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Louisiana Middle District Court Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick, seen Thursday, February 6, 2025, at the Russell B. Long Federal Building in Baton Rouge, La.
, Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick has issued a preliminary injunction to stop Louisiana from moving forward with its first nitrogen gas execution on March 18, though her ruling is expected to be swiftly appealed by the state.
Dick granted the preliminary injunction Tuesday after a daylong hearing Friday in which attorneys for condemned inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. argued that the state's plan to use nitrogen hypoxia as his method of death amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, which is forbidden under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution. Hoffman's attorneys also argued that it was unconstitutional for the state put him to death without allowing his lawyer to witness it. "Now, after an expedited hearing, and absent a fully developed record, this Court must answer the ultimate question: is nitrogen hypoxia cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?" Dick wrote in her ruling.
"The Court finds that the balance of equities and public interest weigh in favor of enjoining Hoffman’s March 18, 2025 execution through nitrogen hypoxia until the matter can be resolved at a trial on the merits," she added. "The Fifth Circuit holds that an injunction does not disserve the public interest when it prevents constitutional deprivations. Stated another way, injunctions preventing the violation of constitutional rights are 'always in the public interest.
'" Hoffman, 46, testified at the hearing and asked the state to find a different method to put him to death. Hoffman described being a Buddhist and using Buddhist meditation and breathing techniques to calm himself down. "The idea of having a mask over my face," he said, "I fear it's going to trigger.
" State officials sought to convince Dick that breathing in nitrogen gas amounted to a relatively quick and painless death, and said the state cannot find pharmaceutical companies willing to supply drugs for executions. They said Louisiana had closely followed Alabama's execution protocol for nitrogen gas, as Alabama has used it on four death row inmates since last year. Dick hinted during the March 7 hearing that Hoffman's arguments about whether his attorney could be present for the execution would play a decision in the outcome of the case.
She referenced the state of Alabama's botched attempt at executing Kenneth Smith in 2022 as prison staffers repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to start an IV line on him. Alabama eventually called off the execution attempt and instead opted to execute him by nitrogen gas in 2024. "As we have learned from Alabama’s failed attempts to execute Mr.
Smith by lethal injection, access to the courts in an execution is of paramount importance, especially in this case where the State has no experience and has never used this method of execution before," Dick said during the hearing. Louisiana has retrofitted its execution chamber at Angola with exhaust fans and oxygen monitors for the nitrogen gas. State officials plan to strap Hoffman to a gurney, fit a full-face respirator mask onto him and pump nitrogen gas into it at a flow rate of 90 liters per minute, according to the state's newly unsealed execution protocol.
The gas will flow for either 15 minutes or for 5 minutes until Hoffman's heartrate reaches a flatline on an EKG, whichever is longer. Hoffman is on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and killing of Mary "Molly" Elliott, who was walking to her car in New Orleans when Hoffman came upon her. Elliott's dead body was found by a duck hunter near the Middle Pearl River in St.
Tammany Parish. Hoffman was 18 when he committed the crime and has spent most of his life on death row..
