By Canadian Press

Federal judge halts Louisiana’s first nitrogen gas execution, state says it will appeal

Mar 11, 2025 | 4:08 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A federal judge halted Louisiana’s first death row execution using nitrogen gas, which was scheduled to take place next week.

U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, stopping the state from immediately moving forward with the execution — which would have been Louisiana’s first execution in 15 years. Attorney General Liz Murrill said the state will immediately appeal the decision.

Last month, Jessie Hoffman Jr. filed a lawsuit against the state and sought to block his March 18 execution date. During a hearing last week, attorneys for Hoffman argued that the execution method of nitrogen hypoxia is cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution and infringes on Hoffman’s freedom to practice his religion, specifically Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises.

They also said the method, which involves an industrial, full-face mask, will ignite and worsen his diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia, causing mental torture.

Attorneys for the state argued that nitrogen hypoxia has proven to be successful in Alabama, saying the method is seemingly painless and an approved method under Louisiana law.

Sara Cline, The Associated Press