Louisiana is poised to add electrocution and nitrogen gas to its legal methods of executing prisoners sentenced to the death penalty when it begins a legislative Special Session Monday with a long list of bills filed in an effort to reduce crime.
Republican Hammond Rep. Nicholas Muscarello Jr. said his House Bill 6 is designed to provide justice and closure for victims and their surviving families.
Louisiana is one of 27 states where the death penalty still exists, though it’s been 13 years since a prisoner was executed because corrections officials say they’ve been unable to secure the drugs necessary to execute the condemned inmates through legal injection, the only legal method available now.
“This debate isn’t about the legality of the death penalty, that’s been decided,” Muscarello said in an interview with USA Today Network. “This is about following through on commitments we’ve made to victims and their families.
“Many of these families hang their hat on these commitments,” he said.
The bill would also shield companies or compound pharmacists from public exposure if they provide the drugs for lethal injection, which would still be the preferred method of execution in Muscarello’s legislation. Many companies and pharmacists don’t won’t to be publicly associated with executing prisoners.