Louisiana death row inmate executed using nitrogen gas after last-ditch block fails
by Henry Moore · LBCBy Henry Moore
A Louisiana death row inmate has been executed using nitrogen gas - marking only the fifth time it has been used on a prisoner in US history.
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Jessie Hoffman Jr, 46, was sentenced to death 15 years ago after the murder of Mary "Molly" Elliott in New Orleans when he was just 18 years old.
The Supreme Court rejected last-ditch efforts to have his execution blocked or delayed.
Hoffman made no statement prior to his death, Louisiana State Penitentiary said.
The 46-year-old was in the gas chamber for 19 minutes before he died, with one witness saying he convulsed during the execution.
The killer’s lawyers had made a last-minute attempt to block the execution, arguing the death by gas was cruel and unusual and thus unconstitutional.
Despite lawmakers claiming nitrogen gas causes a painless death, inmates have been pictured grasping at their necks or convulsing during executions.
Hoffman was strapped to a gurney and fitted with a full-face respirator.
Gas was then pumped into his lungs forcing him to breathe it in, essentially choking him.
Hoffman becomes the first man to be executed in Louisiana since Gerald Bordelon, a killer and sex offender put to death by lethal injection in 2010.
He was executed after kidnapping and killing his 12-year-old daughter Courtney LeBlanc.
Bordelon asked to be executed after telling police he feared he would commit a similar crime again.