Jessie Hoffman: The Man Louisiana Wants to Kill
Dear Community,
At the direction of Governor Landry, Louisiana plans to kill Jessie Hoffman on Tuesday. Jessie Hoffman is guilty of the rape and murder of Molly Elliott. He was 18 years old and has been sitting on death row for the past 27 years.
The death penalty is difficult, and people have widely varied, complicated feelings about it. For the families left behind, the pain caused by violence is heart-wrenching and leaves voids that can never be filled. What do we do when people are harmed in our community? What should we expect from one another, from lawmakers? From our governor? What will make us safe, secure, and healthy? What we do know is that retributive state violence doesn’t make us safer or move us closer to the world we want to live in or deserve.
We wanted to take time to share a bit about the person that Louisiana wants to kill. Below are difficult descriptions of childhood trauma as well as bright spots in Jessie’s life. There are also two videos from Jessie’s family members.
Jessie Hoffman
Jessie Hoffman is a survivor who has built a life of meaning out of an upbringing of multigenerational trauma that was full of terror and neglect. Jessie was born in New Orleans where, from infancy, he was left unprotected by the adults and systems around him. Marvin, Jessie’s brother, describes their childhood in detail in this video.
(*Please be warned that this video discusses abuse and well as Marvin’s deep love of his brother.)
Jessie Hoffman’s brother Marvin
From very early on, Jessie learned to be a protector. Jessie parented his younger siblings by raising, feeding, reading, teaching, and mentoring them.
Though food was scarce, and pain was all around them, Jessie, his siblings, and cousins were kids who loved listening to music on the Lakefront, playing the card game Uno, and swimming. Two of Jessie’s cousins drowned in the industrial canal in New Orleans. After that, Jessie learned how to swim and ensured his siblings also knew. When teaching his stepbrother to swim, he started struggling and sank underwater. Jessie saved his life by pulling him out of the water.
Jessie cared for everyone around him, including the adults who were supposed to look after him. He managed the failures and struggles of adults, family and strangers alike, who lived in the houses that he passed through - adults who were sick, dying, hallucinating, fighting, or passed out from drugs or alcohol. Jessie’s grandmother, Rosa Lee, was the one adult who poured their love into him. He poured that love back to her until she died several years back.
In high school, Jessie was able to build a community of friends through football and city afterschool program. These were positive interventions in Jessie’s life, but he needed many more, and for many years earlier. His whole family needed support.
Jessie ended his childhood in the free world with a horrific act of violence.
At 18 years old, Jessie began the remainder of his life on death row. There, he has found mentors, meaning, and time. With this time, Jessie has grown into an adult and engaged in a healing process that he continues today. Jessie has worked hard to take accountability and to convert his paralyzing remorse for his violence into a mission to do good from the confines of his cell. He has chosen to grow, to work with others, to learn in an attempt to understand, to support his family, and to let spirituality guide his actions. He has developed a Buddhist practice and a commitment to meditation have made it possible for Jessie to manage his trauma and to be a remarkable friend, partner, and father.
In this video, Jessie’s son talks about the impact his father has had on his life.
Jessie Hoffman’s son Jessie
We don’t have to kill people to say that killing is wrong. We want a world where we can all do better and be better. This requires paying attention to our communities and the children within them.
Tell Governor Jeff Landry no executions in Louisiana.
Samantha Kennedy
Executive Director
Promise of Justice Initiative