Final moments of death row inmate executed by method banned from being used on cats and dogs revealed
Warning: This story contains details of rape and an execution, some of which readers may find distressing.
A convicted rapist and murderer was subject to an execution that lasted almost 20 minutes.
Jessie Hoffman Jr has become the first person in Louisiana to be put to death by nitrogen gas - and the fifth in US history, completing a sentence that was 27 years in the making.
He was sentenced to death in 1996 for the rape and murder of Mary 'Molly' Elliott.
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On Tuesday (March 18), the 46-year-old took his position strapped to a gurney with the gas mask placed over his face at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the country's largest maximum-security prison, located in Angola - just minutes from the Mississippi border.
The inmate was pronounced dead at 6.50pm local time, with authorities saying the mask was strapped to his face for a staggering 19 minutes. One official even said the way procedure was carried out was 'flawless'.
As per the Advocate, officials said Hoffman showed 'convulsive activity' as he was executed and that he moved and shook.
Death by nitrogen gas isn’t common among the states that allow capital punishment and has only been used previously in Alabama.
The execution is a form of slow suffocation as the nitrogen gas forces hypoxia which means the body is deprived of oxygen.
This method is considered inhumane when it comes to putting down pets and under Louisiana Law is only used on cats and dogs if they are already unconscious through sedation.
Hoffman's legal team have said while their client has said he is sorry for the 1996 rape and murder, he should not be executed by this largely untried and controversial method, partly because it violates his religious freedoms.
Hoffman’s lawyer, Cecelia Kappel, told USA Today: “He takes full responsible for this very tragic, awful crime.
“He is so sorry to the family of Molly Elliott and he wishes to have opportunity before he dies to have a face-to-face conversation where he can apologize in person.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Caroline Tillman, one of Hoffman’s attorneys, said: “The State of Louisiana took the life of Jessie Hoffman, a man who was deeply loved, who brought light to those around him, and who spent nearly three decades proving that people can change.
“It took his life not because justice demanded it, but because it was determined to move forward with an execution.”
At the age of 18, Hoffman abducted Elliott in downtown New Orleans on November 26, 1996. He first ordered the 28-year-old advertising executive to withdraw cash from an ATM at gunpoint, before driving her to a remote area in St. Tammany Parish.
It was there that he raped Elliott before killing her in an execution-style murder. Her body wasn't discovered for two days.
Hoffman did not give a final statement or have a final meal before his execution.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.
Joe Yates