20 March 2025 :
March 19, 2025 - Louisiana. Jessie Hoffman, 46, Black, was executed
Via nitrogen gas
Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, Black, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, authorities said, adding the nitrogen gas had flowed for 19 minutes during what one official characterized as a "flawless" execution.
Witnesses to the execution said Hoffman appeared to involuntarily shake or had "some convulsive activity." But the three witnesses who spoke — including two members of the media — agreed that, based on the protocol and what they learned about the execution method, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Hoffman declined to make a final statement in the execution chamber. He also declined a final meal.
It was the fifth time nitrogen gas was used in the U.S. after four executions by the same method — all in Alabama. Three other executions, by lethal injection, are scheduled this week — in Arizona on Wednesday and in Florida and Oklahoma on Thursday.
Hoffman was sentenced to death on September 11, 1998 for the November 26, 1996 rape and murder of Molly Elliott, 28. At the time of the crime, Hoffman was 18.
Hoffman's lawyers had unsuccessfully argued that the nitrogen gas procedure — which deprives a person of oxygen — violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in declining to step in.
Under the Louisiana protocol, which is nearly identical to Alabama's, officials had earlier said Hoffman would be strapped to a gurney before a full-face respirator mask fitted tightly on him. Pure nitrogen gas was then pumped into the mask, forcing him to breathe it in and depriving him of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions.
The protocol called for the gas to be administered for at least 15 minutes or five minutes after the inmate's heart rate reaches a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer.
Two media witnesses to Tuesday's execution said Hoffman was covered with a gray plush blanket from the neck down. In the chamber with Hoffman was his spiritual adviser. Ahead of the execution and after the curtains closed to the viewing room, witnesses said they could hear Buddhist chanting.
The gas began to flow at 6:21 p.m. and Hoffman started twitching, media witnesses said. His hands clenched and he had a "slight head movement." Swanson said she closely watched the blanket over Hoffman's chest area and could see it rise and fall, indicating that he was breathing. She said his last visible breath appeared to be at 6:37 p.m. Shortly after, the curtains between the chamber and witness viewing room closed. When they reopened, Hoffman was pronounced dead.
On Tuesday afternoon, a small group of execution opponents held a vigil outside the rural southeast Louisiana prison at Angola, where the state's executions are carried out. Some passed out prayer cards with photos of a smiling Hoffman and planned a Buddhist reading and "Meditation for Peace."
Hoffman is the first person executed this year in Louisiana, the 29th since Louisiana resumed executions in 1983, the 7th this year in U.S., and the No. 1614 since the U.S. resumed executions in 1977.
