In a significant legal development, a federal judge has intervened to postpone an upcoming execution in Louisiana, which would have marked the state’s first use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment. The execution, scheduled for next week, was set to be Louisiana’s first in 15 years. However, U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick issued a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt proceedings. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced plans to appeal this decision.
The legal debate centers on the application of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution, specifically whether it violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Dick emphasized that the public interest is best served by pausing the execution until there is a detailed trial to address this constitutional question. According to Dick, the focus is not on whether Jessie Hoffman Jr. should face the death penalty, but rather the method by which it is carried out.
Jessie Hoffman, whose execution date was set for March 18, had previously initiated a lawsuit challenging the use of nitrogen gas, arguing it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and hinders his religious practices. Hoffman’s legal team underscored the lack of transparency in the execution protocol, noting the exclusion of Hoffman’s attorneys from the list of required observers. His attorney, Cecelia Kappel, welcomed the court’s decision, anticipating the opportunity to demonstrate that nitrogen hypoxia could subject Hoffman to severe suffering at his time of death.
Although Hoffman did not contest the legitimacy of his sentence, he requested alternatives to the current execution methods allowed in Louisiana—namely nitrogen hypoxia, lethal injection, and electrocution. He proposed a firing squad or lethal cocktail similar to those used in physician-assisted suicides. State attorneys, however, defended nitrogen hypoxia as a legal and effective method previously utilized in Alabama, describing it as both painless and compliant with state laws.
Prominent Republican figures in the state, including Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Murrill, contended that carrying out executions is necessary to fulfill justice for victims’ families. Hoffman, now 46, was convicted for the 1996 murder of Mary Elliott in New Orleans.
The anticipation of further executions is underscored by Murrill’s remark about impending executions, with as many as four projected this year. Currently, Louisiana’s death row has 56 occupants. The state’s approach seems influenced by Alabama’s precedent, as Louisiana’s execution protocol mirrors the method in which inmates are immobilized and deprived of oxygen through pure nitrogen inhalation.