for the killing of 6-year-old Wesley 'Allen' Mercer, his stepson. The boy had come home in March 1992 having had a bathroom accident at school, according to the inmate's 2023 clemency petition. Sepulvado and his wife refused to let the child change his clothes – or eat – for two more days. Sepulvado finally told the boy to take a bath, but when he hesitated, Sepulvado struck Allen with a screwdriver handle until he was unconscious. Allen was then put in a bathtub of scalding water, the petition says. By the time Sepulvado and his wife took the boy to the hospital, he had already died as a result of burns, the petition says. Sepulvado's attorneys had argued executing him served no purpose. Aside from the fact he was already dying, they pointed to his efforts to redeem himself on death row. They described Sepulvado as a remorseful model inmate known for helping others and committed to his Christian faith, which was the catalyst for his rehabilitation, the 2023 petition says. He often led other inmates in prayer and served as a praise and worship leader, and he studied the Bible in correspondence courses, it says. To his attorneys, this was evidence Sepulvado deserved mercy, particularly when considered alongside his myriad health issues. 'Such pointless cruelty in scheduling his execution in the face of all this overlooked the hard work Chris did over his decades in prison to confront the harm he had caused,' Nolan said Sunday, 'to become a better person, and to devote himself to serving God and helping others.'
