The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections may have used compressed gas from a Pennsylvania company in the March 18 state execution of Jessie Hoffman, despite the fact that the company prohibits the use of its products for the purpose of killing people.
The office of Gov. Jeff Landry, an avid supporter of the death penalty, directed a request for comment by Gambit to the Department Public Safety & Corrections. Under a public records law passed last year, the department does not reveal information which could identify people or companies involved in executions. The department did not respond to a request for information about its procurement process.
However, photographs of the equipment used in Hoffman’s execution, which was done with the use of nitrogen gas, appear to show cylinders of compressed gas produced by Airgas may have been used.
Airgas has contracted with the state of Louisiana for over 25 years, selling products including nitrogen gas for a variety of industrial purposes, criminal analysis and other applications. The company, though, has been outspoken in its position against the use of its products for executions since 2019, four years after Oklahoma became the first state to legalize executions by nitrogen gas and as other Southern states began to follow suit.
“Providing nitrogen for execution purposes is inconsistent with our company values,” Airgas spokesperson Kim Menard told Gambit. “Airgas has not and will not supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution.”
Menard, who said the company had no direct involvement in Hoffman’s death, also warned if the state did use Airgas products in its execution, it would “promptly address the failure to respect” its position on using its products to carry out the death penalty.
“Airgas is not collaborating with the state of Louisiana or any other state,” Menard wrote in a statement to Gambit, adding, “If Airgas becomes aware that the state plans to use or used products purchased from Airgas as part of its execution procedures, then Airgas will promptly address the failure to respect our position on this important topic directly with the state.”
Photographs and videos reviewed by Gambit that were included in Hoffman’s death penalty appeal show Airgas tanks and other Airgas products inside the chamber where Hoffman was eventually executed, as first reported by The Guardian.
For instance, one video shows tanks in the execution chamber depicting the company’s website in small print — partially obscured by heavy duty tape — in addition to a paper bag filled with Airgas labels and valves, along with other items of unknown origin.
What type of gas was in the containers is not clear. Some of the tanks were painted green — which is often used to designate a cylinder contains oxygen — with a black cap, which can be used to indicate the tank is mixed with nitrogen.
Menard told Gambit the company has made it clear to the Landry administration that its products are not to be used in executions, including in a recent letter to the Department of Public Safety & Corrections in which Airgas reiterated its opposition to using its products for the death penalty.
Faith leaders, activists and supporters of Jessie Hoffman light candles outside the entrance to Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola on March 18
Airgas “communicated directly with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections to affirm our position,” Menard said. She said the department had responded accordingly and “acknowledged our letter prohibiting the use of any nitrogen for execution purposes.”
Airgas is one of at least three major nitrogen supplying companies that have publicly stated their products should not be used in executions. In fact, Airgas was the first of such companies to speak out against these methods.
Carrying out death sentences by nitrogen hypoxia is highly controversial and experimental. Critics include many medical professionals and human rights advocates who say it can cause extreme suffering and agony. It takes several minutes to take effect and can cause seizures, vomiting and strokes before death.
In fact, death by nitrogen hypoxia can be so distressing that Louisiana made it illegal to use for euthanizing animals.
However, using it as an execution method has gained traction in pro-death penalty states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama, as an alternative to lethal injection.
Executions by lethal injection have become nearly impossible because drugs are difficult to acquire. Many pharmaceutical companies have refused to manufacture and distribute drugs for the purpose of state executions.
Because of the state’s public records laws, it's almost impossible to determine where the state obtained the various gases used in the procedure. Hoffman’s lawyers have slammed the state over its lack of transparency in its execution protocols, though they were eventually released — with much of the key information redacted, such as the names of manufacturers and other individuals involved.
Hoffman, 46, was convicted in 1998 for the rape and murder of 28-year-old New Orleans advertising executive Molly Elliott two years earlier.
He was the first person serving on Louisiana’s death row that the state killed using nitrogen gas. It marked the first time the state had carried out an execution since 2010.
There are 56 others on Louisiana's death row, and according to The Louisiana Illuminator, Attorney General Liz Murrill has indicated there could be four more executions this year.
