Opinions were formed over the recent, history-marking event of the first execution by nitrogen gas in Louisiana on March, 18, 2025. 46-year-old Jesse Hoffman Jr. was convicted of the rape and murder of Mary “Molly” Elliot around 30 years ago. The execution of Jesse Hoffman Jr. was the Louisiana’s first in 15 years after the state’s inability to obtain the drugs necessary for lethal injection.
Molly Elliot, a 28-year-old advertising excecutive was raped and murdered on the way to her car from her office the night before Thanksgiving, 1996. Her body was found the following morning along the East-Pearl River near the Louisiana-Mississipi state line. Andy Elliot, Molly’s husband, who was supposed to meet her for a date that night, claimed, “Molly was a cherished person who missed out on motherhood, a promising and successful career, and a life in the country on the property we bought together.”
Hoffman made a religious freedom claim prior to the execution in hopes to delay it, his main argument was that the execution by nitrogen would “substantially burden his religious exercise by interfering with his meditative breathing as he dies.” Although many could see his claim as reasonable, it was ultimately denied by a vote of 5-4.
The first death by nitrous hypoxia asphyxiation as capital punishment in the U.S. took place last year, followed by three was Kenneth Eugene Smith, excecuted in Alabama for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett. Hoffman’s excecution was the first in Lousiana, making it the second state to participate in this method. Alabama’s heavily redacted protocol provides that prisoners will be fitted with a mask and breathing tube to control the gas, which will slowly deprive them of oxygen. Controversy surrounds this practice due to skeptisim surrounding the principle of painlessness, as well as possible threats posed to the spiritual advisor and prison stadd present in the chamber.
Alabama’s protocol goes on to require advisors to sign an acknowledgemnt form beforehand, which states “In the highly unlikely event that the hose supplying breathing gas to the mask were to detach, an area of free-flowing nitrogen gas could result, creating a small area of risk (approximately two (2) feet) from the outflow. Additionally, overpressure could result in a small area of nitrogen gas that displaces the oxygen in the area around the condemned inmate’s face and/or head.”
Having awaited this day since his formal sentence to death in June 1998, Cecilia Koppel, one of Hoffman’s attorneys, claimed the execution was unjust and “senseless,” furthermore stating, “He was a father, a husband, and a man who showed extraordinary capacity for redemption. Jessie no longer bore any resemblance to the 18-year-old who killed Molly Elliot.”
Following the execution, Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry defended the choice to follow through with it, stating, “we will always prioritize victims over criminals, law and order over lawlessness, and justice over the status quo. If you commit heinous acts of violence in this State, it will cost you your life. Plain and simple.” No matter how much time will pass, Molly’s family will always have the scar of her death.
