Nitrogen Hypoxia

People still say, "That’s not the Jessie I knew." But most didn’t know what he endured at home – and that’s likely what drove him on that day, psychiatrists say.

The state plans to use nitrogen hypoxia for the first time Tuesday when it’s scheduled to put Jessie Hoffman to death.

Jessie Hoffman Jr. scheduled to be executed Tuesday at Angola prison. This will be the first execution in 15 years in Louisiana. The state will be the second in the country to use nitrogen gas as a form of execution, next to Alabama, which has carried out four executions using the method.

Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday evening using nitrogen gas, which would be the first time Louisiana has used the method.

Dr. Joseph Antognini travels across the nation, being paid over $500 an hour by government officials who rely on him to vouch for their execution protocols.

As Alabama sets the course for the controversial execution method’s future, activists and legal scholars say eyewitness accounts could halt widespread adoption.

Despite criticism, state officials have defended the use of “nitrogen hypoxia” ahead of Alan Eugene Miller’s scheduled execution this week.