Jews Against Gassing (JAG), death row inmate challenge method of execution
3rd March 2025 · 0 Comments
By Kari Dequine Harden
Contributing Writer
Louisiana’s first execution of a death row inmate in 15 years is scheduled for March 18 – but the planned method of execution – nitrogen hypoxia – is being challenged by inmate Jessie Hoffman’s legal team as well as other groups, including the New Orleans-based Jews Against Gassing.
Nitrogen hypoxia involves inhaling nitrogen gas, which deprives the body of oxygen and results in death.
Sara Lewis, who is part of Jews Against Gassing, said the group aims to “bring to light the fact this method of execution is particularly offensive to the Jewish community.”
With about 80 participants, Lewis said the group has diverse perspectives on the death penalty itself – but their common fight is against the form of execution seen as “evocative of what was done to Jewish people during the holocaust.”
Filing a federal complaint and motion seeking to block his execution, Hoffman argues that the execution protocol is untested, undisclosed and violates his constitutional rights.
The lawsuit cites concerns about the use of nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama – the only state to have used it in four executions – allegedly causing prolonged suffering.
The group Veterinarians Against Gassing protested the use of nitrogen hypoxia Feb. 25 in New Orleans, saying the method has been discontinued for euthanizing animals due to causing fear, anxiety, stress and prolonged death.
The United Nations in 2024 called for an “urgent ban” on nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, saying it is prohibited by international law as “torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Nitrogen hypoxia has also been authorized for use in Oklahoma and Mississippi, but to date has only been used in Alabama.
Proponents have called the execution fast, painless and a viable alternative to the difficult-to-obtain lethal injection drug cocktails, but opponents have called the method experimental and cruel.
According to Hoffman’s lawsuit, “each of the four times [gas] has been used (in Alabama) it has resulted in an excruciating, prolonged death that was horrifying for both the person being executed and those who bore witness.”
Hoffman was convicted of the 1996 murder of 28-year old Mary Elliot, a Covington resident who he abducted from the Central Business District before raping and shooting in a remote area near the Middle Pearl River.
Republican State Rep. Nicholas Muscarello introduced House Bill 6 in February, 2024, which along with including nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative sought to shield drug companies who provide lethal injection drugs from being exposed publicly – both efforts to address what has been described across the country as a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
In terms of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative, Muscarello said he looked at what had been done by other states and did not violate the U.S. Constitution.
“I look at it strictly by what is legal,” he said.
The people convicted to death have been done so by a jury of their peers, Muscarello said. He talked about getting to know the family of the victim of another death row inmate awaiting execution.
“They want their justice,” he said of the family. “They were promised their daughter’s killer would be executed. . .That’s a promise that was made and we can’t just change it in the middle of the game.”
After the nitrogen hypoxia protocol was finalized by the Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections, Gov. Jeff Landry announced in a Feb. 10 press release, “For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes; but that failure of leadership by previous administrations is over. The time for broken promises has ended; we will carry out these sentences and justice will be dispensed.”
Death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado died on Feb. 22 ahead of his scheduled March 17 execution, for which nitrogen hypoxia was planned. Sepulvado murdered his 6-year-old stepson in 1992.
Including Hoffman, there are currently 56 inmates on death row in Louisiana, though many have not yet exhausted legal appeals.
During the Legislative session last spring, Lewis and other members of Jews Against Gassing testified in favor of Senate Bill 430, which sought to remove nitrogen hypoxia as a method. Sen. Katrina Jackson worked with Jews Against Gassing to introduce the bill. On April 22, 2024, the bill passed in the Senate with a vote of 22-16, but stalled in a house committee at the end of the session.
During the Senate hearing, Jackson said she agreed that killing by gas invokes trauma from the holocaust within the Jewish community. She said the bill was not an attack on the penalty. That battle is over, she noted, “However the battle over whether we should invoke trauma on Jews throughout this state with the killing by gas is what is at issue with this bill.”
Jackson said she agreed with the use of the other two methods on the books – electrocution and lethal injection.
“My people were hung for a number of years throughout this state,” Jackson said. “If the death penalty included the gallows of hanging I would be here saying that invokes trauma. Because that was the method used to eradicate at some point my ancestors.”
Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill has been strong in her support to move forward with executions in Louisiana, including with the use of nitrogen hypoxia.
Speaking to The Times-Picayune on Feb. 22 about Hoffman’s lawsuit, Murrill said, “I will vigorously oppose any attempts to delay carrying out justice under our law.”
On Feb 17 on Fox 8 News, Murrill said she thought Jews Against Gassing “are just anti-death penalty advocates. There is a certain group of people who will oppose any form of death penalty.”
The coalition took issue, responding in a letter to Murrill, “As members of our coalition have made clear for well over a year, we are specifically opposed to gassing as a method of execution. While some members of our coalition oppose the death penalty in all forms, many others do not. Dismissing us with a blanket statement that refuses to acknowledge our nuanced stance does a disservice to us as individuals, to our coalition, and to any of your constituents in Louisiana who may disagree with any of your policies.”
Lewis said in working with legislators on both sides of the aisle, the response was largely hopeful from many who simply hadn’t realized how triggering the method of execution might be to Jewish people.
She said Jews Against Gassing will continue to work on legislation and amplify their voice and position in advance of Hoffman’s scheduled March 18 execution.
“We want to make sure people understand the state government is talking about gassing somebody to death in our name.”
This article originally published in the March 3, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
