Execution in Louisiana - Hearing set re Religious Claims

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BATON ROUGE — A judge has halted Tuesday's scheduled execution of a man who kidnapped, raped and murdered a New Orleans advertising executive, saying the Buddhist inmate needed time to press his claim that his death by asphyxia could be torturous and impact his later rebirth.

Judge Richard "Chip" Moore of the 19th Judicial District set a hearing for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Jessie Hoffman told Moore in papers filed Monday morning that breathing in pure nitrogen would impact his ability to practice meditative breathing and cause him to panic instead.

"When I have a panic attack, I cannot breathe," Hoffman wrote. In a federal court hearing two weeks ago, experts testified that inmates who don't breathe during nitrogen executions prolong their own suffering.

Having a traumatic death can impact reincarnation, Hoffman's lawyers wrote.

"Mr. Hoffman sincerely believes that he must practice his Buddhist breathing exercises at the critical transition between life and death, called the Bardo," the lawyers wrote. "He believes that if he has traumatic final moments, they can negatively impact the Bardo, which can lead to a negative rebirth."

A federal judge said the nitrogen hypoxia method of execution relies on inmates taking an active part in their own executions. She stopped the execution to let Hoffman claim that other methods would be more humane, but a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned her ruling.

Hoffman was scheduled to die Tuesday night for the 1996 killing of Mary "Molly" Elliot. She was abducted in New Orleans and taken to St. Tammany Parish, where she was raped and then shot execution-style and left in wetlands along the Pearl River.

Myers' told lawyers for the state to say why Hoffman should die Tuesday night, and told executioners they could not kill Hoffman pending the results of the court hearing.

It is still possible that the inmate will die as scheduled, though his lawyers expressed hope that he would be given time to argue his case that a nitrogen hypoxia execution violates his religious rights under the Constitution.

"(T)he method of nitrogen gassing denies Jessie the opportunity to meditatively breathe during his final moments," lawyer Cecelia Kappel said. "Our state law prohibits the government from interfering with the exercise of religious faith, and Judge Moore will decide the important question of whether the state of Louisiana can take away someone’s ability to practice their religion at such a critical moment as the transition between life and death."

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