An inmate in Louisiana has been executed using nitrogen gas – becoming only the fifth person in the US to die through this method.
Jessie Hoffman Jr was the first convict to be put to death in Louisiana for 15 years – and the Supreme Court had rejected a last-ditch attempt to block the execution.
The 46-year-old had been found guilty of killing Mary “Molly” Elliott in New Orleans when he was 18.
Hoffman declined to make a final statement before the execution, authorities at the Louisiana State Penitentiary said.
They added gas flowed for 19 minutes, and he was pronounced dead at 6.50pm (11.50pm in the UK).
According to the Associated Press, a witness said he convulsed during the process.
Hoffman’s lawyers tried to argue that this method was unconstitutional because it was cruel and unusual – but state officials insist it is painless.
Inmates executed using nitrogen gas in the past have appeared to shake or gasp to varying degrees – involuntary movements officials said were associated with oxygen deprivation.
Under Louisiana’s protocol, inmates executed with the method are strapped to a gurney and have a full-face respirator mask fitted tightly.
Pure nitrogen gas is then pumped into the mask, forcing an inmate to breathe it in and depriving them of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions.
The gas is administered for at least 15 minutes or five minutes after a heart rate reaches a flatline indication on an electrocardiogram – whichever is longer.
Hoffman was the first man executed in Louisiana since Gerald Bordelon, a convicted murderer and sex offender who was executed by lethal injection in 2010.
He was sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing his 12-year-old daughter, Courtney LeBlanc, and had asked to be executed as he would commit a similar crime again.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that more than 50 people are on Louisiana’s death row, and state Attorney General Liz Murrill said she expects at least four people to be executed this year.
