Latest news with #JessieHoffmanJr
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Death row inmate in Louisiana becomes fifth person in US to be executed using nitrogen gas
An inmate in Louisiana has been executed using nitrogen gas - becoming only the fifth person in the US to die through this method. Jessie Hoffman Jr was the first convict to be put to death in Louisiana for 15 years - and the Supreme Court had rejected a last-ditch attempt to block the execution. The 46-year-old had been found guilty of killing Mary "Molly" Elliott in New Orleans when he was 18. Hoffman's lawyers tried to argue that this method was unconstitutional because it was cruel and unusual - but state officials insist it is painless. Inmates executed using nitrogen gas in the past have appeared to shake or gasp to varying degrees - involuntary movements associated with oxygen deprivation. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Louisiana uses nitrogen gas for first time in death row execution
Louisiana has carried out its first execution using nitrogen gas, an experimental method for judicial killings that has only been used by one other death-penalty state. Jessie Hoffman Jr, 46, was executed at the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola shortly after 7pm local time on Tuesday evening. He had been convicted of the 1996 rape and murder in New Orleans of Mary Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. Last-minute appeals for a reprieve failed when the US supreme court declined to take Hoffman's petition. The court had similarly refused to intervene in the earlier nitrogen executions carried out by Alabama. Five of the six rightwing supreme court justices voted to allow the execution to proceed, with the three liberal-leaning justices saying they would have halted it. The sixth conservative, Neil Gorsuch, said he would have stayed the killing to give time to consider Hoffman's religious objections. Hoffman's death marks the resumption of capital punishment in Louisiana. The state last carried out an execution 15 years ago. It also marks the spread of the controversial technique of nitrogen gas as a killing method. Hoffman's lawyers had argued that the procedure, which involves piping pure nitrogen through a gas mask to induce fatal oxygen deprivation, would violate the prisoner's constitutional rights by inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. The four previous executions carried out using nitrogen in Alabama led to distressing scenes in the death chamber. Eyewitnesses reported that Kenneth Smith shook violently, and writhed and convulsed on the gurney. Hoffman's lawyers also argued that death by nitrogen hypoxia – forcing the condemned man to breathe only nitrogen – would interfere with his religious practices as a Buddhist. They said that meditative breathing at the time of death was integral to the religion. Louisiana also faces questions about how it got hold of the nitrogen used in Hoffman's execution. Last year, the Guardian revealed that three of the biggest manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen in the US had put a block on their products being used in executions. Airgas, Air Products and Matheson Gas all took steps to prevent their nitrogen from reaching departments of correction in death-penalty states. Yet photographs put into the public record in ongoing litigation in Louisiana show that the corrections department obtained canisters of nitrogen gas produced by Airgas, in apparent contravention of the company's strict rules. In a statement to the Guardian, Airgas said that it had been in direct contact with the department of corrections to affirm its position. 'Airgas has not and will not supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution,' the company said. 'We have not supplied medical grade NF nitrogen and the facility does not have any such cylinders owned by Airgas, according to our records.' The statement added: 'The department of corrections in Louisiana has acknowledged our letter prohibiting the use of any nitrogen for execution purposes.' Before the execution went ahead, the sister-in-law of Hoffman's victim called for him to be pardoned. 'Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite,' Kate Murphy wrote. Earlier on Tuesday Arkansas became the fifth state to adopt nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, after Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Arkansas currently has 25 people on its death row.
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Louisiana uses nitrogen gas for first time in death row execution
Louisiana has carried out its first execution using nitrogen gas, an experimental method for judicial killings that has only been used by one other death-penalty state. Jessie Hoffman Jr, 46, was executed at the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola shortly after 7pm local time on Tuesday evening. He had been convicted of the 1996 rape and murder in New Orleans of Mary Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. Last-minute appeals for a reprieve failed when the US supreme court declined to take Hoffman's petition. The court had similarly refused to intervene in the earlier nitrogen executions carried out by Alabama. Five of the six rightwing supreme court justices voted to allow the execution to proceed, with the three liberal-leaning justices saying they would have halted it. The sixth conservative, Neil Gorsuch, said he would have stayed the killing to give time to consider Hoffman's religious objections. Hoffman's death marks the resumption of capital punishment in Louisiana. The state last carried out an execution 15 years ago. It also marks the spread of the controversial technique of nitrogen gas as a killing method. Hoffman's lawyers had argued that the procedure, which involves piping pure nitrogen through a gas mask to induce fatal oxygen deprivation, would violate the prisoner's constitutional rights by inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. The four previous executions carried out using nitrogen in Alabama led to distressing scenes in the death chamber. Eyewitnesses reported that Kenneth Smith shook violently, and writhed and convulsed on the gurney. Hoffman's lawyers also argued that death by nitrogen hypoxia – forcing the condemned man to breathe only nitrogen – would interfere with his religious practices as a Buddhist. They said that meditative breathing at the time of death was integral to the religion. Louisiana also faces questions about how it got hold of the nitrogen used in Hoffman's execution. Last year, the Guardian revealed that three of the biggest manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen in the US had put a block on their products being used in executions. Airgas, Air Products and Matheson Gas all took steps to prevent their nitrogen from reaching departments of correction in death-penalty states. Yet photographs put into the public record in ongoing litigation in Louisiana show that the corrections department obtained canisters of nitrogen gas produced by Airgas, in apparent contravention of the company's strict rules. In a statement to the Guardian, Airgas said that it had been in direct contact with the department of corrections to affirm its position. 'Airgas has not and will not supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution,' the company said. 'We have not supplied medical grade NF nitrogen and the facility does not have any such cylinders owned by Airgas, according to our records.' The statement added: 'The department of corrections in Louisiana has acknowledged our letter prohibiting the use of any nitrogen for execution purposes.' Before the execution went ahead, the sister-in-law of Hoffman's victim called for him to be pardoned. 'Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite,' Kate Murphy wrote. Earlier on Tuesday Arkansas became the fifth state to adopt nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, after Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Arkansas currently has 25 people on its death row.
The Guardian
08-03-2025
- The Guardian
Louisiana death row inmate challenges nitrogen gas as execution method
A man scheduled to become the first person executed by nitrogen gas in Louisiana is challenging the method in court, arguing it violates his religious beliefs. A federal judge will decide whether executing Jessie Hoffman Jr by nitrogen hypoxia violates his constitutional right to practice his religion, which includes Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises that would be impeded by the gas during the capital punishment. Hoffman's attorneys argued against the nitrogen gas method, an execution that causes death by forcing a person to breathe pure nitrogen, in a Baton Rouge federal court on Friday. A decision by the US district judge Shelly Dick could could come by the end of the weekend. Hoffman has proposed using a drug mixture similar to those used in assisted suicides, but state attorneys have said those drugs are unavailable for executions. His attorneys have also argued that the method, which requires an industrial, full-face mask, would worsen Hoffman's diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia, and cause severe mental distress. The move comes amid an intense debate about the role of the death penalty in the US and methods of execution. On Friday, South Carolina used a firing squad to kill a death row prisoner after the condemned man elected that method over the use of drugs. Hoffman is scheduled for execution on 18 March at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Louisiana adopted its nitrogen hypoxia execution plan just last month, and Hoffman would be the first to die under the new protocol. Hoffman was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a New Orleans advertising account executive, Mary 'Molly' Elliot, in 1996. Her body was found in a wilderness area near the Pearl River in eastern St Tammany parish. Elliot was 28 years old. The Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, has defended the state's decision to use nitrogen hypoxia. '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. Louisiana scheduled two executions on consecutive days in March, but Christopher Sepulvado, who was set to be executed one day before Hoffman, died of an illness on 23 February. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Hoffman had previously challenged Louisiana's lethal injection protocol in 2012, arguing that the method constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Dick dismissed that lawsuit in 2022 because no executions had been scheduled at the time. The judge reopened the case last month, and said the state's recently scheduled executions presented 'extraordinary circumstances' that required further review. Louisiana's last execution happened 15 years ago, when the state used lethal injection to execute Gerald Bordelon.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Yahoo
Louisiana death row inmate challenges nitrogen gas as execution method
A man scheduled to become the first person executed by nitrogen gas in Louisiana is challenging the method in court, arguing it violates his religious beliefs. A federal judge will decide whether executing Jessie Hoffman Jr by nitrogen hypoxia violates his constitutional right to practice his religion, which includes Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises that would be impeded by the gas during the capital punishment. Hoffman's attorneys argued against the nitrogen gas method, an execution that causes death by forcing a person to breathe pure nitrogen, in a Baton Rouge federal court on Friday. A decision by the US district judge Shelly Dick could could come by the end of the weekend. Hoffman has proposed using a drug mixture similar to those used in assisted suicides, but state attorneys have said those drugs are unavailable for executions. His attorneys have also argued that the method, which requires an industrial, full-face mask, would worsen Hoffman's diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia, and cause severe mental distress. The move comes amid an intense debate about the role of the death penalty in the US and methods of execution. On Friday, South Carolina used a firing squad to kill a death row prisoner after the condemned man elected that method over the use of drugs. Hoffman is scheduled for execution on 18 March at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Louisiana adopted its nitrogen hypoxia execution plan just last month, and Hoffman would be the first to die under the new protocol. Hoffman was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a New Orleans advertising account executive, Mary 'Molly' Elliot, in 1996. Her body was found in a wilderness area near the Pearl River in eastern St Tammany parish. Elliot was 28 years old. The Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, has defended the state's decision to use nitrogen hypoxia. '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. Louisiana scheduled two executions on consecutive days in March, but Christopher Sepulvado, who was set to be executed one day before Hoffman, died of an illness on 23 February. Hoffman had previously challenged Louisiana's lethal injection protocol in 2012, arguing that the method constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Dick dismissed that lawsuit in 2022 because no executions had been scheduled at the time. The judge reopened the case last month, and said the state's recently scheduled executions presented 'extraordinary circumstances' that required further review. Louisiana's last execution happened 15 years ago, when the state used lethal injection to execute Gerald Bordelon.
