
Jessie Hoffman will not be executed next Tuesday.
Federal Judge Shelly Dick ruled in favor of the 46-year-old death row inmate in his quest for the state not to use nitrogen hypoxia to execute him for kidnapping, raping and killing 28-year-old advertising executive Mary Elliot in 1996.
“(T)he Court’s analysis turns on whether Plaintiff has shown a substantial likelihood that (1) making the condemned breath pure nitrogen until dead cruelly superadds pain and suffering to the execution when compared to firing squad or DDMAPh; (2) firing squad or DDMAPh is “feasible, readily implemented and in fact significantly reduce[s] a substantial risk of severe pain;”75 and (3) the state has refused to adopt one of these methods without a legitimate penological reason,” the chief district judge of the Middle District of Louisiana wrote in her 29-page ruling issued Tuesday afternoon.
Hoffman is not contesting his death sentence; he’s arguing that using nitrogen hypoxia to execute him violates his Buddhist religion, since the lethal gas would interfere with his breathing exercises as part of his religion.
Loyola University New Orleans law professor Dane Ciolino says if Hoffman is executed, it likely now won’t happen for quite some time.
“I can’t imagine that this issue could be fully briefed and argued before the Fifth Circuit before March 18th,” says Ciolino. “I think this virtually assures that this execution is not going to happen in March and more likely won’t happen for many, many more months, if it happens by nitrogen hypoxia at all.”
“We are grateful that the district court carefully considered all of the evidence presented and recognized the significant risks to Jessie Hoffman’s constitutional rights posed by Louisiana’s new and untested lethal gas execution method,” says Cecelia Kappel, one of Hoffman’s attorneys. “This order gives everyone a chance to have a full trial on the merits before Jessie is executed, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue presenting the court with evidence proving that this method risks inflicting torture on Jessie at the time of his death.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also issued a statement in light of Judge Dick’s ruling.
“We disagree with the district court’s decision and will immediately appeal to the Fifth Circuit,” says Murrill.
Ciolino says with the execution now off, the appeals process is no longer up against the calendar.
“All of those courts are going to take this case seriously and (will) consider it expeditiously,” says Ciolino, “but it’s not going to be something that’s going to be decided in a matter of days or weeks or even perhaps months.”
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