Louisiana carried out its first execution in more than a decade on March 18, 2025, putting Jessie Hoffman Jr to death using nitrogen gas.
Hoffman, 46, was convicted for the 1996 rape and murder of Mary "Molly" Elliott, an advertising executive.
The execution, which took place at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola Prison), marks a significant shift in the state’s approach to capital punishment.
Louisiana is now the second US state to use nitrogen gas hypoxia, a method that has drawn sharp criticism from legal experts, human rights organisations, and religious groups.
Execution details and reactions
Hoffman was strapped to a gurney and forced to inhale pure nitrogen gas through a mask for 19 minutes. Witnesses reported that his body shook for a few minutes, followed by shallow breathing before he stopped moving.
Media witnesses noted that Hoffman’s head and forearms were visible, while the rest of his body was covered by a thick gray blanket. Before the execution, his Buddhist spiritual advisor chanted, and after Hoffman was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m., the advisor continued the prayers.
Hoffman declined a final meal and did not offer any last words.
His attorney, Caroline Tillman, condemned the execution in a statement:
“The State of Louisiana took the life of Jessie Hoffman, a man who was deeply loved, who brought light to those around him, and who spent nearly three decades proving that people can change. It took his life not because justice demanded it, but because it was determined to move forward with an execution.”
State officials defend execution
Governor Jeff Landry, a strong proponent of capital punishment, defended the decision, arguing that resuming executions fulfills a “contractual promise” to crime victims.
"When death row is empty, we don’t have to fill it or put another person on it," Landry said in a radio interview Tuesday morning. “But that’s going to depend upon the conduct of individuals, not on society as a whole.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill stated that her office would begin reviewing other capital cases, though she did not provide an estimate of how many additional executions could occur this year.
“We’re going to start working our way through motions and begin to clear the underbrush and move these cases forward,” Murrill said. “Everybody deserves the justice that the state promised to them.”
Neither Landry nor Murrill attended the execution.
Legal challenges and Supreme Court decision
Hoffman’s attorneys made multiple last-minute appeals, arguing that the nitrogen gas method violated his religious freedom as it interfered with his Buddhist meditative breathing practices.
They also cited concerns about potential terror and pain, which they said could violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Their efforts were unsuccessful. The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against issuing a stay of execution, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. Justice Neil Gorsuch also dissented, citing religious freedom concerns.
Victim’s family reacts
Andy Elliott, the widower of Mary "Molly" Elliott, said he had become indifferent over the years regarding the execution vs. life imprisonment.
"The pain is something we simply have learned to live with," Elliott told the New Orleans Times-Picayune last week. "That pain cannot be decreased by another death, nor by commuting the sentence of Molly’s assailant to life in prison."
Protests and outcry against execution
Opposition to Louisiana’s return to capital punishment was visible outside Angola Prison, where activists gathered throughout the day.
Among them was Alison McCrary, director of Louisiana InterFaith Against Executions, who pointed to Louisiana’s high rate of overturned death penalty convictions as a reason to abolish executions altogether.
“Death is an irreversible punishment. Once you take a life, you can’t take it back,” she said. “And knowing that we get it wrong 80% of the time, the state of Louisiana is determined to take this risk of getting it wrong.”
Hoffman’s family also spoke out. His wife, Ilona Hoffman, called him a “loyal friend” and “the most amazing husband”, while his son, Jessie Smith, said his father was not the person portrayed in news reports.
“The person I see and the person I read in the articles are two different people,” Smith said at a demonstration in Baton Rouge. “I just wish other people would see the same.”
Louisiana Follows Alabama’s lead on gas executions
Alabama was the first state to use nitrogen gas hypoxia, executing Kenny Smith in January 2024. Witnesses described his execution as violent, with Smith convulsing and struggling for several minutes.
Since then, three additional gas executions have taken place in Alabama, all involving reports of visible distress among those executed.
Louisiana modeled its execution method on Alabama’s, making “improvements” based on previous cases, according to Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott.
“We actually probably did a little bit better than they did with some of the equipment,” Westcott said. “We've made some tweaks to what they did. [The execution] was flawless. It went about as good as we can expect."
States including Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arkansas have also approved nitrogen gas as an execution method, with Arkansas signing the measure into law on Tuesday, just hours before Hoffman’s execution.
Despite state officials defending the method, death penalty opponents vow to continue challenging nitrogen gas executions.
Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, said he expects future court battles over the method.
“I'm hopeful that sooner or later, a court is going to hear the witnesses who are not state officials about the torture that suffocation execution is — and at that point, it will be found to be cruel and unusual, a violation of the Eighth Amendment.”
With 55 inmates still on Louisiana’s death row, the state’s return to capital punishment signals a new era of enforcement, though the legal and ethical debate over nitrogen gas executions is far from settled.
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