A federal judge in Baton Rouge has issued a preliminary injunction to stop Louisiana from moving forward with its first nitrogen gas execution on March 18, though the state immediately moved to appeal her ruling, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick granted the preliminary injunction Tuesday after a daylong hearing last week in which attorneys for condemned inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. argued that the state's plan to kill him with nitrogen amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is forbidden under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. She also wrote that she was persuaded by arguments that death by a firing squad would be a quicker and more humane method, though it is not currently legal in Louisiana.
"Now, after an expedited hearing, and absent a fully developed record, this Court must answer the ultimate question: is nitrogen hypoxia cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?" Dick wrote in her ruling. She said that Hoffman's attorneys had proven enough to warrant a delay until she can fully consider the issue. "Plaintiff has shown that nitrogen hypoxia superadds psychological pain, suffering, and terror to his execution when compared to execution by firing squad," Dick added. "He has shown that execution by firing squad is a feasible and readily available alternative that the State has no legitimate penological reason for not adopting." Attorneys for the state filed a notice of appeal within minutes of Dick releasing her ruling Tuesday afternoon.
Comments