Jessie Hoffman

Courtesy of Attorneys for Jessie Hoffman

After a series of last-minute legal chal­lenges, cul­mi­nat­ing with a denial of stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana exe­cut­ed Jessie Hoffman on March 18, 2025. Mr. Hoffman’s exe­cu­tion marked both the state’s first exe­cu­tion in 15 years and the state’s first exe­cu­tion using nitro­gen gas — only the sec­ond state to use this new method.

State offi­cials acknowl­edged that Mr. Hoffman exhib­it­ed ​“con­vul­sive activ­i­ty” as he inhaled nitro­gen gas through a mask while strapped to a gur­ney, but Louisiana Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott nonethe­less char­ac­ter­ized the exe­cu­tion as ​“flaw­less.” Media wit­ness­es who attend­ed the exe­cu­tion not­ed twitch­es, clenched hands, and jerk­ing through­out the process, sim­i­lar to obser­va­tions made by media wit­ness­es who attend­ed nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tions in Alabama. Mr. Hoffman, a Buddhist, was accom­pa­nied by his spir­i­tu­al advis­er, Rev. Reimoku Gregory Smith, who knelt on a rug a few feet away. The state pro­nounced Mr. Hoffman dead at 6:50pm Central Time. 

[W]hat this rep­re­sents is forced asphyx­i­a­tion, gassing a sub­ject to death, expos­ing him to a lack of oxy­gen such that both extreme dis­com­fort, dis­tress, pain, and ter­ror would be felt all the way up to the point of losing consciousness.

Dr. Philip Bickler, Board-Certified Anesthesiologist and expert in the fields of Anesthesiology and Human Hypoxia, cit­ed by U.S. District Court Judge Shelley Dick in March 11 Stay Order

Minutes before the exe­cu­tion was sched­uled to start, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of exe­cu­tion by a vote of 5 – 4, with Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, and Gorsuch not­ing they would have grant­ed cer­tio­rari. Justice Gorsuch high­light­ed Mr. Hoffman’s argu­ment that exe­cu­tion by nitro­gen hypox­ia would ​“sub­stan­tial­ly bur­den his reli­gious exer­cise by inter­fer­ing with his med­i­ta­tive breath­ing as he dies.” Justice Gorsuch crit­i­cized the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for reject­ing Mr. Hoffman’s reli­gious free­dom claim, not­ing that courts are pro­hib­it­ed from deter­min­ing whether one is ​“cor­rect­ly” adher­ing to their reli­gion. March 14, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lift­ed a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion issued by U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick on March 11. Separately, on the day of the exe­cu­tion, Louisiana District Court Judge Richard Moore dis­solved a tem­po­rary restrain­ing order he issued the pre­vi­ous day fol­low­ing a hear­ing eval­u­at­ing sim­i­lar claims that nitro­gen hypox­ia would vio­late Mr. Hoffman’s reli­gious freedom rights. 

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.

Cecelia Koppel, one of Hoffman’s attor­neys and direc­tor of the Center for Social Justice at Loyola University College of Law, in a state­ment short­ly after Hoffman’s death.

In a state­ment fol­low­ing the exe­cu­tion, Governor Jeff Landry defend­ed the exe­cu­tion, say­ing, ​“we will always pri­or­i­tize vic­tims over crim­i­nals, law and order over law­less­ness, and jus­tice over the sta­tus quo. If you com­mit heinous acts of vio­lence in this State, it will cost you your life. Plain and sim­ple.” Earlier in February, the state sched­uled the exe­cu­tions of two oth­er pris­on­ers: Christopher Sepulvado, who died of nat­ur­al caus­es before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion date, and Larry Roy, whose death war­rant was later withdrawn. 

Tags
Citation Guide
Sources

JAMES FINN and JOHN SIMERMAN, Jessie Hoffman is put to death with nitro­gen gas, Louisiana’s first exe­cu­tion in 15 years, The Advocate, March 18, 2025; GREG LAROSE, Louisiana con­ducts its first nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tion, end­ing 15-year death penal­ty hia­tus, Louisiana Illuminator, March 18, 2025; WWL Staff, Lousiana death row inmate exe­cut­ed, 4WWL, March 18, 2025; WAFB Staff, District judge halts Tuesday’s exe­cu­tion at Angola pend­ing hear­ing, WAFB9, March 17, 2025; GREG LAROSE, Louisiana con­ducts its first nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tion, end­ing 15-year death penal­ty hia­tus, NOLA​.com, March 18, 2025; Ethan Tuttle, Supreme Court rejects request to block Louisiana’s first nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tion, WAFB, March 18, 2025; John Simerman, Jessie Hoffman’s final moments inside Louisiana’s exe­cu­tion cham­ber at Angola, NOLA​.com, March 18, 2025; ANDREA GALLO, MEGHAN FRIEDMANN, JOHN SIMERMAN AND JOSEPH CRANNEY, Louisiana’s nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tion back on for next week, fed­er­al appeals court rules, NOLA​.com, March 14, 2025; ANDREA GALLO AND JOHN SIMERMAN, Louisiana’s first nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tion halt­ed for now fol­low­ing fed­er­al judge’s rul­ing, NOLA​.com, March 11, 2025; ANDREA GALLO, From New Orleans park­ing work­er to death row: See time­line of Jessie Hoffman’s mur­der case, NOLA​.com, March 15, 2025; MEGHAN FRIEDMANN, Louisiana death row inmate files law­suit to block March 18 exe­cu­tion by nitro­gen gas, NOLA​.com, February 26, 2025; John Simerman, Feder­al appeals court halts reopen­ing of long-run­ning Louisiana death penal­ty case, NOLA​.com, February 24, 2025;