New Challenge Filed on Louisiana’s Untested Execution Protocol
New challenge on same grounds as decade-long litigation by PJI that paused executions
Late last night, a new federal lawsuit was filed challenging the State’s procedures for carrying out executions using nitrogen gassing. Attorneys from the Promise of Justice Initiative brought the suit on behalf of Jessie Hoffman who is scheduled to be executed on the evening of March 18. The attorneys also asked the court to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the execution from happening as scheduled.
“The State wants to roll out this new gas protocol but keep it hidden from the public and even from the man they seek to kill,” said Samantha Kennedy, Executive Director of the Promise of Justice Initiative. “Every Louisiana citizen should be concerned about such an extreme exercise of government power, especially when it involves taking a human life.”
The State informed Mr. Hoffman on February 20 that he will be killed using nitrogen gas, a new, experimental method, but state officials have not provided a detailed execution protocol which is necessary to ensure he is not executed in violation of the Constitution. Nitrogen gassing has been used only four times, all in Alabama, and has resulted in gruesome, drawn-out deaths for those executed.
“Louisiana has not carried out an involuntary execution in more than 20 years,” said Cecelia Kappel, an attorney for Mr. Hoffman. “There is no good reason for the state to barrel ahead with this untested and dangerous method before the court has a full and fair opportunity to assess its constitutionality. This is especially true given the horrifying accounts from eyewitnesses to Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions.”
Last week, Chief District Judge Shelly D. Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana reopened litigation in Hoffman v. Jindal (Civil Action 12-796-SDD-EWD), a decade-long challenge to Louisiana’s execution protocol which had been dismissed in 2022. In her ruling, Judge Dick found that “extraordinary circumstances” warranted a reexamination of the challenge, saying the case “is still about Louisiana’s execution protocol” despite the state shifting from lethal injection to nitrogen gassing. Attorneys for the State immediately appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal which quickly ordered a pause on Chief Judge Dick’s decision to reopen the case.
This case, Hoffman v. Westcott (Civil Action No. 25-169), was then filed in light of the State’s actions which have deprived Mr. Hoffman of due process and threaten to end his life in a manner which will amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
LINKS:
· Federal lawsuit complaint in Hoffman v. Westcott
· Motion for a Preliminary Injunction
· District court ruling reopening Hoffman v. Jindal
· PJI/partner’s Statement on Hoffman Reopening
Learn more about the death penalty and executions in Louisiana here.
(Below is the press release from Mr. Hoffman’s legal team with additional, in-depth information on the filing)
Citing Evidence of Prolonged Suffering and Concerns About Government Secrecy, Jessie Hoffman Challenges Louisiana’s Untested Nitrogen Gas Execution Protocol, Seeks To Block March 18 Execution
(Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 26, 2025) Pointing to the gruesome, drawn-out executions by nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama over the past year and the extreme secrecy in which Louisiana has shrouded its execution procedures, death row prisoner Jessie Hoffman last night filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block the state from executing him under these circumstances.
In addition to the complaint, Mr. Hoffman today filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to ensure he is not executed in violation of the Constitution. That motion argues that the State has deprived him of due process by refusing, even now, to give him access to the execution protocol. “The State has refused to provide this basic information about the method it intends to utilize to gas Mr. Hoffman to death based on the erroneous and irrelevant contention that the protocol is not a public record.” (PI p.1)
Earlier this month, after a 15-year hiatus, Louisiana announced it would resume executions and employ the newly adopted nitrogen gas method. A judge in St. Tammany Parish then scheduled Mr. Hoffman’s execution for March 18.
The State only notified Mr. Hoffman that it planned to execute him using this controversial method on February 20, less than a month before his scheduled execution. To date, the complaint explains, the State has not even provided Mr. Hoffman or his attorneys with a complete copy of its protocol for carrying out a nitrogen gas execution. (Complaint p.2)
“Louisiana’s nitrogen gas protocol is completely untested and no court has had a chance to review it,” said Cecelia Kappel, an attorney for Mr. Hoffman. “We haven’t even been able to see the full protocol ourselves, with Jessie’s execution set for just three weeks from now.”
“The State wants to roll out this new gas protocol but keep it hidden from the public and even from the man they seek to kill,” said Samantha Kennedy, Executive Director of the Promise of Justice Initiative. “Every Louisiana citizen should be concerned about such an extreme exercise of government power, especially when it involves taking a human life.”
Alabama Experience Shows Nitrogen Gas Method is Likely to Cause a Prolonged, Torturous Death
The complaint explains that “[n]itrogen gas has been used to kill condemned individuals in only one state, Alabama, and each of the four times it has been used it has resulted in a prolonged death that was horrifying for both the person being executed and those who bore witness.” (Complaint p.2)
The preliminary injunction motion also asserts as-applied challenges to Mr. Hoffman’s execution by nitrogen gas based on circumstances that create a substantial additional risk to him of undue pain and suffering. Mr. Hoffman suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition that makes it likely he will experience a severe panic attack during an execution by nitrogen gas. (PI p.3) He is also a devout Buddhist whose meditative breathing practice is central to his religious practice. The nitrogen gas execution method will place a substantial and unnecessary burden on his religious freedom by preventing him from practicing his faith in the execution chamber as he is being put to death. (PI p.3)
Both the complaint and the preliminary injunction motion urge the court to ensure Mr. Hoffman is not executed before the court can fully assess whether Louisiana’s new nitrogen gas execution protocol will protect his constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. Louisiana is “moving forward at warp speed to use Mr. Hoffman as a test case for an unusual method of execution, never used by this State, which is known to cause a terrifying and excruciating death,” the complaint states. (Complaint p.2)
The complaint notes that Alabama spent five years developing its nitrogen gas protocol, and each time Alabama has used that method, “witnesses report that the inmate ‘gasped, shook and struggled against his restraints,’ ‘rocked his head, shook, and pulled against the gurney restraints,’ ‘struggled to breathe,’ ‘heav[ed] and wretch[ed] inside the mask,’ and ‘gasp[ed] for air.’” (Complaint pp.2-3)
The complaint can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/mr2tkmcj
Mr. Hoffman’s motion for a preliminary injunction can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/5jf8j476
Jessie Hoffman: Faith, Service and Repentance
Mr. Hoffman, who was just two months past his 18th birthday at the time of the crime that sent him to death row, has also filed a supplemental clemency application asking Governor Landry and the Board of Pardons and Parole to consider his remarkable transformation over nearly three decades in prison. He has grown from an impulsive and traumatized teenager into a thoughtful, compassionate man, widely respected by both prison staff and fellow inmates. He devotes his time to faith, service, and repentance, and has long taken full responsibility for the crime.
State Seeks to Resume Executions After 15-Year Pause By Adopting New Methods
Louisiana has carried out only one execution since 2002, the 2010 execution of a man who waived his appeals. A long-running challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol was denied in 2022 after then-Attorney General Jeff Landry represented that Louisiana did not have the drugs needed to carry out an execution and state law provided no other method of execution. At the time, the court dismissed the prisoners’ complaint without prejudice.
In July 2024, the state legislature passed a law adding electrocution and nitrogen hypoxia to lethal injection as permissible execution methods. The legislature also adopted new secrecy provisions applicable to the execution process and those involved in it.
On February 21, the federal district court judge who presided over the lethal injection litigation granted Mr. Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado, an 81-year-old man whose execution was set for March 17 before he passed away from serious illness on February 22, permission to reopen that litigation. The court found: “[t]his case has always been about Louisiana’s execution protocol. It is still about Louisiana’s execution protocol. And now that the protocol appears viable, there is an actionable case and controversy.” (Order, p.8) The court also determined that denying the prisoners an opportunity to reopen the litigation “would constitute manifest injustice.” (Order p.7)
The State asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to stay this ruling, which it did. The State also asked the Fifth Circuit to overturn the district court’s order. As of this morning, the court has not yet ruled. But because so little time remains for a court to review the State’s new execution protocol before Mr. Hoffman’s scheduled execution, he initiated a new lawsuit by filing the complaint and motion for preliminary injunction.
“Louisiana has not carried out an involuntary execution in more than 20 years,” said Kappel. “There is no good reason for the state to barrel ahead with this untested and dangerous method before the court has a full and fair opportunity to assess its constitutionality. This is especially true given the horrifying accounts from eyewitnesses to Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions.