Federal judge halts execution of Louisiana death row inmate Jessie Hoffman

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A federal judge has blocked the state of Louisiana from executing death row inmate Jessie Hoffman by nitrogen hypoxia.

According to court documents, the judge ruled in favor of Hoffman, who filed a lawsuit against the state arguing that the nitrogen hypoxia violates his constitutional rights. Hoffman’s lawyers were seeking a halt on his execution.

The court blocked Hoffman’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia as he expressed concerns that the method causes severe psychological pain and violates the Eighth Amendment.

Court documents state Hoffman asked the court to reconsider the denial of his Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) claim as he argues a nitrogen hypoxia execution would burden Hoffman’s religious exercise to breathe meditatively since he will be deprived of air. The court rejected this claim.

Hoffman is not challenging his conviction of the death sentence, he believes execution by firing squad would be an appropriate alternative.

“We disagree with the district court’s decision and will immediately appeal to the Fifth Circuit,” said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

On March 6, Hoffman’s legal team argued that the state’s secrecy around the use of nitrogen hypoxia violates his constitutional rights. This led to a federal judge ordering that a redacted version of the execution protocol be released.

One of Hoffman’s attorneys responded to the judge’s order to halt the nitrogen execution.

“We are grateful that the district court carefully considered all of the evidence presented and recognized the significant risks to Jessie Hoffman’s constitutional rights posed by Louisiana’s new and untested lethal gas execution method. This order gives everyone a chance to have a full trial on the merits before Jessie is executed, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue presenting the court with evidence proving that this method risks inflicting torture on Jessie at the time of his death,” said Cecelia Kappel.

Hoffman’s execution was scheduled for Tuesday, March 18.

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