BATON ROUGE, La. — As Louisiana prepares for its first execution in 15 years, attorneys for the inmate are seeking an emergency court decision to postpone the death penalty.
Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, is set to face execution on Tuesday evening by nitrogen gas, a method never before used in Louisiana. Prior to this, nitrogen gas has only been employed in four executions in the United States, exclusively in Alabama, which is also the only other state with a protocol for this execution method.
Hoffman’s legal team argues that nitrogen hypoxia is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. They contend that the method also interferes with Hoffman’s religious practices, particularly his Buddhist breathing and meditation rituals during his final moments.
Louisiana officials assert that after more than a decade without executions, it is time to fulfill the justice promised to the victims’ families. Attorney General Liz Murrill anticipates at least four executions from the state’s death row within this year.
After recent legal battles, Hoffman’s attorneys have appealed to the United States Supreme Court to intervene, although the court previously declined to stop the nation’s initial nitrogen hypoxia execution last year.
On Monday, Hoffman’s attorneys submitted additional legal challenges in both state and federal courts in a last-minute attempt to halt the execution. A state judge will review one of these new motions on Tuesday morning. However, this hearing is set to occur just hours before Hoffman’s execution, putting attorneys in a frantic race against the clock.
A judge from the 19th Judicial District Court had issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Hoffman’s execution, pending a morning hearing. Nonetheless, the order is scheduled to expire at 10:30 a.m. (EST), while the execution is planned for the evening—the hours between could prove critical for Hoffman’s fate.
Murrill has expressed confidence that the execution plan will proceed and that “justice will finally be served.” Hoffman was convicted in the 1996 murder of Mary “Molly” Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive in New Orleans.
According to Louisiana’s execution protocol, which mirrors Alabama’s, Hoffman will be restrained and fitted with a full-face respirator mask. This mask will administer pure nitrogen gas, leading to oxygen deprivation necessary for execution.
The nitrogen will be pumped for at least 15 minutes or until the EKG indicates a flatline, whichever duration is longer.
State officials claim this method is painless, while Hoffman’s attorneys argue it is torturous. Witness accounts from previous nitrogen executions in Alabama describe involuntary movements suggesting distress, which state officials attribute to natural reactions to oxygen deprivation.
Currently, four states—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma—have authorized executions via nitrogen hypoxia, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Louisiana’s legislative body expanded execution methods last year, including nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution, alongside the existing lethal injection.
Nationally, executions have seen a significant decline in recent decades due to legal challenges, drug shortages, and decreasing public support. Many states have either halted or abolished the death penalty altogether.
Hoffman is anticipated to be the seventh individual executed in the U.S. this year.
