Jeff Landry to push for new death penalty methods after 14-year pause in executions

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Gov. Jeff Landry will push lawmakers next month to expand methods the state can use to carry out the death penalty, sources say, as Landry seeks to restart executions following more than a decade in which Louisiana’s death chamber sat unused.

Landry, a Republican, has long voiced support for resuming executions through means other than lethal injection drugs, which are in short supply nationwide. He will call on the Legislature to expand those methods in a special session slated to start in late February, according to four people familiar with Landry’s goals for the session.

If successful, the effort could usher in Louisiana’s first execution since 2010 — and the state’s first in decades using a methods other than lethal injection. It underscores a shift towards more conservative public safety policies Landry and other newly elected Republicans hope to enact across state government in the next few months.

Sources said it was not yet clear exactly which methods Landry will pursue making law during the special session, which is set to focus on public safety-related policies and will run from Feb. 19 to March 6. A spokesperson for Landry's office declined to comment.

But as state attorney general, a role he held for eight years, Landry pushed to expand available execution methods from lethal injection — the most common execution tool in the U.S. since its introduction in 1982 — to nitrogen gas, hangings, firing squads and electrocution.

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