Louisiana executed Jessie Hoffman on March 18, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5–4 to deny his request to halt the state’s first execution using nitrogen gas, which he argued would violate his Buddhist beliefs.
Hoffman, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. local time at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. He did not issue a final statement and declined a last meal. An official described the 19-minute execution process as flawless. It was the state’s first execution in 15 years and the fifth in the United States to use nitrogen gas.
Hoffman was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1996 death of Mary “Molly” Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive who was killed in New Orleans….