BATON ROUGE, La. — A federal judge has halted Louisiana’s first death row execution using nitrogen gas, which was scheduled to take place next week.
U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, stopping the state from immediately moving forward with the execution, which would have been Louisiana’s first in 15 years. Attorney General Liz Murrill said the state will immediately appeal the decision.
In her ruling, Dick said the court is tasked with answering the question: “Is nitrogen hypoxia cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?”
Dick went on to say that it is in the public’s interest to halt the execution until the matter can “be resolved at a trial on the merits” and that the injunction is especially of public interest if it prevents “the violation of constitutional rights.” She added that it is not a question of whether Jessie Hoffman Jr. will be executed, but rather how.
Last month, Hoffman filed a lawsuit against the state and sought to block his March 18 execution date. During a hearing last week, attorneys for Hoffman argued that the execution method of nitrogen hypoxia is cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution and infringes on Hoffman’s freedom to practice his religion, specifically Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises.
They also said the execution protocol lacks transparency, noting that under the policy, Hoffman’s attorneys do not fall under the list of “required witnesses” to the execution.
Louisiana has three approved execution methods, including lethal injection as the default and electrocution and nitrogen hypoxia as alternatives.
Cecelia Kappel, Hoffman’s attorney, applauded Dick’s ruling and said that she looks forward to presenting the evidence that that nitrogen hypoxia would inflict “torture on Jessie at the time of his death.”
U.N. experts have said execution by nitrogen hypoxia could “result in a painful and humiliating death” and likely violates international bans on torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment.
The execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, the first person put to death by nitrogen hypoxia, was described as prolonged, horrific and torturous by some witnesses, including journalists, who said he writhed and thrashed for several minutes on the gurney once the nitrogen system switched on.
At a media briefing once he was pronounced dead, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm called the execution “textbook,” even though it had never been done.
Hoffman, who did not challenge his conviction or sentence during the hearing, asked that he be put to death using a “humane” method. He asked to be executed by a firing squad or consuming a drug cocktail typically used for physician-assisted death, but neither of those methods is approved by Louisiana law.
Attorneys for the state argued that nitrogen hypoxia has proven to be successful in Alabama, saying the method is seemingly painless and an approved method under Louisiana law.
Republican officials, including Gov. Jeff Landry and Murrill, say the state is long overdue in delivering justice that has been promised to the families of victims.
Hoffman, 46, was convicted of the 1996 murder of Mary Elliott in New Orleans.
Murrill told The Associated Press last month that she expects at least four people will be executed this year. There are 56 people on Louisiana’s death row.
Louisiana is following in the footsteps of Alabama, which has executed four people using nitrogen gas. In January 2024, Smith, a former death row inmate, was the first inmate to die by nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial and at the time untested method that prompted legal pushback and public scrutiny from critics within the United States and abroad.
During last week’s hearing, state officials described Louisiana’s execution protocol using nitrogen gas to be nearly identical to Alabama’s.
Under the protocol, the subject is strapped to a gurney, forced to breathe pure nitrogen gas through a mask placed on their face, depriving them of oxygen. The procedure is a relatively new alternative to more common forms of capital punishment, such as lethal injection and electrocution, which are the two methods used most prevalently across the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
