Jessie Hoffman was convicted in Louisiana for the 1996 killing of Mary “Molly” Elliot. He is scheduled to be executed via nitrogen gas suffocation on March 18, 2025.
Call Governor Landry at 225-342-0991 with the following message:
“Hi. My name is [your name]. I am calling to ask that Gov. Landry grants clemency to Jessie Hoffman, who is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen suffocation on March 18, 2025. We do not need the death penalty to be safe from people who have committed great harm– a life sentence is punishment enough. Thank you.”
Please sign this petition specific to Jessie, and also this other petition from our partners in Louisiana, which opposes the resumption of executions in Louisiana in general.
Mary Elliot, an account executive for an advertising agency, was reported missing the day before her murder. Soon after her body was found, Hoffman was identified as a suspect. After providing inconsistent statements during his police interviews, he eventually confessed to kidnapping and robbing the victim, engaging in sexual intercourse, then shooting her. Jessie’s videotaped confession, along with DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene, was used to secure his conviction. Although Jessie’s defense team never disputed that he had shot Mary, they argued that she had been shot accidentally, rather than purposefully, during a struggle over the gun.
During the penalty phase, the defense presented testimony from eleven witnesses to show that Jessie had no prior issues with the law and, therefore, would not pose any future danger to society. However, the jury unanimously agreed on a death sentence because the offense had been committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner.
Louisiana also intends to be the second state to implement nitrogen suffocation executions after years without an execution due to troubles sourcing lethal injection drugs. Alabama became the first state to implement this experimental method when it executed Kenneth Smith January 2024. The public was promised an execution method that resulted in an almost immediate loss of consciousness and a quick and painless death, yet Kenneth’s execution went very differently than how the state insisted it would. Kenneth thrashed, convulsed, gasped and heaved for more than 20 minutes. The 3 nitrogen suffocations that followed went similarly.
The State of Louisiana has not had an execution in 15 years. Its scheduling of an execution at this time makes the state an outlier in its use of the death penalty while the majority of other states are on a downward trend away from executions.
Please sign the petition asking Governor Jeff Landry to do everything within his power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.