The prisoner of the death penalty prepared to be the first person to kill him Nitrogen gas Is demanding in Louisiana Prevent execution, Citing constitutional concerns over the controversial murder system.
Jesse Hoffman will be run on March 18, but his lawyers ask the judge for the primary order to prevent him due to the confidentiality of how the execution will be carried out.
The prisoner will present his arguments during the hearing on Friday, during which he expects testimony.
Hoffman was convicted of murder of 1996 and murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliott.
Hoffman’s lawyers say he was informed on February 20 that he would be killed using nitrogen gas, but state officials have not yet provided a detailed execution protocol, which is necessary to meet his constitutional rights.
“The state wants this new gas protocol out but keeps it hidden from people and even with the man they want to kill.”
“Jesse Hoffman has the right to know how he will be beaten, and we have the right to determine if his lawyers will be constitutional.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Muril has defended the state’s decision to use nitrogen hypoxia, which is a method of confusing a person by refusing oxygen and allowing them to breathe nitrogen gas.
“On March 18, 2025, Nitrogen will hang Hoffman by hypoxia for the assassination of Louisiana state Molly. We will vigorously protect the state’s responsibility to carry out this sentence and bring justice to Molly Elliott’s family and friends, “Muriller A Statement.
Muril told Nexstar Affiliate WVLA That he did not personally talk to the victim’s family.
US The history of nitrogen gas hanging in
Last year, the country’s first implementation was carried out in Alabama using nitrogen gas, which has now been used to operate four people in the state. If Hoffman’s execution does not stop, Louisiana’s death will be another state to use the method on the row prisoners.
According to media witnesses, including the Associated Press, all the men who were hanged in Alabama using nitrogen were hit by various degrees on Gurni at various degrees.
Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser to Kenneth Smith, who was the first person killed using nitrogen, witnessed his execution and told him “A Slow, painful media of torture. “
Hood said that the Catholic News Outlet OSV said that Smith’s execution was “the most violent thing I have ever witnessed or engaged with it.” “He was absolutely disturbed by the fact that … a human being was killed.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has maintained the method as “painless and human”.
After the guilty killer Alan Miller Claimed against Alabama “The resolution of this case confirms that the Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane,” said Marshall using nitrogen gas in 2024.
Kennedy said that Alabama’s nitrogen hanging punishment proves more about how much this method is.
“It is impossible to know that somehow Louisiana’s reform department has fixed all the problems in Alabama, where each time they killed people with gas, it was a very annoying, terrifying, terrifying experience.”
Kennedy added, “Jesse Hoffman and the public have the right to know what the process is included in Louisiana, and … if they are supporting everyone’s constitutional right,” Kennedy added.
Which states allow the use of nitrogen gas in hanging?
Currently, four states allow the implementation of nitrogen gas: Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
An Arkansas Bill that will allow nitrogen on prisoners of the death penalty on Tuesday and will now proceed for a full vote.
Louisiana has prevented the death sentence for 15 years due to the inability to secure fatal injection drugs, but with the final form of nitrogen gas execution protocol last month, the state is eager to move forward.
“For a long time, Louisiana has failed to support the promises of the victims of our state’s most violent crimes, but the leadership failure has ended by the previous administration,” Louisiana’s government Jeff Landry said in a statement.
Louisiana was sentenced to two hanging in March, but Christopher Sepulwado, a prisoner for the death sentence one day before Hoffman, died on February 23.
Hoffman initially challenged Louisiana’s deadly injection protocol in 2012 that the method was a cruel and unusual punishment.
US District Judge Shelley Dick rejected the lawsuit in 2022 as the state did not plan for any death but the case was re -opened last month, saying that the scheduled hanging sentence was “extraordinary circumstances” that guaranteed further verification.
The three judges of the US 5th Circuit Court APP appeals invested in the Dick’s judgment while they oppose Muril.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story