Speaker 1: I walk the street line.
Speaker 2: Shackle change, Oh someome girdie, it's calling my name. There
is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as
the huge.
Speaker 1: Stream game Rango three.
Speaker 3: Come here be by me to die inside these walls,
inside the wild hadn't went no girls as I.
Speaker 4: Hey everyone, welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one
and forty two years in the making, the complete story
of America's Bloodiest President. I'm Jim Chapman, and today I'm
starting a series titled the Executions, Comments and what has
brought this series on. We've discussed in the past on
this podcast that when Governor Jeff Landry was elected, one
of the things that he pledged to do was hold
days again dountible that were sentenced to capital punishment in
the state of Louisiana. And it appears that the pledge
is being seen through as death warrens have been signed
for several individuals locked up in Bloody Angola and sentenced
to death. Now, what I'm going to do with this
series is I'm going to cover the crime, conviction and
the date of execution for each of these individuals. And
our first subject is Jesse Hoffman, whose death Warren has
been signed and his date of execution set for March eighteenth.
Just really right around the corner now, we're going to
start off in November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six,
and a couple in New Orleans, on the east side
of New Orleans found some clothing and some other items
belonging to Molly Elliott in a vacant lot near a
highway known as Powers Junction. They turned those items over
to the police, and in addition to that, they had
found three ATM receipts, and police were able to trace
those ATM receipts to a Region's bank in New Orleans.
Now at the time, the people who found those items
were told that officers were too busy to respond, so
they took the items to the seventh District headquarters. And
this was the day before Thanksgiving. Sadly, the next day,
on November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, Thanksgiving morning,
Molly's body had also been found in Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana,
which is about a half hour or so from New Orleans.
And shout out to those people who went way above
and beyond what most people would do when they find
discorded items a few pieces of clothing in some ATM receipts,
and they went through all this trouble to make sure
not only the police were aware of it, but also
that they had possession of it, and unbeknownst to them
at the time, those items would become a key part
of a death penalty case. So just quickly a little
bit of history about Molly Elliott, whose body was found
in Saint Tammany Parish. She was twenty eight years old
and she lived in Covington, Louisiana, which is about a
half hour from the Crescent City. She was actually from California,
but she accepted a job in Louisiana and that was
just two years before she was found deceased. And she
was married to a guy by the name of Andrew Elliott.
He was from Dallas, Texas, and neighbors they described that
couple as just awesome people. Molly Elliott in particular was
very outgoing, very bubbly, very vibrant, just a fun person
to be around. So at the time that that couple
was reporting the clo that they found in those ATM receipts,
and just prior to Molly Elliott's body being found. Her
husband Andrew had actually filed a missing persons report. This
was about ten am on Thanksgiving Eve. Molly had failed
to come home. He first did what you would normally
do when she didn't show up. He starts calling friends
and relatives and asking them if they had heard from her,
and unfortunately no one had. The next morning, Thanksgiving morning,
November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, a duck hunter
who was hunting in Saint Tammany Parish on a makeshift
dock by what's known as the Pearl River, he finds
the body of Missy Elliott, and Missy had been shot
with a single bullet in the head. Later that day,
and again this is Thanksgiving Day, her husband Andrew had
to identify her body. I just could not imagine that.
In police, they do what they do. They start investigating,
and they discover that Molly Elliott was last seen leaving
her office on Camp Street in New Orleans. This was
on November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six, and that
she had plans to meet her husband at his office
in Marrero, another outskirt of New Orleans, and they were
going to go to dinner in New Orleans before returning
back home. Now, this is where those ATM receipts that
were found by the couple that turned them into police,
this is where they really came into play, because police
had those ATM receipts fresh in their mind and they
remembered from the bank cards that were found with that
discarded clothing the name Molly Elliott. So the first thing
they did, they go straight to that region's bank, and
region's bank they supply police with some video tape footage
of the ATM area and it showed Molly withdrawing money
while standing next to an African American mail wearing a
jacket with the word Valet on it, and investigators recognized
that jacket right away as a jacket worn by valets
working at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans, and
it was also where Molly would regularly park her car,
which was a nineteen ninety one Nissan two forty SX.
So they head to the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans
and they talked to the big boss man at the
Sheraton Hotel who's in charge of all those valets, and
the manager mentions that during the time period that Molly
was seen on that video footage, only one employee was
on break and that was eighteen year old Jesse Hoffman. Now,
in the meantime, while police are speaking to that manager,
Molly's car was found abandoned in the French Quarter. So
in short order, police haul Hoffman in for questioning. This
was on November twenty ninth of nineteen ninety six, just
today after Molly Elliott's body had been found. Haffman was
picked up at a housing project in New Orleans and
when police asked Hoffman his whereabouts during the relevant time,
he first indicated that he left for work and took
a bus to New Orleans East so that he could
deliver some medication to his girlfriend. But police they were
suspicious about this story because it kind of branched out
from there and got a little ridiculous. He then said,
while on the way to deliver medicine to his girlfriend,
two African American males forced him into a car at gunpoint,
and he got into the car and he noticed a
white female in the back of the car with a
towel over her head. Now stick with me. He then
call that the men drove them to an atm and
forced the woman to withdraw money while the defendant stood
next to her. And his claim got even more ridiculous
and strange. He said, after driving a long distance, the
man stopped the car near a bridge and he told
Hoffman to quote, fuck this bitch, or I'll kill you
and your girlfriend Rosanna, which he wasn't specific at the
time on how they even knew who his girlfriend was.
But obviously, because this story is total bullshit, the police
didn't buy it. But he continues on with this bullshit story.
He said he complied and he was forced to have
sex with Molly, who, according to Hoffman, was then let
out of the car. And as you can imagine, the
truth never changes and his story changed a million times,
which indicates it was total bullshit. And in his chain story,
he said one of the men that was armed with
a gun actually walked off with Molly when she got
out of the car. He said he never heard any gunshots,
but the man came back alone. He then claimed the
two men dropped him off and he took a bus
back to work and didn't even report it. Now, obviously
he's lying, and it's obvious to me that he spun
the story to explain a lot of things that he
knew police would find. He's assuming if they buy the story,
it would explain why police would find his DNA on her.
That's why he said he was quote forced to have
sex with her. He also brought up the fact that
he was forced to be outside that atm with Molly,
which would explain the videotape. I mean, this dude was
reaching because he knew he was fucked, because in reality,
what he did was rob, rape and murder a good
human being in Molly Elliot. So police continue to question
Hoffman and in his videotape statement, he admits during the
questioning that he kidnapped, robbed, raped, shot and killed Molly Elliott.
And it was at this time that Hoffman was held
at the Saint Tammany Parish jail and he got no bond,
and this was big news, so you can believe that
cameras were there. He actually appeared startled when he was
confronted by a television camera as he was escorted into
the back of a patrol carps and flight Out refused
to answer any questions. Probably the smartest thing that he
did during this whole ordeal. So reporters They then contact
Molly Elliott's husband Andrew for a statement, and he said,
quote this is all just too painful. I'm just not
ready to speak about it and have no statement at
this time. Unquote who could blame this guy? So on
January eighth of nineteen ninety seven a Saint Tammany Parish
grand jury, they indict Jesse Hoffman on first degree murder
in the murder of Molly Elliott and evidence is introduced
at the trial showing that Hoffman kidnapped Molly at gunpoint
in her own car as she was leaving that Sheraton
parking garage after Molly's long day at work. And in
the ATM videotape footage, you can see the terror. You
can actually see it on Molly's face as she withdraws
that money from her account. It's written all over her
that something very horrible has happened. And if you're curious,
it was two hundred dollars that was withdrawn from that ATM.
And when police spoke with Hoffman's girlfriend, she indicated they
went shopping soon after. And guess what Hoffman paid cash
for several items. Wonder where he got that cash from.
Of course, after Molly withdrew the money, Hoffman forced her
back into the car, then still at gunpoint, and told
her to drive to a remote area in Saint Tammany Parish.
On the way, according to Hoffman, Molly begged him not
to hurt her, and he answered that he would not
because she was cooperating. Hoffman even said that Molly offered
herself to Hoffman while begging him not to hurt her,
which personally, I don't believe it, and I guess he
figured that his claim that she offered herself to him
would allow him to escape a rape charge. I mean,
this guy is obviously a total dumbass, right, So Hoffman
and Molly they arrive at a secluded section of Saint
Tamminy Parish, just north of Lake Pontcha Train where he
brutally rapes her. So even after kidnapping, robbing, and raping Molly,
all of which were done at gunpoint, Hoffman still didn't
let her go, as we now know. Instead, he forced
her still at gunpoint while she was completely nude, to
get out of the car, marched down a dirt path
that was overgrown with vegetation and in an area that
was used as a dump site for local people, just
full of trash. He tells her to get down on
her knees and he shoots her point blank in the head,
execution style, and it's believed that Molly likely survived for
a few minutes after being shot, but she was left
on that dock completely nude on a cold November evening
to die alone. Hoffman then disposed of her belongings, which
we now know where the belongings turned in by that
and he goes back to work after his break, and
his boss noted that he was very late from that break,
showing up actually two and a half hours late. So
what happens a lot of times with these high profile
cases is the defense will typically ask the court to
change the venue in which the defendant is tried, and
this case is no exception. The defense files for a
change of venue request, but the judge in this case
ruled against that change, saying that out of one hundred
potential jurors, fewer than ten could recall anything about the case,
it needed to stay there and I would agree with that.
And then in June of nineteen ninety eight, that trial
finally takes place. A forensic pathologist by the name of
Fraser Mackenzie. He testified that Molly did indeed survive for
fifteen minutes after that bullet struck her head. The fisherman
who found her body also testified, and he said that
her head was near the water, her hair was wet,
and he saw of this, jumped into his truck, went
to the nearest store and called nine to one one.
It was obvious to him that she was dead. The
state presented DNA evidence leaking Hoffman directly to the crime,
along with Hoffman's videotape statement, and although the defense never
contested that Hoffman shot Molly, the defense did introduce the
testimony of one witness, doctor Friedman, and he contested the
validity of those DNA results. However, his testimony was deemed
as not reliable, and the defense took it even one
step farther, claiming that in a struggle, the gun accidentally
fired and killed Molly and it was not an intentional homicide.
Of course, the jury they didn't buy any of this.
He was found guilty of first degree murder as well
as aggravated rape and aggravating circumstances. So on September eleventh
of nineteen ninety eight, he gets sentenced, and the jury
recommended unanimously that Hoffman would be sentenced to death via
lethal injection. So, as is the case anytime you're convicted
of pretty much anything, you're going to appeal, but especially
when you're convicted of murder and convicted in sentenced to death,
and Hoffman was no exception. He actually appealed his conviction
and cited eighteen points of error in his jury trial.
And I'm not going to go over all of them,
but I'll give you a few. For one, he complained
that the court made a mistake in denying his change
a venue request. Another complaint he had was as he
said that his statements to the police should have been
taken out because they took him into custody without, in
his mind, probable cause. I mean, I don't know what
he considers would be probable cause, but they had a
fucking video tape of this guy at an ATM with
a victim just prior to her death. I'd say that
was pretty good probable cause. He also complained that two
of the three African American potential jurors were dismissed from
the jury pool without giving sufficient race neutral explanations. He
even complained that the trial court did not have the
right to introduce the videotape of the victim with drawing
money at that atm. I mean, come on, and just
a bunch of other ridiculous complaints of the court absolutely
gets filled with every time there's a conviction, and just
about every time. It's bullshit these complaints. Now, there are
exceptions to that, as we all know, but this wasn't
one of those cases. So on May twelfth of two thousand,
the court denies Hoffman's application for rehearing. But Hoffman wasn't
given up that easy. He brings it to the US
Supreme Court and they deny his appeal. This was in
October of two thousand. So on July twentieth of two
thousand and one, Hoffman then files an application for what's
known as post conviction relief with the state's district court.
Guess what. That application was denied. And I go over
all of this because I want you to see the
picture of this guy exhausting every appeal opportunity he had. Now,
in April of twenty twelve, Hoffman files a lawsuit against
Bloody Angla Warden Burl Caane. We've done an episode on
Burl Caine. I'm go to check that out. Actually, it
was a mini series of swords, and he challenged his
conviction and death sentence, and of course none of that
goes anywhere, and Hoffman at this point is just biding
his time inside the wire. Then in April of twenty
twenty two, a judge dismisses a nearly decade old lawsuit
against executions in Louisiana, saying there's nothing to challenge because
the state can't even get the required drugs as medications.
And this was a big deal, not only for Haffman,
but for everyone else that was sentenced to death, because
from twenty twelve to this time in twenty twenty two,
executions were completely halted during this lawsuit filled time. Now,
as I told you, with the start of this one,
in twenty twenty four, Jeff Landry became the new governor
of the state of Louisiana, very strong on crime, very tough,
and one of his campaign promises was he was bringing
back executions one way or the other, and he did
just that, but with a little bit of a twist.
Rather than lethal injection, which nobody can get the medicine
for this Louisiana, no exception. Louisiana is now going to
nitrogen hypoxia as a form of execution. And on February
tenth of twenty twenty five, less than a month ago,
Hoffman's death warrant is signed with an execution date as
I told you of March eighteenth of twenty twenty five.
Hoffman is now forty seven years old. Now a little
bit about nitrogen hypoxia executions. Alabama is actually the only
state thus far to carry out those type of executions,
and they've done four of them since January of twenty
twenty four. And a little history on Louisiana. The last
execution there was in twenty ten, and that was the
execution of Gerald Bordelong. So that's a wrap. Right, March
eighteenth is approaching. This guy has exhausted all his appeals
and now it's just a matter of time. Y'all know
better than that. I'm going to reference an article for
you quickly that came out just last week in the
New Orleans Times, pickying paper and the headline reads Louisiana
death row inmate files lawsuit to block March eighteenth execution
by nitrogen gas. Jesse Hoffman, the death row inmate who
could be the first man in Louisiana put to death
by nitrogen gas, filed a new lawsuit late Tuesdays seeking
to stop his March eighteenth execution. The suit challenges the
state's newest method of execution, nitrogen gas, which state officials
have informed Hoffman they intend to use to kill him.
The filing marks the latest and a flurry of actions
set off this month when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced
the state had readied its nitrogen gas execution protocols and
it planned to resume executions after a fifteen year hiatus.
Within days, a Saint Tammany Parish judge had signed Hoffman's
execution warrant. Hoffman's attorneys had been fighting the decision in
federal court ever since. Their latest lawsuit, filed in Louisiana's
Middle District, says the state has refused to release the
execution protocol to Hoffman, depriving him of his rights. It
also claimed that executing Haffman via nitrogen gas would violate
the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids cruel and
unusual punishment. Louisiana followed Alabama in endorsing nitrogen hypoxia last
year as a method of execution. Alabama has executed four
people to this date using the gas. Hoffman's attorneys pointed
to witness accounts the painted grim picture of suffering by
those inmates in their final minutes. Quote. Louisiana's nitrogen gas
protocol is completely untested and no court has a chance
to review it. This from Cecilia Capel, an attorney for Hoffman.
We haven't even been able to see the full protocol
ourselves with Jesse's execution except for just three weeks from now.
Hoffman's legal team also requested a stay of Hoffman's execution.
The new lawsuit appeared to land with US District Judge
Shelley Dick, the district chief judge who last week reopened
a long dormant lawsuit Hoffman and other death row inmates
filed in twenty twelve over Louisiana's execution protocols. A federal
appeals court panel swiftly stayed the ruling by Dick, an
appointee of former President Barack Obama, while it weighs an
opposition from Attorney General Liz Murrell. The panel of Appeals
Court Judges is comprised of Catherine Hayes, a nominee of
George W. Bush In two nominees of President Donald Trump,
James Hoe and Andrew Aldam Quote. I expect the lawyers
to eventually file this lawsuit, Mural said Wednesday. That's the
Attorney General. I have not had a chance to review it,
so I cannot speak on the allegations, but I will
vigorously oppose any attempts to delay carrying out justice under
our law. Mural's team also questioned Hoffman's tactics in federal court.
They sent a letter Wednesday to the US Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals saying, in the light of Hoffman's new
lawsuit being filed, the appeals court should order Dick to
vacate a ruling that reopened the Hoffman's old suit. State
Solicitor General Jay Benjamin Aguinaga wrote that Hoffman's attempt to
commandeer and moot lethal and jection lawsuits brings a nitrogen
challenge that is an extraordinary abuse of the law. Capel
responded in a letter to the Fifth Circuit that said
the new suit was necessary due to the extingent circumstances
of the upcoming scheduled execution, Hoffman needs to ensure the
opportunity to assert his constitutional rights before petitioners run out
the clock. The article continues on and says it's been
nearly thirty years since Hoffman committed the crime that landed
him on death row. He was eighteen years old and
working as a parking intendant in New Orleans when he
kidnapped twenty eight year old Mary Molly Elliott on the
night before Thanksgiving in nineteen ninety six as she walked
back to her car in the New Orleans Central Business District.
Hoffman took her to a remote area near the Pearl River,
where he rape shot and killed the advertising executive, who
was married and living near Covington. Hoffman's attorneys say he
has had a quote train information over the last three
decades in prison, and is respected by prison staff and
fellow inmates alike, and is focused on his faith. His
attorneys this week applied for commission, asking Landry for a reprieve.
In the meantime, Hoffman's attorneys acknowledged that he has exhausted
all of his appeals, but Hoffman's case is the first
time that Louisiana is expected to deploy nitrogen gas to
put someone to death. Alabama is the first and only
state so far to have executed inmates by the gas
in the modern era. Alabama's first time using the gas
as an execution method was in January of twenty twenty four,
when the state put Kenneth Eugene Smith to death. News
reports say that he thrashed violently and shook his head
for about two minutes after the gas was administered. He
then took gasping brusts. It took ten minutes until he
can no longer be seen visibly breathing. Since then, Alabama
has executed three others by nitrogen gas. Alan Eugene Miller
carried Grayson in Demetrius Fraser. Eyewitness accounts of the later
executions described prolonged deaths. It took thirteen minutes for Fraser
to die after gas began flowing into his system. During
that time, Fraser twitched, shuddered, and appeared to struggle to breathe,
the report said, And when Miller died by nitrogen gas,
he shook on the gurney for about two minutes and
periodically gulp for air for about six minutes before he
went still. Hoffman seeks an alternative method. Hoffman is a
debout Buddhist who practices faith for more than two decades.
According to his legal team, he has attended Buddhist services
on death row since they became available in twenty eighteen.
His complaints said his lawyers argue forcing him to breathe
pure nitrogen would interfere with his Buddhist practices at his
time of death. According to the Buddha, one must maintain
contact with the breath in order to be mindful. The
complaint says, mister Hoffman sincerely believes that he must practice
breathing meditation at the most critical time of his transition
between life and death. The lawsuit argues that the execution
would violate federal law protecting religious freedoms. Boy their reagion,
Hoffman's complaints suggested two alternate methods which would be more
humane than nitrogen hypoxia, though neither are legal in Louisiana.
The first is execution by firing squad, which the lawsuit
calls a known, available and feasible alternative that will reduce
pain and suffering. Some other states have legalized execution via
firing squads, and a South Carolina inmate recently requested to
be put to death via firing squad in his upcoming execution.
The complaint also suggests the the use of cocktail drugs
known as DDMAPH. Those drugs can be used for physician
assisted suicide in states where it is legal. For more
than thirty years, lethal injection was the state's only approved
execution method at Landry's behesse. The state has added nitrogen
hypoxia to that list last year, along with electrocution, which
Louisiana had outlawed in nineteen ninety one. Will we see
a return of gruesome gurdy? So there you have it,
and I'm going to keep you updated on where this
appeal goes. I think it's going to go nowhere, this
lawsuit rather but I will keep you updated. And my
only question is I wonder how many times Miss Molly
twitched when he put that bullet through forehead and left
her rate and dying in the dump in the middle
of nowhere. That's all I got this week. Next week
I'm bringing you another one as we continue this series,
And until next time, I'm Jim Chopman for Bloody and
goa a podcast one hundred and forty two years in
the making. The complete story of America's bloody is present.
Speaker 1: Peace a wall, street line, shackle chain. It's calling my name.
There is no mercy and it's been a century.
Speaker 2: Juice as the huge stream game Rango the three.
Speaker 1: I'm here, bef, I'm.
Speaker 3: Here to die inside these walls, inside the wild. And
when no.
Speaker 4: As, I'm no insul.
Speaker 3: Bloody angle, ohbody angle,