Attorneys for Louisiana death row inmate work to halt nitrogen gas execution

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Louisiana plans to execute the first death row inmate in more than a decade, and the first by nitrogen gas.

A federal judge had agreed to re-examine a challenge to Louisiana’s execution protocol, but state attorneys immediately filed an appeal. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals then ordered a stay on the judge’s decision, which could make the execution of convicted murderer Jessie Hoffman imminent.

Hoffman’s attorneys have now filed a new federal lawsuit

challenging Louisiana’s execution procedure of using nitrogen gas, claiming their client was deprived of due process and that the method may violate the Eighth Amendment if it’s deemed cruel and unusual punishment.

“Then, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction the day after that, and just this morning, we filed another motion, asking the court to set a schedule to make sure we can be heard, and Jessie Hoffman’s claims about the constitutionality of the protocol the state is going to use to execute him can be reviewed by a court,” Samantha Pourciau, senior staff attorney for the Promise of Justice Initiative, said.

Hoffman was convicted at 18 years old for the 1996 murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliot, whom Hoffman kidnapped while she was leaving work in New Orleans’ Central Business District.

The staff at the Promise of Justice Initiative doesn’t believe Hoffman’s execution will bring the Elliot family peace.

“The first gassing execution [in Alabama], a family member of the victim went on record to the media that it was not at all what they were told it was going to be. They were told that the person would die immediately. It would be a few seconds, and they would be unconscious,” Pourciau explained. “And instead, it was minutes of the person actively suffocating in front of them, and it was not what they expected. It was traumatizing for them.”

Attorney General Liz Murrill, a longtime death penalty supporter, released the following statement in response to the most recent filing.

“I expected the lawyers to eventually file this lawsuit. I believe the petition was filed solely in an effort to create more delay. I will vigorously oppose any attempts to further delay carrying out justice under our law.”

Pourciau disagrees with the assertion they’re the ones prolonging the process.

“Right now, the state has been the one delaying,” Pourciau said. “We asked the court in our 2012 lawsuit to reopen this case in June of 2024 in anticipation of the new law that was going to take effect July 1, which added this new gassing method,” she said.

Hoffman’s attorneys also filed a clemency application, asking Gov. Jeff Landry to commute his sentence to life without parole, but Landry, who’s also a supporter of the death penalty, would have to allow it to proceed to a hearing.

If the motions fail, Hoffman is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on March 18.

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