Gov. Landry’s Ploy to Rush Executions Halted by Supreme Court
Marks the third time this year a Louisiana execution warrant was recalled for being invalid.
Late last Friday, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the executions of Marcus Reed and Darrell Draughn could not proceed by vacating their death warrants. Both Mr. Reed and Mr. Draughn are incarcerated on Death Row at Louisiana State Penitentiary. Criminal lawyers for the men argued in court filings that Louisiana does not execute people who are still in active litigation, and both cases are in state court and have yet to be heard by a Federal Court as the legal process requires.
“Governor Jeff Landry overreached again in his desire to kill people,” said Samantha Kennedy, Executive Director of the Promise of Justice Initiative. “This loss, fresh off the amendment loss where Landry attempted to send kids to adult prisons, tells us a lot about Landry who continues incredible, undemocratic attempts to defy laws, basic human decency, and precedents to advance his craven personal interests. The Louisiana public is not clamoring for Landry to kill people, making his hyper fixation on executing as many people as possible on Death Row strange and alarming. People in Louisiana are rightly concerned about a governor who cuts corners and shrouds the execution process in secrecy in an overzealous exercise of the most extreme power available to Louisiana’s government, the taking of a human life.”
Governor Landry sat next to President Trump at the Super Bowl. Two days later, Landry released a statement saying that he expected DAs and courts to move swiftly on executions. In mid-February, Stewart expressed that the Caddo Parish “cases we have are at a good place” and were not ready to proceed as they were still moving through the appeals process. Despite that assertion, Stewart asked a court to issue the now-revoked warrants in late March. Likewise in February, in Rapides Parish, District Attorney Phillip Terrell sought a warrant for execution in a case with pending appeals, and Judge Chris Hazel approved that warrant improperly before recalling it on his own accord a few days later. On March 18, Landry had Jessie Hoffman suffocated to death using nitrogen gas – despite a concern from the federal district court and objections from the victim’s family.
Under Landry’s leadership, Attorney General Liz Murrill publicly stated the administration’s arbitrary goal of killing four people in 2025 even though there are not four people who have exhausted their legal rights to be eligible for execution. Landry’s determined effort to push through warrants for defendants who are ineligible for execution exposes a willingness to manipulate the legal process and the courts and disregard those most closely impacted by his decisions.
The governor was rebuked by victim family members, the voting public in this most recent election, and by the Supreme Court last Friday. “The Promise of Justice Initiative believes in the power of redemption, the importance of healing, and the capacity of every person to grow and change - even those who have caused great harm. We will continue the urgent work to end the death penalty in Louisiana. We will continue to reiterate: the government and politics have no place in deciding who lives and who dies.” concluded Kennedy.
Background
Defendants going through the full legal process after conviction has been incredibly important to uncovering the numerous problems plaguing Louisiana’s death penalty system. Since 1976, 4 out of 5 death sentences in Louisiana have been overturned after conviction. Research by legal advocates has shown that the application of the death penalty in Louisiana is rife with significant racial disparities, widespread evidence of intellectual disability, and misconduct by prosecutors that has resulted in innocent people being sentenced to death. The death penalty has been overwhelmingly imposed on people of color, and 2 out of 3 people on death row today are Black, including men sentenced to death by all-white juries who openly discussed race during their deliberations. Learn more about the death penalty in Louisiana.
LINKS: Court orders in State v. Draughn and in State v. Reed