Lawsuit filed in asks court to stop to Louisiana execution scheduled for March

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A criminal justice watchdog group filed a new lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s decision to carry out executions using gas.

The lawsuit was filed on February 25, 2025, by attorneys from the Promise of Justice Initiative, who brought the suit on behalf of Jessie Hoffman, who is scheduled for execution on March 18. Attorneys are also asking the court to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the planned execution from happening at all.

“The State wants to roll out this new gas protocol but keep it hidden from the public and even from the man they seek to kill,” said Samantha Kennedy, Executive Director of the Promise of Justice Initiative. “Every Louisiana citizen should be concerned about such an extreme exercise of government power, especially when it involves taking a human life.”

On February 20, the state told Hoffman that his execution would be through lethal nitrogen hypoxia gas, a new execution protocol. Alabama is the only state that has utilized this method. Those who attended the execution noted disturbing details related to the man’s death by gassing.

Chief District Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana reopened Hoffman v Jindal. A court case that lasted a decade until it was dismissed in 2022, challenging Louisiana’s execution protocol.

“Louisiana has not carried out an involuntary execution in more than 20 years,” said Cecelia Kappel, an attorney for Mr. Hoffman. “There is no good reason for the state to barrel ahead with this untested and dangerous method before the court has a full and fair opportunity to assess its constitutionality. This is especially true given the horrifying accounts from eyewitnesses to Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions.”

Hoffman’s legal representatives shared a press release explaining that the lawsuit seeks to ensure Hoffman’s constitutional rights are not violated. It argues that the State of Louisiana deprived him of due process by refusing him access to the execution protocol.

An excerpt from the complaint reads, “The State has refused to provide this basic information about the method it intends to utilize to gas Mr. Hoffman to death based on the erroneous and irrelevant contention that the protocol is not a public record.”

He was notified of the plan to execute him using nitrogen on February 20, less than a month before his March 18 execution date. The complaint also notes that Hoffman or his attorneys were never provided a complete copy of the protocol for carrying out executions using nitrogen gas.

“We haven’t even been able to see the full protocol ourselves, with Jessie’s execution set for just three weeks from now,” Kappel said.

On Tuesday, a group of veterinarians and animal care providers gathered in New Orleans to protest the use of nitrogen in state executions, calling it inhumane and noting that using the gas to euthanize pets has been discontinued by voluntary or legislative action in every state except two.