Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Louisiana executed Jessie Hoffman Jr. by nitrogen gas Tuesday night, becoming the second state to ever use the new method.Newsweek reached out to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections via email for comment.Why It MattersHoffman’s execution marks Louisiana’s first in 15 years as well as the Bayou State’s first time using nitrogen hypoxia for capital punishment. Alabama was the first state to use the method, as it put Kenneth Eugene Smith to death last year.What To KnowHoffman was convicted and sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliott in New Orleans in 1996.On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled that the state could move forward with Hoffman’s execution after a judge previously issued a stop.The stop was ordered due to the potential of “pain and terror” for the inmate by using nitrogen hypoxia.According to NOLA News reporter Andrea Gallo on X, formerly Twitter, Hoffman declined to offer a final statement and also turned down a final meal.NOLA News also reported that Hoffman was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. local time after gas flowed for 19 minutes.State Attorney General Liz Murrill called the execution “justice” for Molly and for Louisiana in a post to X.
Jessie Hoffman Jr. is pictured while he was on death row for a 1996 New Orleans abduction, rape and murder.
Jessie Hoffman Jr. is pictured while he was on death row for a 1996 New Orleans abduction, rape and murder.
Jessie Hoffman Jr’s Legal Team
What People Are SayingCecelia Kappel, attorney for Hoffman, in a statement Tuesday night after the execution: “Tonight, the State of Louisiana carried out the senseless execution of Jessie Hoffman. He was a father, a husband, and a man who showed extraordinary capacity for redemption. Jessie no longer bore any resemblance to the 18-year old who killed Molly Elliot [sic]. The State was able to execute him by pushing out a new protocol and setting execution dates to prevent careful judicial review and shrouding the process in secrecy.”Kappel added: “Four Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court believed that Jessie’s important religious freedom claim warranted a stay to allow their thorough review. Governor [Jeff] Landry says he is doing this for the victims, but we have heard directly from victim family members that killing Jessie will not bring them peace. His execution will cause lasting harm to many. Jessie’s son was a newborn at the time of his trial and has been raised by his father from death row. The prison staff who were forced to kill someone they have grown to care for and protect. And the citizens of Louisiana who have said not in my name. We are better than this.”Andy Elliott, husband of “Molly” Elliott, in a statement Tuesday night to Nola News: “There is relief that this long nightmare is finally over, but also renewed grief for Molly and sadness for Mr. Hoffman’s family, whose nightmare began when mine did and who’ve also had to go through nearly 30 years of this gut-wrenching process through no fault of their own.”Samantha Pourciau, senior staff attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative, in an email to Newsweek Tuesday night: “What happened tonight was predictable,” said Pourciau, “Jessie Hoffman suffered because the state chose to use the end of his life as an experiment. It was gruesome and prolonged and the very thing that our constitution was designed to protect us, as Americans, from enduring – the very thing our country’s framers thought would set us apart from the nation we sought to leave. Instead, Louisianans will wake up tomorrow knowing what our state has done and reading about a killing that inflicted psychological pain, suffering, and terror.”Pourciau continued: “Governor Landry’s yearslong pursuit of this execution concluded with more pain and more trauma. Tonight, while many in our state cannot afford groceries, the state used countless resources to kill one man. The governor cannot cloak this in fighting for victims, because today we learned that this is not, in fact, what this family wants. This is what the governor wants. This has been in service of no one, but the bloodlust of our state government.””On a personal note, as a Jewish person, tonight stings more deeply. I weep tonight for the pain that Mr. Hoffman endured because the pain of my ancestors was not enough. As we are taught in the Torah, the death penalty makes us all unjust, more especially when it is carried out in darkness and secrecy as it was tonight,” Pourciau concluded.What Happens NextMore than 50 people sit on death row in the state of Louisiana, according to local media outlet WRKF Baton Rouge.
