A death row prisoner scheduled to be executed next month has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana's plans for capital punishment using nitrogen hypoxia, calling the execution method cruel and unusual and shrouded in secrecy.
The lawsuit on behalf of inmate Jessie Hoffman was filed on Feb. 25 in the Middle District of Louisiana. The complaint seeks to block Hoffman’s scheduled execution using nitrogen gas on March 18 in the wake of Gov. Jeff Landry’s announcement that executions in the state would restart after a 15-year pause stemming from problems with previous execution methods.
“The state has refused to provide … basic information about the (nitrogen hypoxia) 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,” a motion to the court for a preliminary injunction states.
The lawsuit indicates that Hoffman was only notified of the execution plan on Feb. 20, less than a month before the execution date, and that the state has failed to provide the plaintiff’s attorneys with the nitrogen gas execution protocols.
Landry’s office released a three-paragraph summary of the nitrogen hypoxia protocols on Feb. 10. It indicates only that the execution would be accomplished by placing a mask over the prisoner’s face to replace oxygen with nitrogen, that the inmate would be able to consult with a spiritual advisor, that media representatives would be able to witness the execution and that medical monitors would be used to keep tabs on the prisoner’s vital signs.
“I anticipate the national press will embellish on the feelings and interests of the violent death row murderers, (but) we will continue to advocate for the innocent victims and the loved ones left behind,” Landry said in a prepared statement.
State Attorney General Liz Murrill also favors restarting executions in light of the Legislature approving additional execution methods, calling the offenses committed by death row inmates “the most heinous and barbaric crimes imaginable.”
“Governor Landry and I are committed to moving this process forward to finally get justice for victims,” Murrill said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “As attorney general, I look forward to each judge upholding their statutory duty to execute these death warrants according to the law. The families of these victims have waited long enough for justice, and Louisiana will put them first.”
But Hoffman’s lawsuit labels the nitrogen gassing method agonizing and severe.
“Nitrogen gas has been used to kill condemned individuals in only one state, Alabama, and each of the four times it has been used it has resulted in an excruciating, prolonged death that was horrifying for both the person being executed and those who bore witness,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit describes how Alabama inmates reacted to nitrogen gassing, such as struggling with their restraints, retching inside the mask and gasping for air.
The plaintiff’s attorneys also argue that the state’s plans for Hoffman violate the Constitution’s ex post facto clause because the execution method has been changed from what was planned when inmate Hoffman was originally sentenced.
In addition, the lawsuit argues that Hoffman would be denied the right to practice the meditative breathing methods of his Buddhist faith during the execution, violating the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment.
Hoffman was sentenced to be executed for the 1996 fatal shooting, rape, robbery and kidnapping of Mary “Molly” Elliot, a 28-year-old advertising executive. He was 18 years old at the time he committed the crime.