ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
Jessie Hoffman Jr. sentenced to death for 1996 rape, murder
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 19, 2025
It is the first execution in Louisiana since 2010
$2.00X
Nitrogen gas used for first time in death chamber at Angola
LA. EXECUTES INMATE After last-minute legal challenges failed, Hoffman died at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday
BY JAMES FINN and JOHN SIMERMAN
Staff writers
Louisiana executed a man convicted of murder with nitrogen gas on Tuesday evening — the state’s first execution in 15 years and its first using the largely untested method — after a raging legal battle that ended with a gas mask strapped over his face in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola death chamber. State officials pronounced Jessie Hoffman Jr. dead at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday at Angola. He inhaled pure nitrogen gas through a mask strapped to his face for 19 minutes while pinned to a gurney, officials said, until oxygen deprivation caused him to die. Officials acknowledged that Hoffman showed “convulsive activity” as he died and that he moved and shook. Hoffman was on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and execution-style slaying of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” ElHoffman liott in rural St. Tammany Parish. Hoffman declined to give a final statement or to eat a final meal at Angola, state officials said in a briefing after the execution. As Hoffman was executed, most of his body was covered with a thick blanket, though witnesses said his hands were visible with his index finger and thumb pointing toward each other — a sacred hand gesture in Buddhism. His spiritual adviser, a Buddhist, knelt near him while chanting as Hoffman died. Media
ä See EXECUTES, page 10A
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Faith leaders, activists and supporters of Jessie Hoffman Jr. hug outside the entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola moments after hearing that Hoffman was executed on Tuesday.
Friends, family gather at vigil outside Angola Speeches, prayers offered for Hoffman and his victim
STAFF PHOTO By JAMES FINN
Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott, right, holds up a photo of murder victim Mary ‘Molly’ Elliott while Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murill speaks at a news conference after the execution Tuesday of Jessie Hoffman Jr.
InterFaith against Executions. “For how we know deep in the marrow of our bones that we are all better than the worst thing that we’ve ever done.” Hoffman’s younger sister, Florence Ruffin, was among those who joined the vigil. After visiting her brother for the BY HALEY MILLER final time at Angola, she staggered out Staff writer of the prison, falling into the arms of a Around 50 friends, family members friend who waited for her at the vigil and supporters of Jessie Hoffman Jr. site. Ruffin carried a brown paper sack full gathered outside the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on a warm and of candy, the last gift from her brother. “Jessie Hoffman,” it read on the outbreezy Tuesday evening to pray for him and commemorate his life as the state side in thick marker. “8 Blowpops. 2 put him to death. Skittles.” “Jessie will always be remembered As the vigil began, she sat under an as a reason for why we do this work,” oak tree with the paper bag at her side. said Alison McCrary, spiritual adviser She rolled it up, placed it like a pillow on death row and director of Louisiana beneath her head and laid back on the
grass. Those at the vigil showed support for Hoffman and his family as well as the victim in his case, Mary “Molly” Elliott, and her family. Hoffman was convicted in the abduction, rape and murder of Elliott in 1996. Anti-death penalty advocates and representatives from many faiths — including Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism — gave speeches to the vigil crowd, calling for an end to executions in Louisiana and wishing Hoffman peace at the moment of death. “May this flame remind us that no life is beyond redemption, no soul beyond grace and no person beyond love,” said Lauren Sapp, deputy director of the
ä See VIGIL, page 9A
Roberts rejects Trump’s impeachment call for federal judge BY CHRIS MEGERIAN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary display of conflict between the executive and judiciary branches, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching judges Tuesday shortly after President Donald Trump demanded the removal of one who ruled against his deportation plans. The rebuke from the Supreme Court’s leader demonstrated how
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the controversy over recent deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members has inflamed tensions over the judiciary’s role, with a legal case challenging Trump’s actions now threatening to spiral into a clash of constitutional powers. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.” The rare statement came just
hours after a social media post from Trump, who described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator.” Boasberg had issued an order blocking deportation flights that Trump was carrying out by invoking wartime authorities from an 18th-century law. “HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REA-
SON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Although Trump has routinely criticized judges, especially as they limit his efforts to expand presidential power, his latest post escalated his conflict with a judiciary that’s been one of the few restraints on his aggressive agenda.
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Impeachment is a rare step that is usually taken only in cases of grave ethical or criminal misconduct. The relationship between Roberts and Trump has shifted through the years. Roberts emphasized judicial independence during Trump’s first term, taking issue with the president’s description of a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge” in 2018.
ä See ROBERTS, page 8A
100TH yEAR, NO. 262