1
00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:17,519
Speaker 1: I walk the street line.

2
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:29,399
Speaker 2: Shackle change, Oh someome girdie, it's calling my name. There

3
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:36,520
is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as

4
00:00:36,759 --> 00:00:37,479
the huge.

5
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,119
Speaker 1: Stream game Rango three.

6
00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:52,880
Speaker 3: Come here be by me to die inside these walls,

7
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:59,679
inside the wild hadn't went no girls as I.

8
00:01:31,159 --> 00:01:34,799
Speaker 4: Hey everyone, welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one

9
00:01:35,159 --> 00:01:38,000
and forty two years in the making, the complete story

10
00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:43,040
of America's Bloodiest President. I'm Jim Chapman, and today I'm

11
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:48,799
starting a series titled the Executions, Comments and what has

12
00:01:48,879 --> 00:01:52,120
brought this series on. We've discussed in the past on

13
00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:56,760
this podcast that when Governor Jeff Landry was elected, one

14
00:01:56,799 --> 00:01:59,359
of the things that he pledged to do was hold

15
00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:02,799
days again dountible that were sentenced to capital punishment in

16
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,319
the state of Louisiana. And it appears that the pledge

17
00:02:06,599 --> 00:02:10,639
is being seen through as death warrens have been signed

18
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,840
for several individuals locked up in Bloody Angola and sentenced

19
00:02:15,879 --> 00:02:18,280
to death. Now, what I'm going to do with this

20
00:02:18,439 --> 00:02:22,039
series is I'm going to cover the crime, conviction and

21
00:02:22,159 --> 00:02:25,919
the date of execution for each of these individuals. And

22
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:31,960
our first subject is Jesse Hoffman, whose death Warren has

23
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,080
been signed and his date of execution set for March eighteenth.

24
00:02:37,479 --> 00:02:40,759
Just really right around the corner now, we're going to

25
00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,280
start off in November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six,

26
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,240
and a couple in New Orleans, on the east side

27
00:02:48,439 --> 00:02:51,759
of New Orleans found some clothing and some other items

28
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,759
belonging to Molly Elliott in a vacant lot near a

29
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:01,439
highway known as Powers Junction. They turned those items over

30
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,000
to the police, and in addition to that, they had

31
00:03:05,039 --> 00:03:09,360
found three ATM receipts, and police were able to trace

32
00:03:09,479 --> 00:03:14,360
those ATM receipts to a Region's bank in New Orleans.

33
00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,680
Now at the time, the people who found those items

34
00:03:17,719 --> 00:03:21,759
were told that officers were too busy to respond, so

35
00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,039
they took the items to the seventh District headquarters. And

36
00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:31,159
this was the day before Thanksgiving. Sadly, the next day,

37
00:03:31,479 --> 00:03:35,560
on November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, Thanksgiving morning,

38
00:03:35,879 --> 00:03:41,639
Molly's body had also been found in Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana,

39
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,800
which is about a half hour or so from New Orleans.

40
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,400
And shout out to those people who went way above

41
00:03:49,919 --> 00:03:52,680
and beyond what most people would do when they find

42
00:03:52,759 --> 00:03:57,199
discorded items a few pieces of clothing in some ATM receipts,

43
00:03:57,319 --> 00:04:00,159
and they went through all this trouble to make sure

44
00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,719
not only the police were aware of it, but also

45
00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:07,199
that they had possession of it, and unbeknownst to them

46
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,800
at the time, those items would become a key part

47
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,240
of a death penalty case. So just quickly a little

48
00:04:15,319 --> 00:04:19,600
bit of history about Molly Elliott, whose body was found

49
00:04:19,639 --> 00:04:22,560
in Saint Tammany Parish. She was twenty eight years old

50
00:04:22,759 --> 00:04:25,720
and she lived in Covington, Louisiana, which is about a

51
00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:30,600
half hour from the Crescent City. She was actually from California,

52
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,759
but she accepted a job in Louisiana and that was

53
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,879
just two years before she was found deceased. And she

54
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,680
was married to a guy by the name of Andrew Elliott.

55
00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:45,000
He was from Dallas, Texas, and neighbors they described that

56
00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:51,000
couple as just awesome people. Molly Elliott in particular was

57
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,959
very outgoing, very bubbly, very vibrant, just a fun person

58
00:04:55,439 --> 00:04:58,079
to be around. So at the time that that couple

59
00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:02,519
was reporting the clo that they found in those ATM receipts,

60
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,480
and just prior to Molly Elliott's body being found. Her

61
00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:10,879
husband Andrew had actually filed a missing persons report. This

62
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,920
was about ten am on Thanksgiving Eve. Molly had failed

63
00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:18,000
to come home. He first did what you would normally

64
00:05:18,079 --> 00:05:21,279
do when she didn't show up. He starts calling friends

65
00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,639
and relatives and asking them if they had heard from her,

66
00:05:24,759 --> 00:05:30,360
and unfortunately no one had. The next morning, Thanksgiving morning,

67
00:05:30,439 --> 00:05:33,639
November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, a duck hunter

68
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,720
who was hunting in Saint Tammany Parish on a makeshift

69
00:05:36,759 --> 00:05:40,959
dock by what's known as the Pearl River, he finds

70
00:05:41,319 --> 00:05:46,240
the body of Missy Elliott, and Missy had been shot

71
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,240
with a single bullet in the head. Later that day,

72
00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,199
and again this is Thanksgiving Day, her husband Andrew had

73
00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:59,160
to identify her body. I just could not imagine that.

74
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,600
In police, they do what they do. They start investigating,

75
00:06:03,639 --> 00:06:07,199
and they discover that Molly Elliott was last seen leaving

76
00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,079
her office on Camp Street in New Orleans. This was

77
00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,240
on November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six, and that

78
00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,639
she had plans to meet her husband at his office

79
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,439
in Marrero, another outskirt of New Orleans, and they were

80
00:06:21,439 --> 00:06:25,040
going to go to dinner in New Orleans before returning

81
00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,399
back home. Now, this is where those ATM receipts that

82
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,759
were found by the couple that turned them into police,

83
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,720
this is where they really came into play, because police

84
00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,720
had those ATM receipts fresh in their mind and they

85
00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,480
remembered from the bank cards that were found with that

86
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,360
discarded clothing the name Molly Elliott. So the first thing

87
00:06:51,439 --> 00:06:55,480
they did, they go straight to that region's bank, and

88
00:06:55,639 --> 00:06:59,720
region's bank they supply police with some video tape footage

89
00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,319
of the ATM area and it showed Molly withdrawing money

90
00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,839
while standing next to an African American mail wearing a

91
00:07:08,959 --> 00:07:14,040
jacket with the word Valet on it, and investigators recognized

92
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,920
that jacket right away as a jacket worn by valets

93
00:07:18,079 --> 00:07:22,560
working at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans, and

94
00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,439
it was also where Molly would regularly park her car,

95
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,720
which was a nineteen ninety one Nissan two forty SX.

96
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,759
So they head to the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans

97
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,319
and they talked to the big boss man at the

98
00:07:37,319 --> 00:07:40,720
Sheraton Hotel who's in charge of all those valets, and

99
00:07:40,759 --> 00:07:44,759
the manager mentions that during the time period that Molly

100
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,680
was seen on that video footage, only one employee was

101
00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:53,680
on break and that was eighteen year old Jesse Hoffman. Now,

102
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,759
in the meantime, while police are speaking to that manager,

103
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,560
Molly's car was found abandoned in the French Quarter. So

104
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:08,240
in short order, police haul Hoffman in for questioning. This

105
00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:12,079
was on November twenty ninth of nineteen ninety six, just

106
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,360
today after Molly Elliott's body had been found. Haffman was

107
00:08:17,439 --> 00:08:20,800
picked up at a housing project in New Orleans and

108
00:08:20,879 --> 00:08:24,920
when police asked Hoffman his whereabouts during the relevant time,

109
00:08:25,079 --> 00:08:28,079
he first indicated that he left for work and took

110
00:08:28,079 --> 00:08:30,680
a bus to New Orleans East so that he could

111
00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,960
deliver some medication to his girlfriend. But police they were

112
00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,799
suspicious about this story because it kind of branched out

113
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,919
from there and got a little ridiculous. He then said,

114
00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,320
while on the way to deliver medicine to his girlfriend,

115
00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,879
two African American males forced him into a car at gunpoint,

116
00:08:51,039 --> 00:08:53,519
and he got into the car and he noticed a

117
00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,159
white female in the back of the car with a

118
00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,720
towel over her head. Now stick with me. He then

119
00:08:59,799 --> 00:09:03,039
call that the men drove them to an atm and

120
00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:07,080
forced the woman to withdraw money while the defendant stood

121
00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,399
next to her. And his claim got even more ridiculous

122
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:15,320
and strange. He said, after driving a long distance, the

123
00:09:15,399 --> 00:09:18,039
man stopped the car near a bridge and he told

124
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,919
Hoffman to quote, fuck this bitch, or I'll kill you

125
00:09:23,159 --> 00:09:27,919
and your girlfriend Rosanna, which he wasn't specific at the

126
00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,799
time on how they even knew who his girlfriend was.

127
00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:35,480
But obviously, because this story is total bullshit, the police

128
00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,720
didn't buy it. But he continues on with this bullshit story.

129
00:09:39,919 --> 00:09:42,320
He said he complied and he was forced to have

130
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,919
sex with Molly, who, according to Hoffman, was then let

131
00:09:47,039 --> 00:09:50,320
out of the car. And as you can imagine, the

132
00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:55,559
truth never changes and his story changed a million times,

133
00:09:55,600 --> 00:10:01,080
which indicates it was total bullshit. And in his chain story,

134
00:10:01,159 --> 00:10:03,000
he said one of the men that was armed with

135
00:10:03,039 --> 00:10:06,600
a gun actually walked off with Molly when she got

136
00:10:06,639 --> 00:10:09,480
out of the car. He said he never heard any gunshots,

137
00:10:09,519 --> 00:10:13,320
but the man came back alone. He then claimed the

138
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,279
two men dropped him off and he took a bus

139
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:21,000
back to work and didn't even report it. Now, obviously

140
00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,279
he's lying, and it's obvious to me that he spun

141
00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:27,240
the story to explain a lot of things that he

142
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,039
knew police would find. He's assuming if they buy the story,

143
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:35,919
it would explain why police would find his DNA on her.

144
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,759
That's why he said he was quote forced to have

145
00:10:38,879 --> 00:10:41,840
sex with her. He also brought up the fact that

146
00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:45,080
he was forced to be outside that atm with Molly,

147
00:10:45,159 --> 00:10:49,039
which would explain the videotape. I mean, this dude was

148
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,720
reaching because he knew he was fucked, because in reality,

149
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:57,799
what he did was rob, rape and murder a good

150
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,360
human being in Molly Elliot. So police continue to question

151
00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:06,720
Hoffman and in his videotape statement, he admits during the

152
00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:14,679
questioning that he kidnapped, robbed, raped, shot and killed Molly Elliott.

153
00:11:16,279 --> 00:11:19,679
And it was at this time that Hoffman was held

154
00:11:19,799 --> 00:11:23,720
at the Saint Tammany Parish jail and he got no bond,

155
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,399
and this was big news, so you can believe that

156
00:11:27,639 --> 00:11:30,759
cameras were there. He actually appeared startled when he was

157
00:11:30,799 --> 00:11:35,039
confronted by a television camera as he was escorted into

158
00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,039
the back of a patrol carps and flight Out refused

159
00:11:38,039 --> 00:11:41,720
to answer any questions. Probably the smartest thing that he

160
00:11:41,759 --> 00:11:45,919
did during this whole ordeal. So reporters They then contact

161
00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,879
Molly Elliott's husband Andrew for a statement, and he said,

162
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,399
quote this is all just too painful. I'm just not

163
00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,519
ready to speak about it and have no statement at

164
00:11:57,519 --> 00:12:02,720
this time. Unquote who could blame this guy? So on

165
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:08,720
January eighth of nineteen ninety seven a Saint Tammany Parish

166
00:12:08,879 --> 00:12:13,480
grand jury, they indict Jesse Hoffman on first degree murder

167
00:12:13,799 --> 00:12:18,240
in the murder of Molly Elliott and evidence is introduced

168
00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:22,240
at the trial showing that Hoffman kidnapped Molly at gunpoint

169
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,600
in her own car as she was leaving that Sheraton

170
00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,320
parking garage after Molly's long day at work. And in

171
00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,279
the ATM videotape footage, you can see the terror. You

172
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,360
can actually see it on Molly's face as she withdraws

173
00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,639
that money from her account. It's written all over her

174
00:12:40,919 --> 00:12:45,200
that something very horrible has happened. And if you're curious,

175
00:12:45,519 --> 00:12:50,200
it was two hundred dollars that was withdrawn from that ATM.

176
00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,559
And when police spoke with Hoffman's girlfriend, she indicated they

177
00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:59,279
went shopping soon after. And guess what Hoffman paid cash

178
00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,039
for several items. Wonder where he got that cash from.

179
00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:07,559
Of course, after Molly withdrew the money, Hoffman forced her

180
00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,480
back into the car, then still at gunpoint, and told

181
00:13:11,519 --> 00:13:15,639
her to drive to a remote area in Saint Tammany Parish.

182
00:13:15,919 --> 00:13:19,679
On the way, according to Hoffman, Molly begged him not

183
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,320
to hurt her, and he answered that he would not

184
00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:26,960
because she was cooperating. Hoffman even said that Molly offered

185
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,759
herself to Hoffman while begging him not to hurt her,

186
00:13:30,799 --> 00:13:34,080
which personally, I don't believe it, and I guess he

187
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,480
figured that his claim that she offered herself to him

188
00:13:37,879 --> 00:13:41,000
would allow him to escape a rape charge. I mean,

189
00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:45,080
this guy is obviously a total dumbass, right, So Hoffman

190
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:49,200
and Molly they arrive at a secluded section of Saint

191
00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:54,840
Tamminy Parish, just north of Lake Pontcha Train where he

192
00:13:55,879 --> 00:14:02,399
brutally rapes her. So even after kidnapping, robbing, and raping Molly,

193
00:14:02,639 --> 00:14:06,240
all of which were done at gunpoint, Hoffman still didn't

194
00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,879
let her go, as we now know. Instead, he forced

195
00:14:10,919 --> 00:14:15,399
her still at gunpoint while she was completely nude, to

196
00:14:15,519 --> 00:14:18,960
get out of the car, marched down a dirt path

197
00:14:19,039 --> 00:14:23,679
that was overgrown with vegetation and in an area that

198
00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,879
was used as a dump site for local people, just

199
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,000
full of trash. He tells her to get down on

200
00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:35,559
her knees and he shoots her point blank in the head,

201
00:14:36,759 --> 00:14:41,840
execution style, and it's believed that Molly likely survived for

202
00:14:41,919 --> 00:14:45,919
a few minutes after being shot, but she was left

203
00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,720
on that dock completely nude on a cold November evening

204
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:56,879
to die alone. Hoffman then disposed of her belongings, which

205
00:14:56,919 --> 00:14:59,799
we now know where the belongings turned in by that

206
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,879
and he goes back to work after his break, and

207
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,200
his boss noted that he was very late from that break,

208
00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,600
showing up actually two and a half hours late. So

209
00:15:11,799 --> 00:15:14,639
what happens a lot of times with these high profile

210
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,480
cases is the defense will typically ask the court to

211
00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,799
change the venue in which the defendant is tried, and

212
00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,639
this case is no exception. The defense files for a

213
00:15:26,759 --> 00:15:29,879
change of venue request, but the judge in this case

214
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,840
ruled against that change, saying that out of one hundred

215
00:15:33,919 --> 00:15:39,799
potential jurors, fewer than ten could recall anything about the case,

216
00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,519
it needed to stay there and I would agree with that.

217
00:15:43,279 --> 00:15:47,360
And then in June of nineteen ninety eight, that trial

218
00:15:47,559 --> 00:15:51,559
finally takes place. A forensic pathologist by the name of

219
00:15:51,639 --> 00:15:56,200
Fraser Mackenzie. He testified that Molly did indeed survive for

220
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,799
fifteen minutes after that bullet struck her head. The fisherman

221
00:16:00,039 --> 00:16:03,039
who found her body also testified, and he said that

222
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,600
her head was near the water, her hair was wet,

223
00:16:07,559 --> 00:16:11,159
and he saw of this, jumped into his truck, went

224
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,600
to the nearest store and called nine to one one.

225
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,919
It was obvious to him that she was dead. The

226
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,399
state presented DNA evidence leaking Hoffman directly to the crime,

227
00:16:22,559 --> 00:16:27,399
along with Hoffman's videotape statement, and although the defense never

228
00:16:27,519 --> 00:16:32,480
contested that Hoffman shot Molly, the defense did introduce the

229
00:16:32,519 --> 00:16:36,639
testimony of one witness, doctor Friedman, and he contested the

230
00:16:36,759 --> 00:16:42,080
validity of those DNA results. However, his testimony was deemed

231
00:16:42,399 --> 00:16:46,320
as not reliable, and the defense took it even one

232
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:51,240
step farther, claiming that in a struggle, the gun accidentally

233
00:16:51,279 --> 00:16:56,879
fired and killed Molly and it was not an intentional homicide.

234
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,559
Of course, the jury they didn't buy any of this.

235
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,400
He was found guilty of first degree murder as well

236
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:11,400
as aggravated rape and aggravating circumstances. So on September eleventh

237
00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:16,440
of nineteen ninety eight, he gets sentenced, and the jury

238
00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:21,759
recommended unanimously that Hoffman would be sentenced to death via

239
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:28,279
lethal injection. So, as is the case anytime you're convicted

240
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:33,039
of pretty much anything, you're going to appeal, but especially

241
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:37,960
when you're convicted of murder and convicted in sentenced to death,

242
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:43,079
and Hoffman was no exception. He actually appealed his conviction

243
00:17:43,319 --> 00:17:47,759
and cited eighteen points of error in his jury trial.

244
00:17:48,039 --> 00:17:49,920
And I'm not going to go over all of them,

245
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,160
but I'll give you a few. For one, he complained

246
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,240
that the court made a mistake in denying his change

247
00:17:56,319 --> 00:18:00,240
a venue request. Another complaint he had was as he

248
00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:03,160
said that his statements to the police should have been

249
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,880
taken out because they took him into custody without, in

250
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,240
his mind, probable cause. I mean, I don't know what

251
00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,200
he considers would be probable cause, but they had a

252
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,400
fucking video tape of this guy at an ATM with

253
00:18:18,519 --> 00:18:21,759
a victim just prior to her death. I'd say that

254
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,839
was pretty good probable cause. He also complained that two

255
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:30,160
of the three African American potential jurors were dismissed from

256
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:36,279
the jury pool without giving sufficient race neutral explanations. He

257
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,799
even complained that the trial court did not have the

258
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,240
right to introduce the videotape of the victim with drawing

259
00:18:44,319 --> 00:18:48,880
money at that atm. I mean, come on, and just

260
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,079
a bunch of other ridiculous complaints of the court absolutely

261
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,960
gets filled with every time there's a conviction, and just

262
00:18:57,039 --> 00:19:00,799
about every time. It's bullshit these complaints. Now, there are

263
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,240
exceptions to that, as we all know, but this wasn't

264
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:10,240
one of those cases. So on May twelfth of two thousand,

265
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:17,440
the court denies Hoffman's application for rehearing. But Hoffman wasn't

266
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,240
given up that easy. He brings it to the US

267
00:19:20,319 --> 00:19:24,880
Supreme Court and they deny his appeal. This was in

268
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:29,640
October of two thousand. So on July twentieth of two

269
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,920
thousand and one, Hoffman then files an application for what's

270
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,880
known as post conviction relief with the state's district court.

271
00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:42,119
Guess what. That application was denied. And I go over

272
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,279
all of this because I want you to see the

273
00:19:44,319 --> 00:19:50,559
picture of this guy exhausting every appeal opportunity he had. Now,

274
00:19:50,599 --> 00:19:54,960
in April of twenty twelve, Hoffman files a lawsuit against

275
00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:59,279
Bloody Angla Warden Burl Caane. We've done an episode on

276
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,559
Burl Caine. I'm go to check that out. Actually, it

277
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,599
was a mini series of swords, and he challenged his

278
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,319
conviction and death sentence, and of course none of that

279
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,000
goes anywhere, and Hoffman at this point is just biding

280
00:20:13,079 --> 00:20:17,599
his time inside the wire. Then in April of twenty

281
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:23,519
twenty two, a judge dismisses a nearly decade old lawsuit

282
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,440
against executions in Louisiana, saying there's nothing to challenge because

283
00:20:28,519 --> 00:20:32,160
the state can't even get the required drugs as medications.

284
00:20:32,279 --> 00:20:35,079
And this was a big deal, not only for Haffman,

285
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,279
but for everyone else that was sentenced to death, because

286
00:20:38,319 --> 00:20:42,519
from twenty twelve to this time in twenty twenty two,

287
00:20:43,759 --> 00:20:50,319
executions were completely halted during this lawsuit filled time. Now,

288
00:20:50,319 --> 00:20:52,960
as I told you, with the start of this one,

289
00:20:53,079 --> 00:20:57,079
in twenty twenty four, Jeff Landry became the new governor

290
00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:01,440
of the state of Louisiana, very strong on crime, very tough,

291
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,680
and one of his campaign promises was he was bringing

292
00:21:05,759 --> 00:21:09,640
back executions one way or the other, and he did

293
00:21:10,319 --> 00:21:13,680
just that, but with a little bit of a twist.

294
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:18,720
Rather than lethal injection, which nobody can get the medicine

295
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:24,000
for this Louisiana, no exception. Louisiana is now going to

296
00:21:24,599 --> 00:21:31,519
nitrogen hypoxia as a form of execution. And on February

297
00:21:31,599 --> 00:21:35,359
tenth of twenty twenty five, less than a month ago,

298
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,039
Hoffman's death warrant is signed with an execution date as

299
00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:44,000
I told you of March eighteenth of twenty twenty five.

300
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,400
Hoffman is now forty seven years old. Now a little

301
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:54,039
bit about nitrogen hypoxia executions. Alabama is actually the only

302
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,039
state thus far to carry out those type of executions,

303
00:21:58,279 --> 00:22:01,759
and they've done four of them since January of twenty

304
00:22:01,759 --> 00:22:06,200
twenty four. And a little history on Louisiana. The last

305
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:10,400
execution there was in twenty ten, and that was the

306
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,799
execution of Gerald Bordelong. So that's a wrap. Right, March

307
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:18,559
eighteenth is approaching. This guy has exhausted all his appeals

308
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,640
and now it's just a matter of time. Y'all know

309
00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:26,559
better than that. I'm going to reference an article for

310
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,000
you quickly that came out just last week in the

311
00:22:30,039 --> 00:22:35,119
New Orleans Times, pickying paper and the headline reads Louisiana

312
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:40,359
death row inmate files lawsuit to block March eighteenth execution

313
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:45,279
by nitrogen gas. Jesse Hoffman, the death row inmate who

314
00:22:45,279 --> 00:22:48,079
could be the first man in Louisiana put to death

315
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,440
by nitrogen gas, filed a new lawsuit late Tuesdays seeking

316
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:57,119
to stop his March eighteenth execution. The suit challenges the

317
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,799
state's newest method of execution, nitrogen gas, which state officials

318
00:23:01,799 --> 00:23:05,279
have informed Hoffman they intend to use to kill him.

319
00:23:05,519 --> 00:23:08,720
The filing marks the latest and a flurry of actions

320
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,599
set off this month when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced

321
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,519
the state had readied its nitrogen gas execution protocols and

322
00:23:16,599 --> 00:23:20,799
it planned to resume executions after a fifteen year hiatus.

323
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,440
Within days, a Saint Tammany Parish judge had signed Hoffman's

324
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,680
execution warrant. Hoffman's attorneys had been fighting the decision in

325
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:34,680
federal court ever since. Their latest lawsuit, filed in Louisiana's

326
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,119
Middle District, says the state has refused to release the

327
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:43,079
execution protocol to Hoffman, depriving him of his rights. It

328
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:47,240
also claimed that executing Haffman via nitrogen gas would violate

329
00:23:47,319 --> 00:23:51,680
the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids cruel and

330
00:23:51,839 --> 00:23:58,319
unusual punishment. Louisiana followed Alabama in endorsing nitrogen hypoxia last

331
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,039
year as a method of execution. Alabama has executed four

332
00:24:02,079 --> 00:24:06,359
people to this date using the gas. Hoffman's attorneys pointed

333
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,000
to witness accounts the painted grim picture of suffering by

334
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,440
those inmates in their final minutes. Quote. Louisiana's nitrogen gas

335
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:18,079
protocol is completely untested and no court has a chance

336
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,279
to review it. This from Cecilia Capel, an attorney for Hoffman.

337
00:24:22,559 --> 00:24:25,119
We haven't even been able to see the full protocol

338
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:30,240
ourselves with Jesse's execution except for just three weeks from now.

339
00:24:31,039 --> 00:24:35,440
Hoffman's legal team also requested a stay of Hoffman's execution.

340
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,519
The new lawsuit appeared to land with US District Judge

341
00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:43,839
Shelley Dick, the district chief judge who last week reopened

342
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:48,119
a long dormant lawsuit Hoffman and other death row inmates

343
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:53,000
filed in twenty twelve over Louisiana's execution protocols. A federal

344
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,880
appeals court panel swiftly stayed the ruling by Dick, an

345
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,960
appointee of former President Barack Obama, while it weighs an

346
00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:05,839
opposition from Attorney General Liz Murrell. The panel of Appeals

347
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,599
Court Judges is comprised of Catherine Hayes, a nominee of

348
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,599
George W. Bush In two nominees of President Donald Trump,

349
00:25:13,759 --> 00:25:17,799
James Hoe and Andrew Aldam Quote. I expect the lawyers

350
00:25:17,839 --> 00:25:21,920
to eventually file this lawsuit, Mural said Wednesday. That's the

351
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,720
Attorney General. I have not had a chance to review it,

352
00:25:25,799 --> 00:25:28,440
so I cannot speak on the allegations, but I will

353
00:25:28,519 --> 00:25:33,039
vigorously oppose any attempts to delay carrying out justice under

354
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:38,079
our law. Mural's team also questioned Hoffman's tactics in federal court.

355
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,240
They sent a letter Wednesday to the US Fifth Circuit

356
00:25:41,279 --> 00:25:43,880
Court of Appeals saying, in the light of Hoffman's new

357
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,319
lawsuit being filed, the appeals court should order Dick to

358
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:52,160
vacate a ruling that reopened the Hoffman's old suit. State

359
00:25:52,279 --> 00:25:57,839
Solicitor General Jay Benjamin Aguinaga wrote that Hoffman's attempt to

360
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:02,480
commandeer and moot lethal and jection lawsuits brings a nitrogen

361
00:26:02,599 --> 00:26:06,319
challenge that is an extraordinary abuse of the law. Capel

362
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,680
responded in a letter to the Fifth Circuit that said

363
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:14,039
the new suit was necessary due to the extingent circumstances

364
00:26:14,039 --> 00:26:18,039
of the upcoming scheduled execution, Hoffman needs to ensure the

365
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:23,200
opportunity to assert his constitutional rights before petitioners run out

366
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,920
the clock. The article continues on and says it's been

367
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,799
nearly thirty years since Hoffman committed the crime that landed

368
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,359
him on death row. He was eighteen years old and

369
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,240
working as a parking intendant in New Orleans when he

370
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:39,240
kidnapped twenty eight year old Mary Molly Elliott on the

371
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,720
night before Thanksgiving in nineteen ninety six as she walked

372
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,680
back to her car in the New Orleans Central Business District.

373
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,200
Hoffman took her to a remote area near the Pearl River,

374
00:26:50,319 --> 00:26:54,599
where he rape shot and killed the advertising executive, who

375
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,599
was married and living near Covington. Hoffman's attorneys say he

376
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,079
has had a quote train information over the last three

377
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,799
decades in prison, and is respected by prison staff and

378
00:27:05,839 --> 00:27:09,400
fellow inmates alike, and is focused on his faith. His

379
00:27:09,519 --> 00:27:14,440
attorneys this week applied for commission, asking Landry for a reprieve.

380
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,599
In the meantime, Hoffman's attorneys acknowledged that he has exhausted

381
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,440
all of his appeals, but Hoffman's case is the first

382
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,440
time that Louisiana is expected to deploy nitrogen gas to

383
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,799
put someone to death. Alabama is the first and only

384
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,839
state so far to have executed inmates by the gas

385
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,039
in the modern era. Alabama's first time using the gas

386
00:27:39,079 --> 00:27:42,440
as an execution method was in January of twenty twenty four,

387
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,119
when the state put Kenneth Eugene Smith to death. News

388
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,240
reports say that he thrashed violently and shook his head

389
00:27:49,279 --> 00:27:52,720
for about two minutes after the gas was administered. He

390
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,799
then took gasping brusts. It took ten minutes until he

391
00:27:56,839 --> 00:28:01,240
can no longer be seen visibly breathing. Since then, Alabama

392
00:28:01,279 --> 00:28:05,839
has executed three others by nitrogen gas. Alan Eugene Miller

393
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,519
carried Grayson in Demetrius Fraser. Eyewitness accounts of the later

394
00:28:10,599 --> 00:28:15,359
executions described prolonged deaths. It took thirteen minutes for Fraser

395
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,359
to die after gas began flowing into his system. During

396
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,880
that time, Fraser twitched, shuddered, and appeared to struggle to breathe,

397
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,359
the report said, And when Miller died by nitrogen gas,

398
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,200
he shook on the gurney for about two minutes and

399
00:28:30,319 --> 00:28:33,799
periodically gulp for air for about six minutes before he

400
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:40,079
went still. Hoffman seeks an alternative method. Hoffman is a

401
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,839
debout Buddhist who practices faith for more than two decades.

402
00:28:43,839 --> 00:28:47,400
According to his legal team, he has attended Buddhist services

403
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,279
on death row since they became available in twenty eighteen.

404
00:28:51,559 --> 00:28:54,920
His complaints said his lawyers argue forcing him to breathe

405
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,799
pure nitrogen would interfere with his Buddhist practices at his

406
00:28:59,079 --> 00:29:03,400
time of death. According to the Buddha, one must maintain

407
00:29:03,519 --> 00:29:06,880
contact with the breath in order to be mindful. The

408
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,359
complaint says, mister Hoffman sincerely believes that he must practice

409
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,839
breathing meditation at the most critical time of his transition

410
00:29:16,079 --> 00:29:20,400
between life and death. The lawsuit argues that the execution

411
00:29:20,519 --> 00:29:25,680
would violate federal law protecting religious freedoms. Boy their reagion,

412
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,759
Hoffman's complaints suggested two alternate methods which would be more

413
00:29:30,839 --> 00:29:35,480
humane than nitrogen hypoxia, though neither are legal in Louisiana.

414
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:40,000
The first is execution by firing squad, which the lawsuit

415
00:29:40,039 --> 00:29:44,279
calls a known, available and feasible alternative that will reduce

416
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,720
pain and suffering. Some other states have legalized execution via

417
00:29:48,839 --> 00:29:52,799
firing squads, and a South Carolina inmate recently requested to

418
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,200
be put to death via firing squad in his upcoming execution.

419
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,640
The complaint also suggests the the use of cocktail drugs

420
00:30:01,759 --> 00:30:07,480
known as DDMAPH. Those drugs can be used for physician

421
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,960
assisted suicide in states where it is legal. For more

422
00:30:12,039 --> 00:30:16,599
than thirty years, lethal injection was the state's only approved

423
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:21,599
execution method at Landry's behesse. The state has added nitrogen

424
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:26,119
hypoxia to that list last year, along with electrocution, which

425
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,480
Louisiana had outlawed in nineteen ninety one. Will we see

426
00:30:30,519 --> 00:30:36,640
a return of gruesome gurdy? So there you have it,

427
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,839
and I'm going to keep you updated on where this

428
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,119
appeal goes. I think it's going to go nowhere, this

429
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,680
lawsuit rather but I will keep you updated. And my

430
00:30:47,799 --> 00:30:52,039
only question is I wonder how many times Miss Molly

431
00:30:52,079 --> 00:30:57,559
twitched when he put that bullet through forehead and left

432
00:30:57,599 --> 00:31:03,119
her rate and dying in the dump in the middle

433
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:08,279
of nowhere. That's all I got this week. Next week

434
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:13,079
I'm bringing you another one as we continue this series,

435
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:19,920
And until next time, I'm Jim Chopman for Bloody and

436
00:31:20,039 --> 00:31:23,400
goa a podcast one hundred and forty two years in

437
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,880
the making. The complete story of America's bloody is present.

438
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 1: Peace a wall, street line, shackle chain. It's calling my name.

439
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:04,000
There is no mercy and it's been a century.

440
00:32:06,279 --> 00:32:11,599
Speaker 2: Juice as the huge stream game Rango the three.

441
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: I'm here, bef, I'm.

442
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:26,720
Speaker 3: Here to die inside these walls, inside the wild. And

443
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:27,480
when no.

444
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 4: As, I'm no insul.

445
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 3: Bloody angle, ohbody angle,