Louisiana Issues 1st Nitrogen Gas Execution For Death Row Killer Jessie Hoffman

Convicted rapist and murderer Jessie Hoffman became the first death row inmate in Louisiana, and only the fifth in the United States, to be executed using nitrogen gas on Tuesday.

Hoffman, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:50 pm. He was made to inhale the deadly gas for 19 minutes through a fitted full-face respirator mask while tied to a gurney inside the execution chamber.

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections secretary, Gary Westcott, said that Hoffman's execution was "flawless." It took place at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, officials confirmed.

Hoffman refused to eat any more meals or make one last speech before he was executed.

"Louisiana has successfully used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out the execution of Jessie Hoffman," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told Fox News Digital.

"Tonight, justice was served for Molly and the State of Louisiana," Ms Murrill added.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said that justice has been served 28 years after Hoffman forced Elliot to kneel and shot her dead on a wooden dock close to the Middle Pearl River.

Hoffman, 46, was found guilty in 1996 of the "brutal and merciless rape and murder" of 28-year-old Mary 'Molly' Elliott. He was 18 years old when he committed the crime.

Hoffman, the fifth prisoner in the US and the first in Louisiana to be executed by nitrogen gas, had been arguing against his execution by the controversial and primarily unproven method.

The US Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch attempt to avert Hoffman's painful execution just before it was set to take place, voting 5-4.

He was given a temporary reprieve by a federal judge, who cited potential "pain and torture" as a breach of his fundamental rights. However, the decision was overturned on Friday by the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hoffman's attorneys further claimed that nitrogen hypoxia would not only violate the Eighth Amendment by causing severe psychological suffering but also disrupt Hoffman's Buddhist breathing and meditation in his last hours.

The Jessie Hoffman execution was the first time the fatal technique was applied to a death row inmate in Louisiana since state lawmakers added electrocution and nitrogen hypoxia to the capital penalty in 2024.

Four states-Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma-permit death by nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas execution method has been applied four times in Alabama.

Louisiana officials claimed the oxygen deprivation technique was painless and that it was past time for the state to provide the victims' families with the justice they were promised after a lapse of 10 and a half years.