NEW ORLEANS ( WGNO ) — Louisiana plans to execute the first death row inmate in more than a decade, and the first by nitrogen gas .
A federal judge had agreed to re-examine a challenge to Louisiana’s execution protocol, but state attorneys immediately filed an appeal. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals then ordered a stay on the judge’s decision, which could make the execution of convicted murderer Jessie Hoffman imminent.
Hoffman’s attorneys have now filed a new federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s execution procedure of using nitrogen gas, claiming their client was deprived of due process and that the method may violate the Eighth Amendment if it’s deemed cruel and unusual punishment.
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“Then, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction the day after that, and just this morning, we filed another motion, asking the court to set a schedule to make sure we can be heard, and Jessie Hoffman’s claims about the constitutionality of the protocol the state is going to use to execute him can be reviewed by a court,” Samantha Pourciau, senior staff attorney for the Promise of Justice Initiative, said…