Latest news with #LouisianaDepartmentofPublicSafetyandCorrections
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Louisiana inmates renew push for heat protections at Angola prison, call conditions ‘modern-day slavery'
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Attorneys representing Angola inmates assigned to prison farm work are once again asking a federal judge to order heat protections before the upcoming summer. The plaintiffs initially requested an emergency order from the federal court in May 2024 to halt outdoor work on the Farm Line during extreme summer heat. Arguments were heard in June, and by early July, the court granted an order requiring the state to change the Farm Line program when temperatures reach or exceed 88 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the plaintiffs, that order has now expired. 'With that injunction now expired, and another heat season fast approaching, Defendants' deliberate indifference to the dangers of working the Farm Line in extreme heat threatens the lives and safety of Plaintiffs and all those similarly situated,' attorneys for the plaintiffs stated. They argue that leaders of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections and Angola have shown 'deliberate indifference to the dangers' of forcing inmates to work in extreme temperatures. 'Nearly a full year after the courts ordered the State to change its practices to ensure the health and safety of incarcerated workers, the State's response to the judge's orders has decreased protections. The State of Louisiana continues to exploit people under its care without regard to their mental or physical health or safety,' said Samantha Pourciau, senior staff attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative. A lawsuit filed in September 2023 claims the Farm Line violates inmates' Eighth Amendment right to protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The plaintiffs describe the farm work as 'humiliating and degrading' as well as 'arbitrary and traumatic,' particularly during the intense heat of Louisiana's summers. Advocates said the trial start date was postponed indefinitely by a judge. The lawsuit argues that the extreme heat in prisons can be considered cruel and unusual punishment. In a similar case, a federal judge in Texas recently ruled that extreme heat in its prisons is 'plainly unconstitutional' but stopped short of ordering air conditioners to be installed. In response to the lawsuit, the state argues that attempts to halt Farm Line work are too far-reaching and exceed constitutional requirements. The state contends that the agricultural industry's standards do not align with what the plaintiffs are seeking and claims that some allegations made in the lawsuit are inaccurate. State policies purportedly designed to protect workers include: Reassessing temperatures every two hours. Issuing heat alerts when temperatures exceed 88 degrees. Providing breaks for rest and water every 30 minutes during a heat alert. According to the state, stopping Farm Line operations during high heat would have severe financial repercussions, as the farm harvests food for the inmates to eat. Attorneys for the plaintiffs, however, argue that these policies are inadequate and fail to address the severe health risks associated with extreme heat. They describe the work assignment, active since 1893, as 'modern-day slavery,' pointing to the fact that some inmates are paid as little as two cents per hour for their labor. The plaintiffs also argue that individuals convicted by non-unanimous juries should not be forced into Farm Line work, as it violates their 13th Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson previously ruled in June 2024 that while some claims remain viable, asking the court to determine the validity of those sentences while also arguing they were not duly convicted by a unanimous jury is a 'paradoxical conclusion.' According to previous rulings, Judge Jackson acknowledged the state's policies aimed at protecting inmates from heat-related health concerns but noted that those policies were often 'irrational' and insufficient. A new motion filed this week seeks an order that would reinstate heat protections as the next hot season approaches. The Hill, Louisiana First News's news partner, contributed to this report. See where Louisiana ranks in US states with longest prison sentences Video: Louisiana deputies and homeowner capture 9-foot alligator on porch Officials testify about DC plane crash Louisiana inmates renew push for heat protections at Angola prison, call conditions 'modern-day slavery' 21st Judicial District voters to elect new juvenile court judge March 29 Here are the international students and faculty known to be targeted by ICE Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Louisiana carries out state's first nitrogen hypoxia execution
March 19 (UPI) -- Louisiana has carried out its first nitrogen hypoxia execution and its first execution in 15 years, killing Jessie Hoffman Jr. on Tuesday night for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 28-year-old woman. Hoffman was executed at the West Feliciana Parish Coroner's Office and was pronounced dead at about 6:50 p.m. CDT, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections told UPI in an emailed statement. He was convicted in 1997 for killing Mary Margaret "Molly" Elliot in St. Tammany Parish, La., in November of the previous year. LDPSC Secretary Gary Westcott told reporters in a press conference that followed the execution that Hoffman declined a final meal and a last statement. Hoffman was visited throughout the day by his family, spiritual advisor and attorney, Westcott said. At 6:12 p.m., Hoffman was escorted to the execution chamber, positioned on the gurney and had the mask set in place over his face. Westcott said the nitrogen flowed for 19 minutes, starting a 6:21 p.m. "Tonight, justice was served for Molly Elliot and for the State of Louisiana," Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill said during the press conference while holding up an enlarged wedding photo of Hoffman's victim. Elliot's naked body was found by a duck hunter on a dock by the Middle Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish on Nov. 28, 1996, which was Thanksgiving Day. During the trial, evidence showed that Hoffman had kidnapped Elliot at gunpoint in her own car from a parking garage near where he worked, according to court documents. He forced her to drive to an ATM to withdraw money. Elliot then, under gunpoint, drove to a remote area of St. Tammany Parish, where he raped her. The court documents state she was still naked when Hoffman marched her down a dirt path to the makeshift dock where she was forced to kneel and then shot in the head. She likely survived for a few minutes before succumbing to her injuries in the cold November night, the documents state. Hoffman's death comes as the state has sought to resume executions. Last year, the Louisiana Congress passed legislation to include the use of nitrogen hypoxia to conduct death sentences. On Feb. 10, Gov. Jeff Landry said the state had finalized and implemented its updated protocol for the highly controversial method of nitrogen hypoxia, which deprives the brain of oxygen by forcing inmates to breathe nitrogen. Hoffman is the first person in Louisiana to be executed in this manner. Only four other death row inmates in the United States -- all in Alabama -- have been executed with this method since it was used to kill Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama in January 2024. Another inmate, Christopher Sepulvado, 81, was supposed to be Louisiana's first nitrogen hypoxia execution, which was scheduled for Monday, but he died on death row late last month. Hoffman's execution is also the first in Louisiana since Gerald Bordelon, 47, was executed on Jan. 7, 2010. During the Tuesday night press conference, Murrill said she and Landry made a promise to the people of Louisiana and the families of murder victims that they would "put them first and that we would follow the law." "Justice has been delayed for these victims and their families for far too long, she said. "I, along with my office, remain committed to ensuring that justice is carried out in all the death penalty cases. "Jessie Hoffman was convicted and sentenced to death by a jury for his heinous crimes. He received multiple appeals, he received even more appeals and review in the last several days. Now he faces his ultimate judgment before God." On Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation making her state the fifth to approve the use of nitrogen gas to perform executions. Hoffman is the seventh person to be executed in the United States this year, and the second by nitrogen hypoxia. Earlier this month, Brad Keith Sigmon was executed in South Carolina by firing squad, the first time that method has been used to carry out a death sentence in the United States in 15 years.
USA Today
19-03-2025
- USA Today
Louisiana executes inmate with nitrogen gas method after narrow Supreme Court decision
Louisiana executes inmate with nitrogen gas method after narrow Supreme Court decision Show Caption Hide Caption Firing squad executes Brad Keith Sigmon in South Carolina A firing squad in South Carolina executed Brad Keith Sigmon for the beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents in 2001. Death row inmate Jessie Hoffman was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of 28-year-old Molly Elliott in 1996. He had kidnapped her in New Orleans after she got off work. Hoffman has been arguing that he shouldn't be executed by nitrogen gas because it violates his religious freedoms. Molly Elliott's husband told USA TODAY that he was in favor of Hoffman's execution if it wasn't going to be further delayed but said it wouldn't bring closure. Louisiana on Tuesday executed a death row inmate using nitrogen gas for the first time in state history and only the fifth time in U.S. history. Death row inmate Jessie Hoffman's execution is the first in Louisiana in 15 years after the state struggled to obtain drugs for lethal injections. Hoffman was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. after a "flawless" execution, according to Gary Westcott, secretary of the the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Hoffman, who was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of 28-year-old Molly Elliott in 1996, had been arguing that he shouldn't be executed by nitrogen gas, a controversial and largely untried method, partly because it he said it violated his religious freedom by preventing him from practicing his Buddhist meditative breathing. Last week, a federal judge temporarily halted Hoffman's execution, citing possible "pain and torture" in violation of his constitutional rights. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling on Friday. Hoffman's attorneys appealed and on Tuesday shortly before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop it in a narrow decision. Until Tuesday, only one state, Alabama, had used nitrogen gas to put inmates to death. The state made history last year with its first such execution, and has conducted three others using nitrogen gas since. "Tonight, justice was served for Molly Elliot and for the state of Louisiana," Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a news conference after Hoffman's execution. "Now he faces his ultimate judgment. Judgment before God." Hoffman's attorney, Cecelia Kappel, said in a statement that the execution was "senseless" and that "we are better than this." "He was a father, a husband, and a man who showed extraordinary capacity for redemption," Kappel said. "Jessie no longer bore any resemblance to the 18-year old who killed Molly Elliott." Here's what to know about Hoffman's execution, including more about the close Supreme Court decision and how Elliott's family feels about the execution 29 years after losing the bright young woman. Witnesses describe execution Hoffman declined a last meal and did not say any last words before the nitrogen gas began to flow at about 6:21 p.m., according to execution witnesses who spoke at a news conference. The gas flowed for about 19 minutes, five minutes after state officials say he flatlined. Hoffman was strapped to a gurney, and all but his head and forearms were covered by a thick blanket, they said. "He did move. He did shake very briefly," said Seth Smith, chief of operations for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. "Around 6:23 he did have some convulsive activity ... After that, I personally didn't see nothing that I would say is consistent with pain. He, in essence, was clinically dead very quickly." One of two media witnesses, Gina Swanson with WDSU-TV, said that she saw Hoffman twitch, clench his fists and his body jerk but said that "it was a clinical thing." "There was nothing really off-putting that made me feel like, 'Well, that didn't go right,'" she said. What did Jessie Hoffman do? Molly Elliott left work at her advertising firm in the French Quarter of New Orleans around 5 p.m. on Nov. 27, 1996, and walked to the Sheraton hotel garage where she parked her car. She was supposed to meet her husband at his office at 6 p.m. so they could go out to dinner together, police told reporters at the time. Hoffman, who was just 18 years old and had worked at the garage for about two weeks, kidnapped her at gunpoint and forced her to withdraw about $200 from an ATM, prosecutors said. Even if Hoffman had let her go at that point, prosecutors said it would have been "the most horrific night of her life." "The ATM video tape shows the terror on Ms. Elliott's face as she withdrew money from her account, and Hoffman can be seen standing next to his victim," prosecutors said in court records. After getting the cash, Hoffman forced Elliott to drive to a remote area of St. Tammany Parish as she begged him not to hurt her, prosecutors said, citing Hoffman's eventual confession to the crime. Hoffman then raped Elliott and forced her to get out of the car and walk down a dirt path in an area used as a dump, prosecutors said. "Her death march ultimately ended at a small, makeshift dock at the end of this path, where she was forced to kneel and shot in the head, execution style," they said. "Ms. Elliott likely survived for a few minutes after being shot, but she was left on the dock, completely nude on a cold November evening, to die." Her husband identified her body after it was found on Thanksgiving Day, prosecutors said. Hoffman's attorney, Cecelia Kappel, told USA TODAY that he acknowledged the crime and was deeply remorseful. More about the nitrogen gas method, court decisions Last week, Chief District Judge Shelly Dick temporarily blocked Hoffman's execution, saying that it could cause him "pain and terror" and that he showed a "substantial likelihood' of proving that nitrogen gas executions violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Dick cited accounts from all four of the Alabama executions that "describe suffering, including conscious terror for several minutes, shaking, gasping, and other evidence of distress." The witnesses observed the inmates' bodies "writhing" under their restraints, "vigorous convulsing and shaking for four minutes," heaving, spitting, and a "conscious struggling for life." Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has defended the method as 'constitutional and effective," and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has argued in court records that witness accounts from members of the news media are unreliable. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Dick's ruling on Friday. The matter headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed the execution to move forward in a 5-4 decision. The court's three liberal members and Justice Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted Hoffman's request for a stay of execution. Gorsuch said the lower courts failed to adequately review Hoffman's claim that the method would interfere with his meditative breathing as he dies, violating his right to practice his Buddhist religion. 'No one has questioned the sincerity of Mr. Hoffman's religious beliefs,' Gorsuch wrote. Yet the district court rejected Hoffman's argument anyway, based on its own finding about the kind of breathing his faith requires, Gorsuch continued. But courts, he said, cannot decide how a religion should be followed. Gorsuch said he would have paused the execution and ordered the appeals court to review Hoffman's religious liberty claim. What does Molly Elliott's family say? Molly Elliott's husband, Andy Elliott, told USA TODAY on Tuesday that Hoffman's execution was "bittersweet news." "There is relief that this long nightmare is finally over, but also renewed grief for Molly and sadness for Mr. Hoffman's family, whose nightmare began when mine did and who've also had to go through nearly 30 years of this gut-wrenching process through no fault of their own," he said. He added that he hopes Hoffman's case can help "bring about meaningful change" to the death penalty because "a multi-decade long wait is not only difficult for all involved, but also it seriously blunts the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent on crime.""On the one hand, I am satisfied that justice has finally been served so we can all try to move on with our lives," he said. "On the other, if the death penalty is going to exist, the process must be resolved within a reasonable period of time."In a previous statement to USA TODAY, he said that his wife "was a cherished person who missed out on motherhood, a promising and successful career, and a life in the country on the property we bought together." "Hers was a life that was so full of hope and promise for a beautiful future," he said. "The loss of Molly is a scar we will forever carry, and it will never heal." 'I miss her so much': Remembering Molly Elliott, killed by Louisiana Death Row inmate More executions to come in U.S. Three other executions, all by lethal injection, also are scheduled this week in Arizona, Oklahoma and Florida. At least 11 more executions are scheduled for the rest of the year but that number is expected to go up as states issue more death warrants. States have been looking to expand its execution methods as lethal injection drugs have become harder to obtain. Alabama became the first state in the nation to use the nitrogen gas method last year. It's also legal in Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. And on Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill to use the method in her state. Ohio and Nebraska have reintroduced similar legislation this year. And in South Carolina, Brad Keith Sigmon was executed by firing squad earlier this month, the first such execution in the U.S. since 2010 and only the fourth since 1977. Contributing: Maureen Groppe and N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY
Axios
19-03-2025
- Axios
Louisiana executes 1st death row inmate in 15 years
Jessie Hoffman Jr. became the first person in 15 years to be executed by the state of Louisiana on Tuesday evening. The big picture: Hoffman was Louisiana's first death row inmate to face capital punishment by nitrogen hypoxia, representing an expansion of the method after Alabama began using it in 2024. Louisiana legalized the method, along with electrocution, during a criminal justice-focused legislative special session last year. Its nitrogen gas protocol mirrors Alabama's. Mississippi and Oklahoma lawmakers have also authorized its use, and Arkansas is among others considering adopting the practice. That expansion has happened despite some witness accounts of Alabama's executions that have described the method as particularly painful or frightening. The latest: Despite last-minute legal challenges by Hoffman's legal team, the state was able to go ahead with his execution at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Prison officials turned on the nitrogen gas used in Hoffman's execution at 6:21pm, according to Seth Smith, the chief of Angola's prison operations, who spoke in a press conference Tuesday night. Within 2 minutes, Smith said, Hoffman did convulse. "He did move, he did shake," Smith said. The process took 14 minutes, Smith said. Hoffman was pronounced dead at about 6:50pm, according to Gary Westcott, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Catch up quick: Hoffman was found guilty of Mary "Molly" Elliott's 1997 kidnapping, rape and first-degree murder. When Louisiana lawmakers moved to restart executions, Hoffman was among the first two people to receive death warrants. The other died of natural causes before his execution date arrived. Some of Elliott's loved ones have said Hoffman's death would not bring the closure they once may have sought, according to documents reported on by The Times-Picayune. "The reality is this: after this much time passing, I've become indifferent to the death penalty vs. life in prison without possibility of parole," Elliott's husband, Andy, wrote in a statement obtained by the paper. "However, I'm not indifferent to the uncertainty that has accompanied these many years. If putting him to death is the easiest way to end the uncertainty, then on balance I favor that solution. But, his death will not provide closure." The other side: Attorney General Liz Murrill said on Tuesday that during her recent experiences with members of Elliott's "immediate family," they were "grateful to have finality." "What was frustrating for them is that it took 30 years," she said. Hoffman's final legal challenges included outreach to the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers said his case brought up two key questions: whether psychological suffering is a consideration in challenges to the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and whether the mask used to apply the nitrogen gas infringed upon his religious practices as a Buddhist. Hoffman's team contended that to practice his faith, he needed to be able to perform meditative breathing. His lawyers argued that the mask prohibited that. What we're watching: Murrill said her team is in the process of reviewing the cases of Louisiana's 55 remaining death row inmates.
CBS News
24-02-2025
- CBS News
Louisiana's oldest death row inmate dies less than month before execution date
A terminally ill man who spent over 30 years on death row in Louisiana for the killing of his stepson died days after a March date was scheduled for his execution by nitrogen gas. Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died Saturday at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, "from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions," according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. He was the oldest of the 57 inmates on death row as the state weighed resuming executions after a 15-year pause, CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported. Sepulvado was charged with the 1992 killing of his 6-year-old stepson after the boy came home from school with soiled underwear. Sepulvado was accused of hitting him on the head with a screwdriver and immersing him in scalding water. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1993. His attorney, federal public defender Shawn Nolan, said in a statement Sunday that doctors recently determined Sepulvado was terminally ill and recommended hospice care. Nolan described his client's "significant" physical and cognitive decline in recent years. "Christopher Sepulvado's death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana," Nolan said. "The idea that the state was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric." According to Nolan, Sepulvado had been sent to New Orleans for surgery earlier in the week but was returned to the prison Friday night. According to WWL-TV, Sepulvado's health had sharply declined, and COPD and gangrene led to a recent leg amputation. Louisiana officials decided to resume carrying out death sentences earlier this month after a 15 year pause driven by a lack of political interest and the inability to secure legal injection drugs. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry pushed to proceed with a new nitrogen gas execution protocol after the state's GOP-dominated Legislature last year expanded death row execution methods to include electrocution and nitrogen gas. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that "justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless six-year-old boy." Murrill added that Louisiana failed to deliver justice in his lifetime "but Christopher Sepulvado now faces ultimate judgment before God in the hereafter." Sepulvado's execution was scheduled for March 17. Another man, Jessie Hoffman, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and slated for execution on March 18. Hoffman initially challenged Louisiana's lethal injection protocol in 2012 on the grounds that the method was cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge on Friday reopened that lawsuit after it was dismissed in 2022 because the state had no executions planned. The country's first execution using nitrogen gas was carried out last year in Alabama, which has now executed four people using the method.
