Louisiana has carried out its first nitrogen hypoxia execution and its first execution in 15 years, killing Jessie Hoffman Jr. on Tuesday night for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 28-year-old woman.
Hoffman was executed at the West Feliciana Parish Coroner’s Office and was pronounced dead at about 6:50 p.m. CDT, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections told UPI in an emailed statement.
He was convicted in 1997 for killing Mary Margaret “Molly” Elliot in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, in November of the previous year.
LDPSC Secretary Gary Westcott told reporters in a press conference that followed the execution that Hoffman declined a final meal and a last statement.
Hoffman was visited throughout the day by his family, spiritual advisor and attorney, Westcott said.
At 6:12 p.m., Hoffman was escorted to the execution chamber, positioned on the gurney and had the mask set in place over his face.
Westcott said the nitrogen flowed for 19 minutes, starting at 6:21 p.m.
“Tonight, justice was served for Molly Elliot and for the State of Louisiana,” Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill said during the press conference while holding up an enlarged wedding photo of Hoffman’s victim.
Elliot’s naked body was found by a duck hunter on a dock by the Middle Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish on November 28, 1996, which was Thanksgiving Day.
During the trial, evidence showed that Hoffman had kidnapped Elliot at gunpoint in her own car from a parking garage near where he worked, according to court documents.
He forced her to drive to an ATM to withdraw money. Elliot then, under gunpoint, drove to a remote area of St. Tammany Parish, where he raped her.
The court documents state she was still naked when Hoffman marched her down a dirt path to the makeshift dock where she was forced to kneel and then shot in the head.
She likely survived for a few minutes before succumbing to her injuries in the cold November night, the documents state.
Hoffman’s death comes as the state has sought to resume executions.
Last year, the Louisiana Congress passed legislation to include the use of nitrogen hypoxia to conduct death sentences. On February 10, Governor Jeff Landry said the state had finalised and implemented its updated protocol for the highly controversial method of nitrogen hypoxia, which deprives the brain of oxygen by forcing inmates to breathe nitrogen. (UPI)
