On March 18, 2025, Louisiana performed its first execution in 15 years using a controversial execution method called nitrogen hypoxia. The condemned individual, 46-year-old Jessie Hoffman, spent 26 years on death row before his execution.
In 1996, Hoffman worked as a valet at the Sheraton garage in New Orleans, where 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliott parked her car. On Nov. 27, 1996, Hoffman waited for Elliott to walk to her car after work at 6 p.m. before kidnapping her at gunpoint.
Hoffman forced Elliott to withdraw $200 and drive to a remote location in St. Tammany Parish. Hoffman proceeded to rape Elliott at gunpoint and then forced her to kneel on a dock at Middle Pearl River, where he shot her execution-style. A duck hunter found her naked body at 7:45 a.m. two days later, and the police arrested Hoffman.
Two years later, the court charged Jessie Hoffman with aggravated kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated rape and first-degree murder. The judge decreed Hoffman committed the crime in an especially heinous manner and sentenced him to death.
The state halted executions in 2015 because European drugmakers were no longer exporting drugs to the U.S., causing a lethal injection drug shortage. This meant that lawmakers had to come up with new execution methods for its death row inmates, such as execution by firing squad and nitrogen hypoxia.
Hoffman’s defense team attempted to have his sentence commuted to life without parole. After submitting multiple appeals and requests for retrial with no success for 26 years, Hoffman submitted a request for execution by firing squad one week before his scheduled nitrogen hypoxia execution.
His lawyers argued that the use of nitrogen hypoxia, which deprives an individual of oxygen, violated his right to religious exercise. Hoffman was a practicing Buddhist who required meditative breathing at the time of birth to determine the quality of his rebirth.
The court denied the appeal on the grounds that execution via firing squad violated the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Lawmakers stated that nitrogen hypoxia is humane and painless, despite claims that all inmates executed with it thrashed around violently for several minutes before their death. The state of Louisiana banned the use of nitrogen hypoxia for the euthanization of animals.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Mary Elliott’s husband, Andy Elliott, stated that he supported the execution if it meant ending the uncertainty of the trial.
“But his death will not provide closure. Anyone who has experienced a tragedy of this magnitude will recognize the absolute truth,” Elliott said. “All we want is finality, so we can stop dreading the reminder of the tragedy every time the subject of his execution re-emerges.”
The execution began at 6:12 p.m. with Hoffman strapped to a gurney and a gasmask placed over his face. A state official administered the nitrogen gas for 19 minutes, and multiple witnesses stated Hoffman convulsed before going limp. At 6:50 p.m., state officials pronounced Jessie Hoffman dead.
According to KTBS and CNN, Attorney General Liz Murrill stated that she expects at least four more people on Louisiana’s death row to be executed this year.
